Salih Nijazi

Salih Nijazi was born on 5 March 1876 in Starja, a village in the Kolonja region of southeastern Albania, which was then in the Ottoman Empire.

He received a Bektashi education at the pir evi of Haji Bektash Veli in Hacıbektaş (Hacıbektaşköy), central Turkey.

[2] In 1916, Salih Nijazi was appointed Dedebaba (kryegjysh) of the Bektashi Order, succeeding Fejzi Dede.

[2] In 1930, [2][3] Salih Nijazi established the World Headquarters of the Bektashi movement (Albanian: Kryegjyshata) in Tirana.

[2] In Albania, he introduced major Bektashi ceremonies that were traditionally held at well-known tekkes in places such as Hacıbektaş in central Turkey, Dimetoka (Didymoteicho) in Thrace (Greece), Karbala in Iraq, and also Göztepe, Kadıköy in Istanbul.

2001 Albanian postal stamp featuring Sali Njazi Dede