Mehmet Ali Vrioni

Mehmet Ali Bey was from the famous landowning bey family of Berat named Vrioni.^[1]

In 1877 he became one of the founders of the Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights. It was founded in Istanbul in 1877, with a view of obtaining some autonomy for the Albanians in the Ottoman Empire.^[2] He was also a founding member of the Committee of Janina which took place in the same year.^[3][4] In 1879 he and Abdyl Frashëri left Preveza,^[5] and traveled to Paris, Rome, Vienna and Berlin to seek support for the Albanian cause and submit a memorandum of Albanian demands to the Great Powers.^[6][7] This was the most important effort to promote the rights of the Albanian nation during this period.^[8][9]

He had three wives throughout his life, with Hysinje Vokopola (who was from the village of Vokopole, and a relative of Ferid Vokopola) he fathered his only son Ilias Vrioni. His third wife was a Circassian from Tuapse and her sister Behixhe Hamza is the mother of Mufid Libohova.^[10] His grandson is Jusuf Vrioni. He and his family spoke the Albanian language in the Tosk dialect.