Essad Toptani
Ottoman army officer and Prime Minister of Albania from 1914 to 1916
Essad Pasha Toptani (1863/1875 – 13 June 1920) was an Albanian politician who served as the third prime minister of Albania from 1914 to 1916. He previously established the Republic of Central Albania based in Durrës. An Ottoman army officer, he served as the Albanian deputy in the Ottoman Parliament and later cooperated with the Balkan League after the Balkan Wars, including during the Siege of Scutari. As a result, he is regarded as a traitor by many Albanians.
Biography
Early life
Essad Toptani was born in 1863 in Tirana, Ottoman Empire (modern Republic of Albania), the son of Ali Toptani and Vasfije Alizoti. He was a member of the Toptani family, a prominent landowning Albanian noble family who helped found the current city of Tirana. From his mother's side of the family, he was first cousins with Aqif Pasha Biçakçiu as both their mothers were sisters. During Ottoman rule, Toptani served as a kaymakam and had command of the gendarmerie in Tirana. In 1908 Janina, he joined the Young Turks and the Ottoman parliament. In the aftermath of the 31 March incident, on 27 April 1909 four CUP members went to inform Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) of his dethronement, with Toptani being the main messenger saying "the nation has deposed you".
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q366796. VIAF identifies the subject as 37745122. The Library of Congress control number is n2009010366. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1863, 1875, 1920 and 1914.
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This entry incorporates text from “Essad Toptani” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.