Flaka Surroi (born 1963) is a Kosovo-Albanian journalist and author. She is the director general of the media company Koha Group, one of the leading media companies in Kosovo, since 2004. [1] She comes from the family of politician and diplomat Rexhai Surroi, and is a sibling of the politician Veton Surroi (who founded the aforementioned media company).
Surroi regularly publishes op-eds in the Koha Ditore newspaper, and has published translations of English, Spanish and Serbian books. [2]
Surroi was born in 1963 in Pristina, Kosovo. [2] She finished her high school in Mexico, where her father was serving as an ambassador, and graduated at University of Pristina. [3] Before the Kosovo war of 1999, Surroi has worked in several international NGOs. [4] When her brother Veton Surroi formed the weekly magazine KOHA, she contributed as a film editor. [5] After the war, she led the Community Development Fund from 1999 to 2004, founded by the World Bank to support Kosovo in post-war recovery. [2] [4] She worked for a short period of time as Secretary General of the Prime Minister of Kosovo. [3] [6]
After the re-entrance of her brother into politics in 2003, Surroi took the helm and sole ownership of the family enterprise Koha Group the following year. [5] She would own 100% of the company by 2006. Koha Group consists of a national TV broadcaster called Kohavision, the biggest daily newspaper in Kosovo Koha Ditore (Daily Time), a publishing company, and other enterprises.
During her tenure as the head of Koha Ditore, the company has kept the leading position in Kosovo market. [7]
In 2013, she heavily supported protests against the Hashim Thaçi administration as being "thieves" and has promoted herself as an advocate of gender equality. [8]
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.
Koha Ditore is the leading daily newspaper in Kosovo. It is published by Koha Group and was founded and owned by politician Veton Surroi. His sister Flaka Surroi is now the publisher, following Veton Surroi's launch of his political career within the ORA reformist party. The newspaper initially published as a weekly magazine Koha, that ran from 1992 to 1994, becoming a leading weekly magazine in Kosovo. The initial team included new generation of opinion-makers such as Ylber Hysa, Baton Haxhiu, Dukagjin Gorani, Eqrem Basha, Shkelzen Maliqi, etc. The newspaper with the same name was published for the first time in 1997. Its current editor in chief is Agron Bajrami.
Rexhai Surroi was a Yugoslav Albanian journalist, diplomat and writer.
Fadil Hoxha was a Yugoslavian ethnic-Albanian communist revolutionary and politician from Kosovo. He was a member of the Communist Party and fought in the Yugoslav Partisans during World War II. After the war, he was the first President of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija (1945–1963) and later member of the Presidency of Yugoslavia (1974–1984).
Kohavision is a Kosovan free-to-air television channel launched on September 21, 2000. It was founded by politician and journalist Veton Surroi as part of KOHA Group, a media house currently led by Flaka Surroi. Its programming is centered towards news, with Koha e Lajmeve being the most watched news edition in the country. The broadcaster shares its press staff with the Koha Ditore, a daily newspaper. Kohavision also runs Arta News, a 24-hour news and documentary channel. In October 2, 2024 the official YouTube channel of this television got terminated.
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.
Albanian comics, though not well known internationally, were produced mainly by comic-authors from Kosovo. Until recently there was no comic tradition in Albania where comics were seen as junk literature known as fumeti supposedly because pop art was prohibited by the dictatorial communist regime. Today there is one comic magazine published in Kosovo called Leon, and there is Tafë Kusuri comic-strip together with Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes published by Koha Ditore newspaper.
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.
Agron Bajrami is the editor of and a writer for Koha Ditore newspaper, the largest daily newspaper in Kosovo. He filled various journalistic and editing positions at the newspaper since its establishment in 1997, and took over as editor in chief in September 2004 after its former editor and publisher, Veton Surroi, departed for politics. Bajrami is also a member of the board of South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), head of the Kosovo Media Institute, and a regular columnist for Montenegrin daily newspaper Vijesti. Agron Bajrami has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Pristina. He speaks several languages, including: Albanian, English, Serbian and German.
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.
Sehadete Mekuli, also spelled Sadete Mekuli, was a Yugoslavian-born Albanian gynecologist, professor, and public figure. She became known for tending to the injured students of the 1981 protests in Kosovo, when Albanians demanded more autonomy within the Yugoslav federation. As a result of her actions, she was denied a full professorship at the University of Pristina School of Medicine and was forced into early retirement in 1988. She is the inspiration for the character of Teuta Shkreli in Ismail Kadare's 1985 novel The Wedding Procession Turned to Ice.
The media in Pristina includes some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses and most prolific television studio. Pristina is the largest communications center of media in Kosova. Almost all of the major media organizations in Kosova are based in Pristina.
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.
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).
Veli Deva was a senior communist leader in Kosovo under the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
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).
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.
Ramë Manaj is a former politician in Kosovo. He was the mayor of Klina from 2001 to 2006 and was one of two deputy prime ministers of the Republic of Kosovo between 2008 and 2010. He was a member of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) during his time in public life and was the party's secretary-general from 2006 to 2010.