His uncle, Peti Mitko, had been one of the leaders of the Albanian Revolt of 1847 in Korçë and Tepelenë against the Turkish Tanzimat legislation.

[2] Both left Albania in 1850, moving first to Athens, Greece, then to Plovdiv, Bulgaria and finally to Vienna, Austria, where Thimi Mitko worked as a tailor.

In 1866, he emigrated to Egypt, devoting himself to the Albanian nationalist movement and setting up a successful trading business in Beni Suef where he died on 1890.

[3] Mitko in one of his works claimed that the majority of the Albanian people supported the idea that they should remain part of the Ottoman Empire, while a small number of Christians desired union with Greece.

[9] Later Mitko expressed views in the Italo-Albanian periodical Fiamuri Arbërit (Flag of Albania) that he supported the policy of the Ottoman Empire being against common enemies shared by Albanians.