Manak Cuzi

Manak Cuzi
Manak Cuzi in 1944
Equiveprim of Hardhiara
In office 4 September 1949 – 12 September 1991
Succeeded by	Mavik Cuzi
Viceroy of Hardhiara
In office 20 June 1949 – 4 September 1949
Preceded by	Ruçi Tanush
Succeeded by	Mavik Cuzi
Chancellor of Hardhiara
In office 8 March 1944 – 4 September 1949
Preceded by	Amaçi Sipek
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	Manak Cuzi nga Lunë (1898-10-21)21 October 1898 Lunastasi, Hardhiara
Died	4 September 1991(1991-09-04) (aged 92) Kujkë, Hardhiara
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Afër Qiellit Mausoleum, Hardhiara
Children	Mavik Cuzi
Parent(s)	Svo Arabak Altanna Sipya
Profession	General Politician Monarch
Military service
Allegiance	Hardhiara
Branch/service	Equiveprimya Military
Years of service	1916 - 1944
Rank	General
Unit	4rth Army
Battles/wars	Continental War Occupation of Hilmabreget

Manak Cuzi was an Hardhi military officer and then politician who ascended to the throne during the Glorious Regeneration, of which he had been the main architect. He ruled Hardhiara as its Equiveprim from 1949 until his death of old age in 1991 after 42 years of reign. He has since then been given the posthumous title of "Eternal Equiveprim" as the cult of personality surrounding him continue to this day. His long rule was characterized by dictatorial practices and reactionary policies that reversed most of the reforms and modifications brought by his predecessors. He notably brought back the Decimal Administration, nationalized most of the country's industrial sectors, enacted country-wide land reforms, led the rapid industrialization of the country through the use of economic planning, and ended democracy.

His "Regeneration" aimed at reverting back what he had seen as the "Systematic Weakening of the State's Institutions and Organs" by recreating and modernizing the "traditional" Hardhi system of rulership. He ended all democratic institutions, closed the Chambers of commerce, and took direct control over the economy. His bureaucratic approach to central planning was mitigated by the relative decentralization of said planning, with Regional and Provincial Governors being left to plan their own programs as long as they matched central directives.

Dissidents and opponents to his rule were systematically purged by his secret police, and his government also practiced deportations, forced relocalisations of communities judged to be "potential threats to National Security", and forced labour. Most markets that had managed to appear since the beginning of the century were closed, replaced by a modernized "Magazinet" distributin rations of foods, clothes, and tools to the populations.

At the international, Manak Cuzi became a close ally of Gerrit Hartnell and he signed with the Foresitter the Kujkë Agreement in 1955, a treaty that would be transformed the same year into the Mageiros League.

After his death, Manak Cuzi's body was enshrined at the Afër Qiellit Mausoleum, near Rihap. To this day, his mummified body continue to attract visitors on what has become a state sponsored pilgrimage and it his often publicly displayed during important events. All newly appointed Ministers and Regional Governors have to travel to the Mausoleum to take the oath to the Nation and the Equiveprim over the Hardhiaran Flag, while under the watch of Manak Cuzi.

Early life

Manak Cuzi was born in 1898 in the town of Lunastasi, in the Region of Gjydiert, to the Lunë tribe. His father was an officer in the military attached to the Durvan' garrison, and his mother a teacher. His parents were from localy important families, with his grandfather being a retired colonel and their tribe's leader, and his uncle an important regional administrator. He spent his first years in this tribal environment, with its customs and values, before being sent to Durvan's middle school. He spent his adolescence under the care of his uncle, and then joined a military school to prepare him for the Officer Academy. But in 1914, when he was 16 years old, he was conscripted into the military and served during the Continental War as a Rifleman. He finished the war with the rank of Caporal and given that he was know of age, he immediately entered the Officer Academy of Kujkë on his Grandfather's recommendation.

Military service

The Hardhi began to be military involved in the Occupation of Hilmabreget after 1921 when it's army crossed the international border and occupied a number of strategic checkpoints to support the A-PEHNA. As a student-officer, Manak Cuzi took part in the operations with the rank of Lieutenant. After a small period serving in a mobile patrol, he ended up assigned to the Joint Forces, units made of a mix of Hardhi soldiers and Durqleri militias tasked with counter-insurgency missions. There he rose up to the rank of Captain and made friends among the Whikqur, a Durqleri tribe, and learned their language. Like other Joint Forces, Manak Cuzi's unit is accused of having performed war crimes and having acted as an anti-Hilmaric death squad. In 1923, Manak's Unit participated as reinforcements in the Battle of Junio, the last bastion of Hilmaric resistance.

Following the Occupation, the Joint Forces were disbanded but Manak retained his rank of Captain. He then served on the Dulebian border, before being re-assigned to Hilmabreget. His knowledge of the Durqleri and ties to the Whikqur made him a proeminent officer in the region, and one of the main instructor in charge of training a new generation of Durqleri officers fully integrated into the Hardhiara military structure. By 1935, he had reached the rank of colonel and had married the daughter of Rof Salmaq, a proeminent Whikqur leader.