{{short description|Albanian politician and lawyer}} {{Infobox person | name = Tefik Mborja | image = Tefik Mborja (portrait).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Tefik Selim Mborja | birth_date = 6 November 1891 | birth_place = Mborje, Vilayet of Monastir, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Albania) | death_date = 1 July 1954 (aged 62) | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Politician, diplomat | known_for = Albanian Fascist Party | signature = Tefik Mborja (nënshkrim).svg }} '''Tefik Selim Mborja''' (6 November 1891 – 1 July 1954) was an Albanian politician and lawyer. He served as the general secretary of the Albanian Fascist Party during the Second World War.<ref name="mb1">Fischer, Bernd Jürgen. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=P-MiG9ngCp8C Albania at War: 1939-1945]''. London: Hurst, 1999. pp. 45-46</ref>
==Biography== Tefik Mborja was born in 1888, in Mborje, Vilayet of Monastir, Ottoman Empire (today Albania).<ref name="Aliko">{{citation| url=http://www.arct.org/pdf/genocidi-31-60.pdf| publisher=Shtypshkronja "MALUKA"| title=GENOCIDE ON THE INTELLECTUAL ELITE OF THE ALBANIAN NATION UNDER THE COMMUNIST TERROR| last1=Aliko| first1=Tomor| year=2007| location=Tirana| page=43| access-date=2013-12-28| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230233459/http://www.arct.org/pdf/genocidi-31-60.pdf| archive-date=2013-12-30}}</ref> Mborja was a member of parliament during the interbellum years. A staunch opponent of Ahmet Zogu, he supported Fan Noli. Mborja was served as Noli's representative in Rome from 1924. He was assigned to establish the diplomatic relations with Soviet Union, and for this reason he communicated with Soviet representative in Rome Konstantin Juranev.<ref>{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eJU2IA6nZUC&q=tefik+mborja&pg=PT178|page=138|author=Robert Clegg Austin|title=Founding a Balkan State: Albania's Experiment with Democracy, 1920–1925|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2012|isbn=9781442644359}}</ref> In Italy, he befriended the family of Count Galeazzo Ciano.<ref name="mb1"/> He studied jurisprudence in Rome.<ref name="Aliko"/>
With the invasion of Albania by Italian forces in 1939, Mborja was appointed new Prefect of the province of Korçë by the Albanian Provisional Committee.<ref>Pearson, Owen. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3_Sh3y9IMZAC Albania and King Zog: Independence, Republic and Monarchy 1908-1939. Albania in the twentieth century, v. 1]''. London: Centre for Albanian Studies in association with IB Tauris Publishers, 2004. p. 458</ref> When the Albanian Fascist Party was founded within a month of the invasion, Mborja was appointed general secretary of the party by Victor Emmanuel III. The main criteria behind his nomination were the links with the Ciano family that he had cultivated in the 1920s.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}
As the general secretary of the Albanian Fascist Party Mborja was included in the Albanian government as an ex-officio minister.<ref name="mb1"/> Mborja was able to exercise a certain degree over political influence over government policies through his position in the government. However the Italian fascists retained veto rights over the actions of the Albanian party, and Mborja's work was supervised by Giovanni Giro (inspector-general of the party and a close associate of Benito Mussolini). In theory, according to his official biography, Mborja was supposed to be included in the leadership of the Italian Fascist Party, although was unclear in what function.<ref name="mb1"/> On May 29, 1939, he was appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations as well as the Central Council of Corporative Economy.<ref>Pearson, Owen. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3_Sh3y9IMZAC Albania and King Zog: Independence, Republic and Monarchy 1908-1939. Albania in the twentieth century, v. 1]''. London: Centre for Albanian Studies in association with IB Tauris Publishers, 2004. p. 481</ref>
He was arrested in December 1944 by Albanian Communists and sentenced with 20 years by the Special Court of Spring 1945. He was poisoned while in prison and died in 1954.<ref name="Aliko"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mborja, Tefik}} Category:Albanian Fascist Party politicians Category:Ambassadors of Albania to Italy Category:People from Korçë Category:People from Manastir vilayet Category:19th-century Albanian politicians Category:20th-century Albanian politicians Category:Albanian collaborators with Fascist Italy Category:Political party leaders of Albania Category:19th-century births Category:1954 deaths Category:Members of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations Category:Prisoners who died in Albanian detention