Sali Butka (1852 – 24 October 1938), was an Albanian nationalist figure, revolutionary kachak, poet, and one of the delegates of the city of Korçë to the Albanian National Congress of Lushnjë. He was a well-known leader of an armed çeta band of Albanian fighters during the early 1900's.
Biography
Early Activities
Butka was born in the village of Butkë in the Kolonjë District to one of the branches of the prominent Albanian Frashëri family. He was a Bektashi Muslim. He belonged to a generation of villagers who became literate in the Albanian language and subsequently joined guerrilla bands via the literary efforts of the Albanian intelligentsia. On the initiative of Bajo Topulli, the Secret Committee for the Liberation of Albania was founded in the city of Manastir in November of 1905; Sali Butka was one of the co-founders of the committee, and he aided in the creation of the committee's branches in preparation for an armed uprising against Ottoman occupation. In December of 1905, Bajo Topulli would visit Sali in the village of Butkë and form the first Albanian çeta of the Secret Committee, signifying the beginning of the Albanian armed uprising.
Butka subsequently became the commander of various Albanian irregular bands (also known as çeta), and in 1906, he initiated armed guerrilla operations throughout southern Albania against the Ottoman Empire and the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II Butka had taught himself how to read and write in Albanian. Throughout the course of his guerrilla activities, he would compose revolutionary poems that combined naturalistic texts with nationalist themes, often in the form of folk poetry. He viewed his literary contributions as feeding an Albanian national consciousness. His poems would be turned into songs, which appealed to the illiterate members of Albanian society.
Pre-Independence
Sali Butka participated in a large meeting on the Albanian alphabet in the city of Korçë in 1910, alongside 2,500 fellow Albanians from Kolonjë; additionally, Butka was one of the leading Albanian figures who protested against the Sublime Porte and the use of Arabic letters for the Albanian alphabet. In early 1911, the Revolutionary Committee was created in Kolonjë with Sali Butka at the head, alongside his brother Myftar and his son Gani.
Fellow revolutionary fighter Spiro Bellkameni would return from exile in March of 1911 to the village of Butkë and spend time with Sali's band; Sali would eventually organise the formation of an armed band under Spiro's command, of which Sali's brother Myftar and his son Gani were also members. In May of 1912, prior to the Albanian Declaration of Independence, Sali Butka participated in the Kuvend (traditional Albanian assembly) of Peja to discuss the new planned uprising against the Ottoman Turks. After he returned from Kosovo, Sali Butka, together with Tajar Tetova, organised a large meeting in the village of Frashër with the main leaders of Albanian revolutionary bands in southern Albania. On the way to the meeting, Sali's band was ambushed by Ottoman forces in the gorge of Rrungaja, and his second son, Iljaz, was killed and declared a martyr of Albania. Sali was then at the head of the Albanian revolutionary forces in the region and first liberated Ersekë from Ottoman forces, followed by Korçë in August of 1912.
