Following the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), Bilisht became part of Albania. Some Muslim Albanian villages on the Greek side of the border had Bilisht as their market town until their inhabitants were sent to Turkey during the Greco-Turkish exchange of populations (1923), based on religious criteria. Due to the Albanian census of 1923, the urban status of Bilisht was recognised. During the interwar period a tekke of the Rifa`i Sufi Order existed in Bilisht and part of the surrounding Muslim rural population emigrated to Australia. Bilisht was also the centre of the Bilisht district.