Fatmir Hasani

Fatmir Hasani (Serbian Cyrillic: Фатмир Хасани; born 1957) is a politician in Serbia from the country's Albanian community. He has served in the National Assembly of Serbia since 2016 as a member of the Party for Democratic Action (Partija za demokratsko delovanje, PDD). Hasani is currently the only Albanian member of the Serbian parliament.

Private life and career

Hasani was born in Bujanovac, then part of the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia.[1] He became a chemistry professor in his home municipality after completing his education.[2]

Hasani welcomed a visit by Serbian president Boris Tadić and Serbia and Montenegro cabinet minister Rasim Ljajić to his school in 2005, saying that it demonstrated the president's attention to education in multi-ethnic communities; a media report from this time described him as the school's headmaster.[3]

Political career

Hasani has been a prominent member of the PDD for several years. In 2002, he was identified in a news report as the party's local chairman in Bujanovac.[4] Early in the following year, he addressed a rally that called for the release of seven Albanian protesters detained by state security forces, and he urged national and international authorities to uphold the 2001 Koncul agreement on demilitarization in the region.[5][6]

Hasani received the tenth position on the electoral list of the Albanian Coalition of Preševo Valley (which included the PDD) in the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election.[7] In the 2014 election, he received the fourth position on the PDD's list.[8] He was not elected on either occasion.

He was given the first position on the PDD's list for the 2016 parliamentary election after party leader Riza Halimi chose not to stand as a candidate.[9] During the campaign, he drew attention to the need for Albanians to be integrated into state institutions and called on the Serbian state to provide textbooks in the Albanian language and recognize degrees from the University of Priština.[10] The PDD won a single parliamentary mandate and Hasani was duly declared elected. The party subsequently offered parliamentary support to prime minister Aleksandar Vučić's administration and took part in discussions about playing a role in government.[11]

The PDD and Hasani's relationship with Vučić's government deteriorated in early 2017, after Serbian authorities attempted to send a train emblazoned with the words "Kosovo Is Serbia" to North Mitrovica in the disputed territory of Kosovo. In interviews during this period, Hasani called for the status of the Preševo Valley to be included in an upcoming dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo and highlighted problems with the Serbian police presence in Albanian communities.[12][13]

Vučić subsequently reaffirmed his cooperation with the PDD following his election as president of Serbia in April 2017,[14] and in June 2017 Hasani supported Vučić's nomination of Ana Brnabić to become Serbia's new prime minister.[15] He announced the PDD's withdrawal of support for the Serbian government in September 2017, however, after Serbia dissolved the elected municipal assembly in Preševo. He added that the PDD could resume its support should the government change its position, though he noted that the party had not actually received anything in return for its previous support.[16]

Hasani has stated that the vast majority of ethnic Albanians in the Preševo Valley would favour joining Kosovo via a territorial exchange with ethnic Serbian communities in the disputed province. He has acknowledged that any such exchange would require the support of the international community, and others in the region have rejected the idea as impracticable.[17]

The PDD serves in a parliamentary grouping with the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, and Hasani is the group's deputy leader. He is also a member of the parliamentary committee on education, science, technological development, and the information society; a deputy member of the committee on human and minority rights and gender equality; and a member of the parliamentary friendship group with Turkey.[18]

References

  1. ↑ FATMIR HASANI, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 29 June 2017.
  2. ↑ FATMIR HASANI, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 29 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "Serbian president visits Albanian school in south of country," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 1 September 2005 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1110 gmt 1 Sep 05).
  4. ↑ "People in southern Serbia dissatisfied with solutions to problems - official," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 30 September 2002 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1129 gmt 30 Sep 02).
  5. ↑ "Ethnic Albanians end protest rally in southern Serbia," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 13 February 2003 (Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1251 gmt 13 Feb 03.).
  6. ↑ "South Serbia - Albanian parties call for implementation of peace agreement," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 21 February 2003 (Source: KosovaLive web site, Pristina, in English 20 Feb 03).
  7. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (КОАЛИЦИЈА АЛБАНАЦА ПРЕШЕВСКЕ ДОЛИНЕ - KOALICIONI I SHQIPTAREVE TE LUGINES SE PRESHEVES, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 29 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ПАРТИЈА ЗА ДЕМОКРАТСКО ДЕЛОВАЊЕ - РИЗА ХАЛИМИ - PARTIA PER VEPRIM DEMOKRATIK - RIZA HALIMI, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 29 June 2017.
  9. ↑ Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (ПАРТИЈА ЗА ДЕМОКРАТСКО ДЕЛОВАЊЕ – АРДИТА СИНАНИ PARTIA PËR VEPRIM DEMOKRATIK – ARDITA SINANI), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 29 June 2017.
  10. ↑ GOVORNICA: Fatmir Hasani, Novosti, 19 April 2016, accessed 29 June 2017.
  11. ↑ Mirjana Čekerevac, "Naprednjaci u koaliciji sa SVM na svim nivoima", Politika, 8 June 2016, accessed 29 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Fatmir Hasani në Parlamentin serb: Në bisedime të përfshihet edhe Lugina e Preshevës", Kosova Post, 25 January 2017, accessed 29 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Deputeti Fatmir Hasani për bashkim të Luginës me Kosovën ose me Maqedoninë", rtvpresheva.com, accessed 29 June 2017.
  14. ↑ M. Zirojević, "Vučić albanskim političarima najavio otvaranje fabrike u Bujanovcu", Juzne Vesti, 14 June 2017, accessed 29 June 2017.
  15. ↑ "Hasani: Podrška Ani Brnabić", Tanjug, 29 June 2017, accessed 29 June 2017.
  16. ↑ "Fatmir Hasani: PDD više ne podržava Vladu Srbije", N1, 29 September 2017, accessed 24 October 2017.
  17. ↑ "Fatmir Hasani: Razmenom teritorija i Srbija i Kosovo rešili bi probleme sa svojim nacionalnim manjinama", Nova srpska politička misao, 15 January 2018, accessed 23 March 2018.
  18. ↑ FATMIR HASANI, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 29 June 2017.
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