Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

On November 28, 1912 Albanian nationalist leader Ismail Qemal, an Ottoman civil servant who rose to the position of President of the Ottoman National Assembly in Istanbul in 1909, returned to Albania with Austro-Hungarian support and at the head of a swiftly convened national assembly declared Albanian independence in the town of Vlora. The chairman, Ismail Kemal Bey, stated that although they had always been faithful to the Ottoman Empire, the Albanians had never forgotten their own language and nationality. The declaration, in Albanian and Turkish read:

“In Vlora, on the 15th/28th of November. Following the speech made by the President, Ismail Kemal Bey, in which he spoke of the great perils facing Albania today, the delegates have all decided unanimously that Albania, as of today, should be on her own, free and independent.”

This signaled the end of almost 500 years of Ottoman rule in Albania. The leaders raised the flag on the balcony of the two-story building in Vlora where the Declaration of Independence had just been signed.