Azem Galica

Azem Bejta (10 December 1889 – 15 July 1924), commonly known as Azem Galica, was an Albanian nationalist, resistance fighter and rebel who fought for the unification of Kosovo with Albania. He is known for leading the Kachak Movement against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Early life Azem Bejta was born into a poor Albanian family in the village of Galicë in the broader Drenica region. His family descended from the Kuçi tribe (fis). He was the son of Bejta Galica, a rebel who died fighting against the Ottoman Empire and Serbian forces. Azem began fighting the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, opposing their rule in Kosovo.

Early activities Balkan Wars Azem Galica and his Kaçak fighters resisted the Serbian invasion of Kosovo during the Balkan Wars and in the early parts of World War I. Azem married Shote Galica that same year, and she joined his unit of fighters. From 1915-1918, Azem opposed both the Austro-Hungarian and the Bulgarian forces which had occupied Kosovo. The Austrians had executed his two brothers. Nonetheless, on the 15th of October, 1918, Azem and his Albanians occupied Peja and captured the Austro-Hungarian barracks, which consisted of 4,000 soldiers and 70 officers. Azem was awarded two medals by a French general for his efforts.

Azem and the other Kachak leaders presented a set of demands to Serbian officials: they asked the Kingdom of Yugoslavia to stop killing Albanians, to recognise the Kosovo Albanians' right to self-government, and to stop both the Yugoslav colonization program of Kosovo and the military actions of Yugoslav forces on the pretext of disarmament. They also requested that Albanian schools were opened, that the Albanian language was made an official administrative language, and that the families of the Albanian rebels were no longer interned by the authorities. The Yugoslavs responded to the attempts at communication with increased violence.

Fighting blew up in Drenica, Azem Galica's home territory. It was estimated that there were 10,000 active rebels under Azem's command at this time. By November of 1920, Yugoslav forces succeeded in suppressing a rebellion in the Drenica region, and Azem and Shote Galica fled to Shkodra.

The Neutral Zone of Junik was established in November 1921 by the authority of the League of Nations following constant border disputes between Albania and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the frequent military intrusion from the Yugoslav side since 1918 into the Albanian side as well as continuous skirmishes between the Albanian guerrillas and Yugoslavian army. Azem Galica's band of Kachaks used the Neutral Zone of Junik as their base, as did most of the other Kachak bands. He was housed by Tafë Hoxha, a local in Junik.

In March of 1922, Bajram Curri, Hasan Prishtina and Elez Isufi led an unsuccessful attempt at overthrowing Zog, who eventually became the Prime Minister of Albania on 2 December 1922. His quarrels with the leaders of the Kosovar Albanians made him a fierce opponent of the Kachak Movement, and of Kosova in particular. Zog's ascension to power resulted in the end of Albanian governmental support for Kosova, and he sentenced Azem Galica to death in absentia and gradually assassinated the leaders of the Kosova Committee. In the long term, the killing of Galica and of many others stimulated and set an example of Albanian resistance against repression and inequality in Kosovo.