The Violent Reality of Elbasan

Elbasan is a town with about 20,000 people. There’s plenty of space for fights and arguments. In fact, murders in the streets are more common than street fights in English towns on a Saturday night. The Chief of Police, a Turk, told me that around 20 to 30 people are killed every week. He also said that only one out of every ten murderers is caught by the police. The Turkish authorities don’t get involved much. When someone is killed, their friends want to take revenge on the murderer. If the killer is thrown into prison, not only do his friends feel upset with the Turks for interfering, but the murderer’s friends also feel that he hasn’t been given a fair chance in the vendetta.

The Fear of an Outbreak

The Turkish authorities are afraid of an Albanian uprising. They do whatever they can to keep things peaceful. That’s why they don’t try very hard to collect taxes from Albanians, even though they do from other groups. If an Albanian kills a Turk, the authorities often make excuses, saying the Albanian was provoked. To keep the Albanians happy, the Sultan has made sure that his bodyguard in Constantinople is made up of Albanians. He also weakens the power of the Beys (tribal chiefs) by inviting them to the capital, praising them, and giving them medals Istanbul Tour Guide.

Breaking the Tobacco Monopoly

In Turkey, there is a strict tobacco monopoly. If anyone from a different ethnic group (like a Turk, Armenian, Bulgarian, or Greek) tries to break the government’s tobacco rules, they risk being thrown into prison. However, in Elbasan, the tobacco rules are ignored. Tobacco is sold openly, and the soldiers in my escort were involved in this illegal trade. They stuffed their bags, pockets, and even their pistol holsters with tobacco to sell it for a profit in Macedonia. I noticed that they went without food to make more room for tobacco. The captain of the guard knew what they were doing, and he smiled when he saw that I knew too. Later, I learned that each soldier made a small profit (about two medjedehs), as this tobacco was much better than the one sold by the government.