Hamza Kastrioti

Hamza Kastrioti was born in Kruje, Albania and was the nephew of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. He led troops in support of the Ottomans against Skanderbeg in 1457. [cite web |url=http://www.omda.bg/imir/studies/alban_id10.html |title=Albanian Identities |accessdate=2008-03-13 |author=Antonina Zhelyazkova |work=International Center for Minority Studiesand Intercultural Relations]

He was taken at young age by the Ottomans to be trained as a Janissary soldier, and eventually became an elite Janissary commander in the Ottoman army. Kastrioti was chosen by Sultan Mehmed II to lead the Ottoman troops into combat against Albania at the Battle of Ujebardha alongside Isak Bey Evrenoz. The Ottomans lost the battle, Kastrioti was captured alive and placed in detention in Naples on charges of treason. He was later freed and went with his wife and children to the Ottoman Empire, where he died as a beggar in the early 1460s.

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