Aqif Pasha Elbasani (1860-10 February 1926) was an Ottoman Albanian politician and Albanian nationalist leader.
Biography[]
Aqif Pashë Biçaku was born in Elbasan, Ottoman Albania in 1860. Biçaku was the maternal first cousin of Essad Pasha Toptani, and he was educated in Istanbul. He became an activist of the Albanian National Awakening in the Elbasan region, raising the Albanian flag there on 26 November 1912. He served as Interior Minister under Wilhelm, Prince of Albania, and he went into exile alongside Wilhelm after the success of a Muslim peasant revolt against his rule. Elbasani briefly lived in exile in Bari, Italy before settling in Shkoder, after which he became involved in secret nationalist committees. He was arrested following the Montenegrin invasion of Shkoder in 1915, and he was freed after Austria-Hungary overwhelmed Montenegro. He had tenuous relations with Ahmet Zogu, and he took part in a December 1921 coup before Zogu relieved him of his duties on the High Regency Council. He returned to Parliament from 1923 to 1924 as a representative of the People's Party of Albania, and he went into exile following the June Revolution's failure. His son Ibrahim Bicakciu later served as Prime Minister.