Post-communist Tirana more open to Hasan Kalesh

Now, with the publication of Kalesh's works, how will those critical works of his that unmask the Serbian historiography for Kosovo that he published in Serbian be evaluated, such as "An Illusion regarding the Church of Levishka" in Prizren, which was published in "Jedinstvo ” on 01.01.1968? With a letter from him, and these ten volumes of works, as well as the international conference on Kalesh in Tirana that was supposed to be held on March 2, it is time for anyone who has time to read and know more about Kalesh, which we lost twice: by his early death and by someone's decision to skip him

On March 6, 2023, the "year of Hasan Kalesh" closes within the 100th anniversary of his birth (March 7, 1922 - July 19, 1976), which from the first day on March 7, 2022 until March 2023, was characterized with many ceremonies and publications in Pristina and Kirçovo and finally in Tirana. However, the question arises here: what innovation did this "year of Hasan Kalesh" bring to us, dedicated to the scholar who for a long time was overlooked by someone's decision because he allegedly "defended Serbian theses", and what is the validity of the opinion that he had "the support of of the Yugoslav state", after having worked at the University of Belgrade from 1951 to 1965?

Founder of Albanian Oriental Studies

The "Year of Hasan Kalesh" started on March 7, 2022 with a commemorative meeting at the Department of Oriental Studies, which he founded in 1973, which this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a scientific conference. In 1973, when Kalesi founded this Branch, he was a well-known name not only in Yugoslavia, but also in Europe, the USA, Turkey and Egypt thanks to his presentations at international conferences and his works that were published in international languages ​​(German , English, French, etc.). Until then, there were two centers of Orientalism in Yugoslavia: in Belgrade with a Euro-centric orientation and in Sarajevo with a mixed orientation depending on ethnicity (Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats). Kalesi, although he worked for a long time at the Department of Oriental Studies in Belgrade from 1951 to 1965, he represented the German philological school in European Oriental studies, which is distinguished by scientific criteria without ideological burdens. Therefore, with a great experience, he wanted in 1973 to establish a different Orientalism that is different from that of Belgrade and Sarajevo. Kaleshi clearly presented his concept to the Academy of Sciences in Cairo in 1965 on the occasion of his admission to that academy. Although the teaching process was conducted in two languages, at the time of "brotherhood-unification", the very fact that most of the students were Albanians created the basis for the establishment of a third orientalist, that is Albanian. It was felt but not expressed as such until 1999. Later, one of the founders of the Branch, acad. dr. Feti Mehdiu, would formulate it in an article as a "scientific discipline in the service of Albanianology".

Since in Albania at that time ideology ruled over science, no interest was expressed in this scientific discipline, so Prishtina remained the center of this Albanian orientalist after the early death of Kalesh in 1976, continuing with that spirit and making contributions valuable, which will be evidenced in the staff bibliography on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Branch. In this regard, some collaborators of Kalesh took the initiative to collect and publish Kalesh's works in several volumes to prove that science is not "overlooked" by ideology.

On the very first day of the "Year of Kalesh", when the beginning of this year was marked in the Department of Oriental Studies and the project for the reprinting of Kalesh's works in several volumes and their promotion at the Albanological Institute on April 30, 2022 was announced and presented. someone did not like it because it was thought that Kalesi was "overlooked". Thus, with the new interest that is emerging for Kalesi, the president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Acad. Mehmet Kraja appeared in an interview on the show "Desk " of KTV on 7.04.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX stating that "Hasan Kalesi was overlooked when he was alive and after his death for a simple reason: he defended Serbian theses for Kosovo".

also Culture 30 Tues 2022 The work of Hasan Kalesh - rediscovery and confronting his ignorance

Despite this attitude of the head of the Academy, it is understood that he does not only present his personal attitude, at the promotion ceremony of the first four volumes of Kalesh's works at the Albanological Institute in Pristina on April 30, 2022, the large hall was full, which clearly showed that Kalesi was not "overlooked" and his works that are coming out now show a very wide and rich opus that reaches some 5000 pages with original themes that became references for many studies in different languages.

 The first Albanian academic

Although in the In Memoriam published by Mehmet Kraja in the newspaper "Rilindja" on 21. 07. 1976, it was mentioned for the first time in the Kosovo press that Kalesi was an academic, namely a member of the Academy of Sciences in Cairo, this aspect was not considered taken into account at all on the occasion of the foundation of the Association of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo in 1975 or the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo in 1978. For a while it was mentioned that Kaleshi became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Cairo in 1967, but during the work in the preparation of the volumes of Kalesh's works it appeared that he was elected a member in 1965. Here it is worth mentioning that the Academy of Sciences in Cairo has weight among the academies in the Middle East. It was founded in 1933 by decree of King Fuad, the candidate of the revivalists for the throne of Albania, and had 50 members by statute: half Egyptians and half foreigners. That year, in 1965, Hasan Kaleshi was accepted with well-known orientalists in Europe: the French Jacques Bergue (1910-1995) and the Italian Umberto Rizzatano (1913-1980). Kales had another merit: the first and only one to be elected from Yugoslavia.

On the occasion of his acceptance, Kalesi presented himself with a speech that amazed the audience at the Academy, as he presented his concept of Orientalism, which was completely new for that elite. What is the truth, in the Middle East, the concept of Western Orientalism, which Edward Said exposed in his book "Orientalism", which was translated into many languages, and which deals with the study of the different "other", was viewed with reserve. However, with the appearance of Kalesh, he presented his concept of Orientalism that he was dealing with: in Kosovo and Macedonia, Orientalism is not the study of the "other", but the study of the heritage of our people during the Ottoman period.

However, Kalesi was not only ignored when the Academy was founded, but also ignored by an unwritten decision. Indeed, this had nothing to do with science, as academician Kraja would later present, but with personal and ideological attitudes. Kalesi then presented original works at international conferences and in scientific journals in foreign languages, so he did not write for a narrow circle, with which he became a well-known name outside of Yugoslavia, and not only outside of Kosovo. With that self-confidence, he had other behaviors in relation to the political leaders who interfered in the scientific institutions for the appointment of "partisans". I remember only one occasion in the spring of 1975. He was called to a meeting with the dean and left the office, and it wasn't long before he returned worried. He said that there he found Mahmud Bakalli, the secretary of the PKJ Provincial Committee with the power known to those who experienced it then. It was about an intervention for the appointment of a lecturer in a title that he did not deserve due to his "merits" as a former partisan. Kaleshi had rejected that designation in the Faculty's forums, but now he was surprised by Bakalli's presence and intervention. He insisted on refusing to appoint that former partisan to a high calling without a doctorate, and in a moment of tension he got up and left the Dean's Office, slamming the door hard. When he arrived at Dega's office, he felt that there would be consequences and told his colleague Feti Mehdi who was in the office: "Maybe I shouldn't have slammed the door like that"

Thus, Kalesi was not only not admitted to the Academy, but there the decision was made to "override" him with the pretext that was effective at the time, that he "collaborates with the Serbs" or that he "defends Serbian theses" etc. This was seen when it was decided to compile the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Kosovo", which came out in 2019 in two volumes. In spite of the fact that there were academics and professors in Dega who know Kalesh and his works well, the editors engaged him for the voice dedicated to Kalesh mr. Jahja Hondozin, who continued Kalesh's work with the cultivation of Albanian literature in Arabic letters. Although he was well presented with various contributions, at the end it is suddenly found that he "criticized theses of Albanian historiography related to Islamization, which is related to theses of Serbian and Turkish historiography" (vol. II, p. 727).

also Culture Supplement 3 Tues 2024 Albanians between colonial and imperial politics

Exactly these words, which I suspect are the author's, were repeated by the president of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, academician Mehmet Kraja in the mentioned interview on 7.04.2022/100/XNUMX, justifying the "overriding" of Kalesh, he said: "It was overlooked for a reason simple: he defended the Serbian theses for Kosovo". However, it is not said here that these "theses of Albanian historiography related to Islamization" were drawn up in Tirana with party directives during the communist regime and they passed to Pristina later, while in post-communist Tirana those theses were shaken. Thus, that very study by Kalesh - "Turkish penetration into the Balkans and Islamization: the factors of preserving the ethnic and national identity of the Albanian people" - was published in Albanian on the eve of Kalesh's XNUMXth anniversary in the magazine "Përpërëpië" edited by Fatos Lubonja who expressed himself much differently than academician Kraja: "The publication of this article fulfills an overdue obligation to reflect one of the most original theses drawn up by an Albanian researcher with quite rare preparation and talent".

Now with the publication of Kalesh's works, how will those critical works of his that unmask the Serbian historiography for Kosovo that he published in Serbian be evaluated, such as "An Illusion regarding the Church of Levishka" in Prizren, which was published in "Jedinstvo" on 01.01.1968?

Compared to the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Kosovo", which presents Kalesh in this ideological way "at the service of Serbian theses for the Albanians", the editors of the great Encyclopedia in Arabic that publishes ALESCO (an organization like UNESCO, close to the Arab League) based in Tunis asked me for a voice on Kalesh for the 31st volume of the Encyclopedia, at least 1000 words, which shows the respect of the scientific world for Kalesh.

What "Yugoslav support" did Kalesi have?

In the mentioned interview of the president of ASHAK, academician Kraja says about Kalesh that "he had great support of the Yugoslav state, too great support that he used it", which meant his connections with the Serbs while he worked at the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Belgrade from 1951 to 1965.

But what is not known, or is not wanted to be known, is that Kalesi was accepted there in 1951, because there was no competitor, and he remained there until he defended his doctoral thesis on the topic "Oldest Waqf Documents in Arabic in Macedonia" , which was well received in scientific circles in Europe when it was published. However, the progress of Kalesh, who became a name in Oriental studies in Yugoslavia and in Europe in the 60s of the 1960th century, was the result of his scientific dedication and not from the "support of the Yugoslav state". Only the close circle knew the suffering of Kalesh with the stagnation of his promotion to docent during 1965-1965, at the time when his Serbian colleagues were promoted with the help of the Head of the Department prof. Fehim Bajraktarević, who wanted to keep the position. As a result, the boss's reluctance to sign the progress report until XNUMX left Kalesh no other choice but to leave Belgrade and Yugoslavia and go to Germany for a scientific stay, where he participated in the presentation of many Albanian personalities in the "Bibliographic Lexicon of Southeast Europe" which was published in Munich.

also Culture Supplement 14 January 2024 Kaleši: "Illyrian origin, ridiculous thesis for me"

For that difficult decision to release the Chair, we have a letter from Kalesh to the boss, prof. Fehim Bajraktarević on 15.04.1965, in which it is well understood how much Kalesi was affected and how confident he was in "supporting the Yugoslav state". The original of the letter is kept at the Academy. Feti Mehdi, who gave me permission only to quote the last fragment as he will publish it later. Thus, Kaleshi, after dealing with the boss's many animosity towards his Serbian colleagues at the Department and expressing his decision to leave the job, concludes at the end: "I really don't know what will happen to me, but one thing is certain: I will remain noble and determined, and my influence on Yugoslav Orientalism will increase. I have never been so determined, to work even harder, as now. The only thing I'm sorry for, I'm repeating this once again, is that this matter has come to this, because my father, may God have mercy on him, has always taught me to respect my professors, regardless of whether I have learned any item from you or not".

With this letter of Kalesh, and these ten volumes of his works that pave the way for other enterprises in Skopje - with the publication of Irfan Morin's book "Life and work of Hasan Kalesh and others soon - as well as with the international conference for the Kalesh in Tirana that was supposed to be held on March 2, 2023, but was postponed for a few weeks at the request of the participants from Turkey due to the earthquake, it is now time for those who have time to read and know more about the Kalesh that we lost twice: by his early death and by someone's decision to skip him.