Lutfi Haziri (born 8 November 1969 in

Gjilan Gjilan, or Gnjilane ( sr-cyr, Гњилане) is the eighth largest city in Kosovo and seat of Gjilan Municipality and Gjilan District. Name Ottoman chronicler Evliya Çelebi mentions ''Morava'' as a settlement of the Sanjak of Vučitrn. � ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

, now

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

) is the deputy chairman of the

Democratic League of Kosovo The Democratic League of Kosovo ( sq, Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës, LDK) is the oldest and one of the largest political parties in Kosovo. At the legislative elections held on 24 October 2004 the party won 45.4% of the popular vote and 47 out ...

and former mayor of

. He is a former deputy prime minister and minister of Kosovo for Culture, Youth, Sports and Non-residential Affairs. He headed the delegation of Kosovo in the

talks Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

on the political status of Kosovo with

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in February 2006.

Life and politics

Haziri was part of the students' leadership structures within the

University of Pristina The University of Pristina ( sq, Universiteti i Prishtinës) is a public university located in Pristina, Kosovo. It is the institution that emerged after the disestablishment of the University of Pristina (1969–99) as a result of the K ...

during the 1990s. Since 1990, Haziri was part of the structures of the Ministry of Defence of the unrecognised

Republic of Kosova The Republic of Kosova ( sq, Republika e Kosovës) or First Republic of Kosovo was a self-declared proto-state in Southeastern Europe established in 1991. During its peak, it tried to establish its own parallel political institutions in oppos ...

and in charge of numerous functions within the then existing parallel structures in Kosovo. In March 1990, Haziri was elected President of the Youth Forum of the Gjilan branch of the

(LDK) and served as its president until 1997. In 1997, Haziri was elected as Deputy President of the LDK branch in Gjilan as well as member of the General Council of LDK in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

. He remained in both functions until 2000. In October 1998, Haziri was arrested and imprisoned on charges of leadership of the

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the ...

(KLA) structures in the Karadaku zone (Gjilan). After his release in August 1999, Haziri became Deputy Mayor of the municipality of Gnjilan, whereas in November 2000 he became mayor of the same municipality. He remained in this position until December 2004. In June 2001, he was also elected chairman of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities. In this function, Haziri was also chairman of the Kosovo Municipal Delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Governance in Strasbourg (

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

). Haziri obtained a management diploma of the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

, certificates of

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

, a diploma from the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American Federal government of the United States, federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individual ...

(USIP) as well as other recognitions from local and international organisations. On 3 December 2004, Haziri was elected as Kosovo's first Minister for Local Government. In 2006, he was a prominent member of the Kosovar Albanian delegation in UN-led talks on the political status of Kosovo with Serbia. Haziri stepped down from federal politics in 2013 to run for the mayorship of Gjilan again, which he won. In December 2017, he was re-elected. In the 2021 race, he lost the mayorship to Alban Hyseni. In 2021, Haziri became the deputy chairman of the LDK and chairman of its branch in Gjilan. Haziri is married with three daughters and a son.

References

External links

Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports and Non-Residential Affairs

Ministry of Local Government Administration in Kosovo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haziri, Lutfi Living people 1969 births Kosovan prisoners and detainees People from Gjilan Democratic League of Kosovo politicians Government ministers of Kosovo Prisoners and detainees of Serbia and Montenegro

Life and politics

See also

References

External links