Ballaban Badera (also known as Ballaban Pasha or Ballaban Badheri) was an Ottoman military officer. A conscript of the Devshirme child soldier system, he became a Pasha. Ballaban Badera was said to be the first one who climbed the walls of Constantinople during its siege. He held the position of sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Ohrid in 1464 and 1465.
Biography
Early life
Ballaban Badera was born in Badera, a village in the Mat area, Albania as a Catholic with the name Michael, the son of Mark and Helena. Conscripted through the Devshirme system, he rose to the rank of Pasha in the Ottoman Army under Sultan Mehmed II.
Ballaban's father, Mark, had served in the army of the Wallachian Prince Mircea I, system as Ballaban.
Ballaban and Skanderbeg
Ballaban fought Skanderbeg in April 1465 in the battle of Vajkal. The Albanians were victorious, but Ballaban captured thirteen of their high-ranking generals, among them Moisi Golemi, Skanderbeg's second-in-command and the organizer of his desertion from the Ottoman Court and subsequent return to Albania, with Muzak Stresi, the Lord of Shkodër.