Baca Kurti Gjokaj

Who was Baca Kurti Gjokaj?

Baca Kurti Gjokaj was an Albanian freedom fighter who distinguished himself as one of the best commanders of Cuna Mula in the Battle of Ržanica.

Gjokaj was born around 1807 in the village of Milješ in Gruda near the town of Tuzi, to an Albanian Malësor family. He was a nationalist of the Albanian revolt for independence. He rebelled against the unjustified decision of the Congress of Berlin to hand over the northern Albanian regions of Hoti, Gruda, Ulcinj, Trieshi, Plav-Gusinje etc. to Montenegro. Gjokaj was a member of the League of Prizren. When Prince Nicholas I of Montenegro and his army stepped foot on the Albanian land Baca Kurti heard gunshots from an extreme point in Malësia, and he and other men of Malësia organized a resistance against the Principality of Montenegro.

He opposed the selling of Albanian land for a European Diplomacy deal. Baca Kurti and other Malësors of Northern Albania fought and defeated the Montenegrins in the battles of Ržanica and Helm. These words he said towards his fellow natives for the protection of the Rrzhanica Bridge in Malësia, against the Montenegrin army: