What country, part of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years as the provinces of Shkodra, Manastir and Yanya, proclaimed its independence on 28 November 1912, with Ismail Qemali as its first Prime Minister?
Ismail Qemali of the Albanian 200 lekë banknote of 1992–1996, and of the 500 lekë banknote issued since 1996. On 27 June 2012, Albanian President, Bamir Topi decorated Qemali with the Order of the National Flag (Post-mortem). Ismail Qemali Ismail Qemali (; 16 October 1844 – 24 January 1919) was an Albanian politician and publicist who served as the 1st President and Prime Minister as well as Foreign Minister of Albania from 1912 to 1914. He is considered to be the Founding Father of Modern Albania and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Ismail Qemal Vlora was born in Vlorë
Ismail Qemali standardization of the Albanian alphabet supporting the use of Latin characters for writing Albanian and the establishment of an Albanian cultural association. By 1877, Ismail seemed to be on the brink of important functions in the Ottoman administration, but when Sultan Abdulhamid II dismissed Midhat as prime minister, Ismail Qemali was sent into exile in western Anatolia, though the Sultan later recalled him and made him governor of Beirut. Qemali in 1892 presented the sultan with a plan for a Balkan Confederation. It involved an entente between Balkan states and the empire eventually bound by mutual defense and economic development