Tringe Smajl Martini

Tringë Smajl Martini Ivezaj (1870 – 2 November 1917), known simply as Tringe Smajli, and as Yanitza outside Albania, was an Albanian guerrilla fighter who fought against the Ottoman Empire in the Malësia region. She was the daughter of Smajl Martini, a Catholic clan leader of the Grudë tribe of Malësia.

Family She was born in 1880. Her father Smajl Martini was an Albanian clan leader of the Grudë tribe (located in southeastern Montenegro). Her signature shows up in the protest-petitions of northern Albanian tribes sent to European ambassadors and counsels accredited in the Ottoman Empire, i.e. the one of May 9, 1878 sent to French Ambassador in Istanbul, or the one of June 15, 1878. The petitions expressed the dismay and disapproval of the Albanian tribes to the decisions of the Treaty of San Stefano and Congress of Berlin, which had granted much of the Scutari Vilayet to the Principality of Montenegro.

Biography

At the time of her brothers' deaths, Tringe sworn that she would stay at her family home and that she would never get married or leave the house. She kept living and acting as a woman, and she kept wearing the Albanian traditional women costume, as seen on all of her pictures.

Tringe joined the rebels and distinguished herself in the Battle of Deçiq. It describes Tringe as "a beautiful young woman" in addition to her heroism. Her legend lives on throughout the Balkans as one of the most heroic women warriors in the history of the region.

Several streets in Kosovo and Albania are named after her and she is regarded a People's Hero of Albania.