Mehmet Pashë Deralla (1843-1918) was Minister of War of Albania from 1912 to 1914.
Biography[]
Mehmet Pashë Deralla was born in Kalkandelen, Ottoman Empire (present-day Tetovo, North Macedonia) in 1843, the son of an Albanian patriot. He served in the Ottoman Army in Anatolia before being promoted to the General Staff and given the title of Pasha, and he served in the gendarmerie in Baghdad, Aleppo, and Thessalonica. However, he defected to the League of Prizren and supported its rebellions in Kosovo, and he also supported the League of Peja's uprising in 1899. He was captured and exiled to Iraq, only for the Young Turks to amnesty him and enable his return to Albania. He led major uprisings in Kosovo from 1910 to 1912, and he also fought against the Serbs during the First Balkan War. In November 1912, he signed the Albanian Declaration of Independence in Vlore, and he served as War Minister from 1912 to 1914. He joined the Kachaks in their guerrilla struggle against Serbia during World War I, and he was taken prisoner in 1916 and poisoned while imprisoned in Podgorica.