Azem Hajdari | |
---|---|
Member of Albanian parliament | |
In office 1991 – 2001 (1998) |
|
Deputy | Assembly of the Republic of Albania |
Chairman of the Defense Parliamentary Commission | |
Prime Minister | Aleksandër Meksi |
Personal details | |
Born |
Bajram Curri, Tropojë, Albania |
March 11, 1963
Died | September 12, 1998 Tirana, Albania |
(aged 35)
Political party | Democratic Party |
Domestic partner | Fatmira Hajdari |
Children | Kirardi, Rudina and Azem Jr. |
Alma mater | University of Tirana |
Profession | philosophy |
Religion | Islam |
Signature |
Azem Shpend Hajdari (Albanian: [ˈazɛm hajdaˈɾi], March 11, 1963 – September 12, 1998) was the leader of the student movement in 1990–1991 that led to the fall of communism in Albania. He then became a politician of the Democratic Party of Albania (DP). He symbolizes the start of the democratic era in Albania. He was a member of the Albanian parliament and the Chairman of the Defence Parliamentary Commission. He was assassinated in Tirana on September 12, 1998.
On October 2, 1998, Hajdari was posthumously awarded Honorary citizenship of Tirana, and in 2007 he was decorated with the Skanderbeg's Order by president Bamir Topi.
An monument honoring Hajdari and Besim Çera was placed on the crime scene where both were killed (41°19′38″N 19°49′19″E / 41.32722°N 19.82194°E).
Hajdari came from a working family. He finished elementary school and high school in Bajram Curri. Hajdari studied philosophy at the University of Tirana, and was married to Fatmira Hajdari, with whom he had three children: Kirardi, Rudina, and Azem Junior (who was born four months after Hajdari's assassination). He was one of the main leaders of student demonstrations that brought the collapse of the Party of Labour of Albania in December 1990. He was also, briefly, the first leader of the Democratic Party of Albania (DP). He remained in that position until he was replaced in early 1991 by Sali Berisha, who later became Prime Minister of Albania. Hajdari was a close associate of Berisha, and came from the same district of Tropojë.