Jusuf Gërvalla

Jusuf Gërvalla (October 1, 1943 – January 18, 1982) was a Kosovo Albanian activist, writer, musician, and the founder of the Marxist-Leninist group National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo. Born in the village Burremëdhi (Dubovik), in the municipality of Pejë in Kosovo, Gërvalla pursued a college education in Prishtina and Ljubljana before working as a journalist in Skopje and Prishtina. A vocal nationalist, he came under the radar of Yugoslav secret service, prompting him to seek asylum in Germany in 1980 where he subsequently established the Popular Movement for the Republic of Kosovo, which later split into the two factions the People's Movement of Kosovo and the National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo, the former being the forerunners of the, at the time, ideologically heterogeneous Kosovo Liberation Army. While abroad, he also made efforts to unite Albanian movements and political parties. On January 17, 1982, Gërvalla along with his brother Bardhosh Gërvalla, and fellow activist Kadri Zeka, were assassinated in Stuttgart, allegedly by Yugoslav secret service. His murder caused outrage among Albanians and abroad, and led to an increased intensity in Albanian nationalism and hostility to Yugoslav control of Kosovo.[1][2][3][4]

Statue dedicated to Jusuf Gërvalla in Pejë

Some of his literary publications include Fluturojnë e bien (They Fly and Fall), Kanjushë e verdhë (Green Stork) and Rrotull (Around).[1]

References
  1. Elsie, Robert. Historical Dictionary of Kosovo. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 111.
  2. J. Perritt, Henry (2010). The Road to Independence for Kosovo: A Chronicle of the Ahtisaari Pla. Cambridge University Press. p. 236.
  3. Bejtullahu, Alma. Female Singers in Rural Kosovo. Böhlag Verlau Köln. p. 249.
  4. Hehir, Aidan. Humanitarian Intervention: An Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 225.


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