Plav is a town in north-eastern Montenegro. It has a population of 3,717. Plav is the centre of Plav Municipality.
Gusinje is a small town in north-eastern Montenegro. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 1,673 and is the administrative center of Gusinje Municipality.
Ded Gjo Luli Dedvukaj also referred to as Ded Gjon Luli was an Albanian guerrilla leader most notable for commanding the 1911 revolt against Ottoman troops. He was posthumously awarded the "Hero of Albania" title. Dedvukaj was the clan chieftain of the Hoti tribe.
Kelmendi is a historical Albanian tribe (fis) and region in Malësia and eastern Montenegro. It is located in the upper valley of the Cem river and its tributaries in the Accursed Mountains range of the Dinaric Alps. The Vermosh river springs in the village of the same, which is Albania's northernmost village. Vermosh pours into Lake Plav.
Ali Pasha Shabanagaj, was an Albanian military commander and one of the leaders of the League of Prizren. He governed, as an Ottoman kaymakam (sub-governor), an area in what is today eastern Montenegro around Plav and Gusinje. He was commonly known as Ali Pasha of Gusinje. He was the leader of the Albanian irregular troops of the League of Prizren against the Principality of Montenegro at the Battle of Novšiće.
Haxhi Zekë Byberi mostly known as Haxhi Zeka was an Albanian nationalist leader, a member of the League of Prizren, while in 1899 he was part of the establishment and leadership of the League of Peja, another organization seeking protection of Albanians territories from Balkan states. Zeka was assassinated by a Serbian agent in 1902.
Mic Sokoli was an Albanian nationalist figure and guerrilla fighter from the Highlands of Gjakova. He was a noted guerrilla leader during the years of the League of Prizren and took part in the fighting in Yakova against Mehmet Ali Pasha. He fought in the Battle of Nokshiq against the Montenegrins. He is remembered by Albanians for an act of heroism in April 1881, in which he sacrificed himself by pressing his body against the mouth of a Ottoman cannon.
The Attack against Mehmed Ali Pasha, known in Albanian historiography as the Action of Gjakova, was undertaken from 3–6 September 1878 by the Gjakova Committee of the League of Prizren in the estate of Abdullah Pasha Dreni near Gjakova. During the battle Mehmed Ali Pasha, the Ottoman marshal who was to overview the cession of the predominantly Albanian Plav and Gusinje region to the Principality of Montenegro, Abdullah Pasha Dreni, a notable official of the region and former member of the league, many Ottoman soldiers, and volunteers of the Gjakova Committee were killed.
Hero of Kosovo is an official order in Kosovo. It is awarded by the President of Kosovo.
The Battle of Novšiće was a battle for control over Plav and Gusinje fought on 4 December 1879 between the forces of Principality of Montenegro led by Marko Miljanov and local pro-Ottoman forces which included irregulars of the League of Prizren, both commanded by Ali Pasha, the Kaymekam of Gusinje. The League of Prizren consisted mainly of Albanians and from Plav and Gusinje in Scutari Vilayet and irregulars from Kosovo Vilayet.
Çun Mula (1818-1896) was the bajraktar ("flag-bearer") of the Hoti tribe and an Albanian freedom fighter. His family, the Lucgjonaj, descended from the Junçaj family of Hoti. According to the Code of Lekë Dukagjini, Çun Mula's family was put in charge of the Malësia tribes, leading them bravely and faithfully in the many wars against Montenegrin and Ottoman forces.
During the implementation of the Congress of Berlin, when the Principality of Montenegro had received Plav and Gusinje, the surrounding Albanian populace under the guise of the Ottomans attacked the Montenegrin forces in Velika at two occasions, on October 9 and November 22, 1879. The Ottomans were defeated.
Gusinje Municipality is a municipality in eastern Montenegro in the upper Lim valley at an elevation of about 1,000 m (3,000 ft). It was created in 2014, when it split from Plav Municipality. Its center is the small town of Gusinje, and its biggest village in terms of territory is Vusanje. Two of Montenegro's highest mountains overlook Gusinje: Zla Kolata and Visitor. Many of Gusinje's settlements are historically linked with the Albanian Kelmendi tribe (fis). The village of Gusinje developed into a town the 17th century around a fortress built by the Ottomans to contain the Kelmendi. In the 19th century, Gusinje was a developing regional market center. It was engulfed in 1879–1880 in a struggle between the Principality of Montenegro that wanted to annex it and the League of Prizren that opposed it. After the Balkan Wars, Gusinje became part of Montenegro and in 1919 part of Yugoslavia. Today, it is part of Montenegro since its declaration of independence in 2006.
Zhuj Selmani was an Albanian partisan and an early proponent of the Albanian National Awakening. He was one of the leaders of the Albanian resistance against the Kingdom of Montenegro. At the beginning of the Great Eastern Crisis Albanians responded with armed resistance. Zhuj Selmani fought from his tower house (kulla) known as the tower of Sheremeti. Surrounded by Montenegrin forces in his tower, he blew it up, killing himself and many of the enemy soldiers.
Jakup Ferri was a notable Albanian fighter from Plav-Gusinje who served as a local leader in the League of Prizren's resistance during the Principality of Montenegro's attempt to subjugate his homeland in 1879. He was distinguished in the Battle of Novšiće, where he died.
The Battle of Murino took place on January 8, 1880, between the Principality of Montenegro and the League of Prizren. It was part of the battles about the sovereignty over Plav and Gusinje. According to the treaty of Berlin, the Ottoman Empire was to hand over the region to Montenegro, but this move was militarily opposed by local Albanians. At the time of the battle, Montenegrin sources claim that around 10,000 Albanians from the League of Prizren fought against Montenegrin forces numbering 3,000, led by commanders Marko Miljanov and Todor Miljanov and priest Đoko, in Murino. Albanian sources claim that around 4,000 Albanian soldiers of the League of Prizren and 3,000 local volunteers fought against 9,000 Montenegrins.
Ahmet Zenel Gjonbalaj or Ahmet Zeneli (1803–1893) was an Albanian fighter and commander during the period of the Albanian National Awakening in the 19th century who fought against the Principality of Montenegro's attempts to annex his homeland, Plav-Gusinje, alongside Ali Pasha of Gusinje and other Albanian patriots.
Çelë Shabani was an Albanian commander of the Albanian forces of the League of Prizren in 1879. Born and raised in Rugova, Shabani fought along Jakup Ferri in the Battle of Novšiće against the Montenegrin annexation of Plav-Gusinje area in 1879. He was a Malësor. As a young boy, he lived in Niksic and fought a Montenegrin named Uros. He came out as victorious and, as were the customs of the time, Shabani cut the head of the soldier and carried it with him. At the age of 22, Shabani was given a medal for his heroic acts. Shabani fought all his life against the Montenegrin forces of Marko Miljanov and died in Novšiće in 1879.
Battle of Ulqin was a battle between the Ottoman forces of Dervish Pasha and Albanian irregulars in the year of 1880 at the region of Kodra e Kuqe, close to Klleeznes. The area of Ulcinj had been handed over to Montenegro by the Ottomans after the Albanians previously fought against the annexations of Hoti and Grude. The Great powers instead pressured the Ottomans to hand over the area of Ulcinj, but also here the Albanians refused. Eventually the Great powers forced the Ottomans to take actions against the League of Prizren, ending the resistance and successfully handing over the town of Ulcinj to Montenegro.
Kadri Bajri (1823-1913) was an Albanian commander of the Albanian League of Prizren from Rugova.
