Eqrem Bey Vlora in Damascus

When in 1904 a segment of the railway connecting the capital of Syria with Medina in Saudi Arabia was opened, Eqrem Bey Vlora was also a member of the Ottoman delegation. But he was not the only Albanian. From the island of Rhodes to Damascus, he was received everywhere by Ottoman functionaries of Albanian origin

Sultan Abdylhamit had a dream. He wanted to connect Istanbul with Mecca - via railway. Between 1901-1908 he partially built this road to make it easier for pilgrims to travel from the capital of the Ottoman Empire to Mecca, the holiest city of Muslims, where the Prophet Muhammad was born. The Hejaz Railway connected Damascus, the capital of Syria, with Medina, the other holy city for Muslims. He did not reach Mecca. 

Damascus is considered among the earliest settlements in the world. The Great Mosque of Damascus or the Mosque of the Obayads is an oasis of rest, tranquility and among the most important architectural works, with plans that were based on the ancient basilica. The Hejhaz Railway starts in Damascus. It was Sultan Abdylhamit's wish that the train route be built only by Muslims. But this was not possible, so the Ottoman authorities engaged the German engineer Heinrich August Meissner (1862-1940). He already had work experience in the Ottoman Empire. Between 1888-1892 Meissner built the Izmir-Ankara railway, while from 1892 to 1894 he designed the railway from Thessaloniki to Bitola. After the completion of the Hexhaz railway, Meissner built from 1910 to 1914 the famous railway from Konya in present-day Turkey to Baghdad (in German it is known as Bagdadbahn). Meissner, born in Leipzig, studied railway construction in the same German city, then made his way to the Orient. Thousands of men, mostly Ottoman soldiers, were hired to build the Hexhaz railway. For religious reasons, Meissner was not allowed to enter the southeast of the city of Ma'an in present-day Jordan, where only Muslim engineers worked. Ma'an is the last major city before Medina.

The Damascus-Amman-Ma'an segment was opened in 1904, while in 1908 the railway reached Medina. It has more than 1.500 bridges and crossings, as well as 96 stopping points in a length of 1.308 kilometers. Almost all the material needed for the railway (tracks, sleepers, wagons, locomotives with a large water capacity) was provided by Germany at the suggestion of chief engineer Meissner. Hexhaz Railway, which also had great military importance, was handed over to the Ministry of War of the Ottoman Empire in 1911.

The Damascus-Amman-Ma'an segment was considered one of the most important, so a delegation from Istanbul participated in its opening, which included Eqrem Bej Vlora, the later Albanian politician and publicist, known especially for his memoirs. his written in the German language. In these memories, Eqrem Bey Vlora describes in detail his journey from Istanbul to Damascus in 1904. Almost everywhere he stops, the delegation meets Albanians, who exercised various functions in the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The head of the Ottoman government commission was Turhan Pasha - an Albanian. When the members of the commission arrived by ship on the island of Rhodes, there they met with the governor of the Aegean islands, Abedin Pasha Dinon - also an Albanian. When the ship reached the Port of Beirut, Eqrem Bey Vlora was getting ready to meet the Vali of Beirut, Halil Pasha Alizoti - he was also Albanian. From Gjirokastra.

From Beirut, the government commission continued its journey by train to Damascus, Syria. When the train pulled into the train station in Damascus, the guests were greeted with music and dancing. There Eqrem Bey Vlora was being welcomed by the chief cadi of Syria, Nazif Efendi Jusufati - this was an Albanian from Libohova.

In another trip, Eqrem Bey Vlora describes that in 1905 he reached al-Qatif in today's Saudi Arabia. There was the seat of the vice-governor of al-Hasa province, which belonged to the Wilayat of Basra in present-day Iraq. Eqrem Bej Vlora writes: "We were immediately taken to the vice-governor, who to my surprise turned out to be an Albanian. His name was Mahmut Mahir Efendiu and he was from Berat. An educated and very knowledgeable man".

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Eqrem Bey Vlora cannot avoid the temptation without asking the vice-governor what will happen to Albania when one day it will be governed by all these arrogant people, used only to order and direct? Eqrem Bej Vlora is talking about Albanians who had great careers in the Ottoman Empire. The answer of the vice-governor was frightening: the Albanians will eat each other, as they have often done throughout history.

In Kuwait, Eqrem Bey Vlora did not find any local leader of Albanian origin, but met the emir Mybarek es-Sabah. He received him with many honors, because he had not forgotten the reception he had received in Istanbul by the grand vizier, i.e. the prime minister of the Ottoman Empire, Ferid Pasha Vlora. Of course, this was also an Albanian. Eqrem Bey Vlora's journey ended in Karachi, Pakistan, from where he returned - via Alexandria - to Istanbul.

But he didn't stay here long. Together with his two typhoid sisters and accompanied by a German nurse, he made his way to the French Riviera - they passed through Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Merano, Milan, Turin and Genoa and reached Cannes, where they stayed three weeks. On the way back to Istanbul they visited Naples, Palermo, Taormina, Catania, Athens and Izmir.
In Cannes, Eqrem Bey Vlora wrote his first political work entitled "The Goals and Future of the Albanians" (Ziele und Zukunft der Albanesen), which he later published under the pseudonym Merke Yeb Arolv in the magazine "Österreichische Rundschau" in 1908. His memoirs, written in exile after the Second World War, are undoubtedly among the most valuable works of an important personality and witness to great events. history of Albania and Albanians.