Pekmezi was born in Tushemisht, Pogradec, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (modern day Albania).

[1] He founded the cultural-patriotic society Dija (Knowledge) in 1904 with Hile Mosi, Kolë Rrota and other Albanian intellectuals.

In the late Ottoman period, Austria-Hungary subsidized two of Pekmezi's works: Albanesische Bibliographie and Albanianische Grammatik.

[2] During the autumn of 1913, Pekmezi worked for the border commission in southern Albania and in March 1914 was appointed dragoman (interpreter/secretary) at the new Austro–Hungarian mission in Durrës.

In April 1917 he accompanied and facilitated the delegation of Albanian chieftains and leaders who visited Vienna and met with the Imperial authorities with an invitation by Ignaz Freiherr Trollmann.