The monastery today speaks Albanian, Begaj visit in honor of the 115th anniversary of the Alphabet Congress

The President of the Republic, Bajram Begaj, is paying a visit to Bitola today to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the Albanian Language Congress.

President Begaj participates in the activities on the occasion of the 115th anniversary of the Congress of the Alphabet of the Mother Tongue.

President Begaj, visit to the Museum of the Alphabet of the Albanian Language for the celebration of the 115th anniversary of the Congress of Manastir.

President Begaj will meet with the Albanians of Manastir as well as with personalities of the Albanian public and political life of North Macedonia.

The Congress of Manastir

On November 14, 1908 in Bitola, the Congress of Bitola or Congress of the Alphabet began in Bitola, with the aim of creating a numbered alphabet that would be the beginning of all Albanian literature.

150 delegates were present at this congress, coming from all parts of Albania, as well as from the Albanian communities in Romania, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, America, etc.

Mithat Frashëri, the son of Abdyl Frashëri, was elected the President of the Congress. Mit'hat Frashëri was at that time the editor of two magazines that were published in Thessaloniki "Liria" and "Dituria". Parashqevi Qiriazi, a teacher at the girls' school in Korça, was elected secretary of the commission.

Grigori Cilka, from Korça, as well as 11 other members, was elected vice president. Albanians from all religious communities, such as Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, learned people, united for a great national goal, participated in this Congress.

The message held by the Catholic priest Gjergj Fishta touched all the participants so much that a priest hugged him in front of everyone. The request was that the Albanian language should not be written with Arabic or Greek letters, but with the Latin alphabet.

The Congress decided by a unanimous vote to put aside the Istanbul alphabet, and to write the Albanian language only with the Latin alphabet with 36 letters, the alphabet that is used today.

Also, it was decided that after two years, a second Congress would be held, in Ioannina, to examine spelling and literary problems, as well as to make efforts to merge the Gege and Toska dialects into a common Albanian language.

The Congress decided to establish the Albanian Printing Press in Bitola under the direction of Gjergj Qiriazi, which quickly became known throughout the country as a distributor of Albanian books and newspapers.

A prominent participant in the Alphabet Congress was the researcher, poet and patriot from Shkodra, Ndre Mjeda. Eight of his thirteen proposals were approved by the Congress of Manastir. Although he lived in several foreign countries and spoke 13 languages, he knew nothing else about the Albanian language.