Mërturi

The Mërturi are an historical Albanian tribe (fis) and region in the Highlands of Gjakova of north Albania.

The Mërturi tribe is a traditional fis in the sense of being a community that claims paternal descent from one common ancestor, consisting of a single bajrak (military-administrative unit) during the time of the Ottoman Empire.

It borders the Nikaj to the north, the Krasniqi and the Thaçi to the east, the Shoshi to the west, the Berisha to the south and the Toplana to the southwest.

[2] The ancestral father of the Mërturi tribe was called Lek Poga, the son of Pog Murri and therefore the grandson of Murr Deti/Murr Dedi.

The descendants of the Vula family were still present during the time of her visit to Albania in the first decade of the 20th century.

Under the leadership of Mic Sokoli and Binak Alia, the tribes of Krasniqi, Gashi, Bytyçi and Nikaj alongside the Mërturi organized a resistance near Bujan.

The Nikaj-Mërturi would have to pass through Krasniqi tribal territory in order to go to their market town, Gjakova, and so they would set off as a large group on Friday mornings and return on Monday.

In 1835, they constructed the parish church of Mërturi in Raja (Breglumi) upon a cliff overlooking the right bank of the Drin river, and it was dedicated to Saint Veneranda.