Arbana Xharra | |
|---|---|
 Xharra received the International Women of Courage Award in 2015. | |
| Citizenship | Kosovo |
| Occupation | Editor in Chief |
| Employer | Zeri |
Arbana Xharra is a Kosovar Albanian investigative journalist. She has won numerous awards for her reporting and was a 2015 recipient of the International Women of Courage Award from the US State Department.
Arbana Xharra has been working as a journalist since 2001. [1] She worked for Koha Ditore , the first independent newspaper established in Kosovo, [2] in 2006 and 2007. She has been a contributor to Balkan Insight [3] and is currently editor-in-chief of Zëri . [4]
Arbana Xharra believes that for democracy to flourish, the press must have the right to investigate public concerns. [5] She has written about a wide range of issues including a 2006 investigation on government expense reports and financial mismanagement; [3] a 2007 examination of inflation and food shortages; [6] a report in 2010 questioning how the assets of the state-run Telecom of Kosovo were being used; [5] and relationships between businesses and politics. Xharra faced legal action in 2012 when a report she prepared on government corruption linked a local business with politicians. [7] She was exonerated by the court, whose ruling stated that she had complied with the Code of Ethics for print media of Kosovo. [8]
Over an 18-month period beginning in 2012, Xharra investigated the rise in religious activity since the collapse of socialism in the former Yugoslavia. [9] She reported on religious extremism and its impact on society. By evaluating Islamic extremists operating in Kosovo, she discovered links with terrorist organizations. Uncovering operational and financial links, Xharra was able to assist the government in efforts to address the problem, but the reports caused her to receive death threats and public attacks on her reputation. [1] [4] She reported them to the police, but with no consequences. [10] : 21
On 9 May 2017, she resigned in Zëri and became the member of the PDK - the biggest political party in Kosovo. A few days later on 13 May 2017, she was brutally beaten on a parking place in Pristina. Kosovo leaders, journalists and civil society representatives condemned the attack. Arbana Xharra resigned from PDK in May 2018. She is currently writing and researching with NYU professor Alon Ben-Meir on Turkey and radicalization in Balkan.
Xharra was three-time winner of the UNDP Prize for her articles on corruption in Kosovo in 2006, 2007, and 2008. [7] In 2012 she was awarded a Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence and studied the changing attitudes towards Islam in Kosovo. [11] In 2013 she was awarded the Rexhai Surroi Award by the KOHA Group for an article on extremism and the Stirring Up Debate Award from INPO Ferizaj [12] (Progress Initiative) [13] for creating public discourse on religious extremism. [12] In 2015 she won the US Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award for the European division. [4] In 2022, Arbana Xharra received an award from the American magazine "My New York" in the nomination for heroism.
The Democratic Party of Kosovo is one of the largest political parties in Kosovo. It was originally a social-democratic party coming out of the demilitarised Kosovo Liberation Army after the Kosovo War, with most of the leadership coming from Albanian nationalists and former members of the People's Movement of Kosovo. However, during its congress in January 2013, it positioned itself as a centre-right party and is considered to be a conservative party. The Democratic Party of Kosovo since July 2021 is headed by Memli Krasniqi, the former Vice –President of the Assembly of Kosovo, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports.
Veton Surroi is a Kosovar Albanian publicist, politician and former journalist. Surroi is the founder and former leader of the ORA political party, and was a member of Kosovo assembly from 2004 to 2008.
Lëvizja Vetëvendosje (LVV) is a left-leaning social democratic political party in Kosovo. It is a member of the Progressive Alliance, and an observer in the Party of European Socialists, and the Socialist International.
Hashim Thaçi is a Kosovar Albanian politician who was the president of Kosovo from April 2016 until his resignation on 5 November 2020 to face a war crimes tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity. He was the first prime minister of Kosovo and the Foreign minister and deputy prime minister in the new cabinet led by Isa Mustafa, which assumed office on 12 December 2014.
Balkan Insight is a website of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) that focuses on news, analysis, commentary and investigative reporting from southeast Europe. It is run by journalists in southeast Europe. BIRN was founded in 2004 as a network of non-governmental organisations to promote a strong, independent, and free media in Southern and Eastern Europe. Balkan Insight is the successor of BIRN's "Balkan Crisis Report" newsletter. BI reports from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania and Serbia.
Television in Kosovo was first introduced in 1974. The Radio Television of Pristina was the first Albanian-speaking broadcaster in Kosovo, founded in 1974 following Radio Pristina's founding in 1945. It was forcefully shut down in 1990 by the Yugoslavian government, forbidding the flow of information through Kosovan airwaves during the Kosovo War. In wartime, the information blackout was covered by Radio 21 and Koha Ditore, while television was under the sole ownership of the Radio Television of Serbia.
Berat Buzhala Born on November 22 1975, in Klinë Kosovo is a former Kosovo Member of Parliament for the former governing Democratic Party of Kosovo. He joined the political party after working as a journalist. He left politics and returned to journalism after serving a single mandate in the Parliament. Buzhala belongs to a young generation of Kosovar journalists, established after the Kosovo War. He initially worked as an economics journalist in daily Zeri and Koha Ditore, and was later one of the co-founders of daily Gazeta Express. In 2018, Buzhala helped establish a new TV channel in Kosovo named T7 which engages in independent journalism and in-depth political and economic coverage.
Dukagjin Gorani (Albanian) Dukađin Gorani) is a journalist and media expert from Kosovo. Born in Pejë, he became one of the founders of weekly Koha in 1993, and was the first editor of Koha Ditore daily. He was one of the founders and first Editor-in-chief of the Daily Express.
Baton Haxhiu is a Kosovo Albanian columnist and journalist who has worked for media such as Koha Ditore, Gazeta Express, Klan Kosova and ABC News Albania. He now works for Euronews Albania and is the general director of Albanian Post.
Parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo on 12 December 2010, following a vote of no-confidence in the government that brought forward the election. Those were the first elections after the country declared independence.
The mass media in Kosovo consists of different kinds of communicative media such as radio, television, newspapers, and internet web sites. Most of the media survive from advertising and subscriptions.
The Batajnica mass graves are mass graves that were found in 2001 near Batajnica, a suburb of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The graves contained the bodies of 744 Kosovar Albanians civilians that were killed during the Kosovo War. The mass graves were found on the training grounds of the Yugoslav Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ). Dead bodies were brought to the site by trucks from Kosovo; most were incinerated before burial. After the war, SAJ restricted investigators' access to the firing range, and continued live-firing exercises whilst forensic teams tried to investigate the massacre.
Garentina Kraja was Political Adviser to President of the Republic of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga.
Palace of Youth and Sports, formerly named Boro and Ramiz, is a multi-purpose hall located in Pristina, Kosovo. It includes two indoor arenas, the larger of which had a capacity of 8,000 spectators but is currently out of use, and the smaller in-use with a capacity of 2,800 spectators. It also includes a shopping mall, indoor parking, two convention halls and a library. The building in its entirety measures over 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft).
Kosovo Intelligence Service more commonly known by its Albanian acronym SHIK was an underground intelligence organization credited with post-war murders of political figures in Kosovo. SHIK reported its official disbandment in 2008. Key figures in SHIK were former Speaker of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, Kadri Veseli, and MPs Elmi Reçica, Fadil Demaku, Bekim Haxhiu and former MPs Fatmir Xhelili and Latif Gashi, Trepça CEO Ferat Shala and Ilmi Ramadani.
Sadri Ferati is a politician in Kosovo. He was minister of local government in the Republic of Kosovo government from 2008 to 2010 and served in the Assembly of Kosovo from 2011 to 2017. Ferati is a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).
Ramadan Gashi is a politician in Kosovo. He was the mayor of Skenderaj from 2001 to 2007 and a member of the Assembly of Kosovo from 2008 to 2011. During his time as an elected official, Gashi was a member of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK).
Donika Kadaj Bujupi is a politician in Kosovo. She served in the Assembly of Kosovo from 2007 to 2021 and in April 2023 was appointed as an advisor to Republic of Kosovo president Vjosa Osmani. Kadaj Bujupi was a member of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) for most of her time as an elected official, although from 2016 to 2018 she was a member of Vetëvendosje (VV).
Teuta Sahatqija is a politician and diplomat in Kosovo. She has served three terms in the Assembly of Kosovo, initially with the Reformist Party ORA, which she led from 2008 to 2010, and later with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). She was Consul General for the Republic of Kosovo in New York City from 2016 to 2020.
