Yll Rugova (born 1984) is one of two deputy Ministers for Culture in Kosovo. He is a political activist, information designer and typographer [1] from Kosovo. As a political and social activist, he is known as one of the founders of the Strong Party [2] and initiator of a series of political and social events in Kosovo, including the 2013 protests against KEK in Pristina. [3] In 2014 he was a candidate for Partia e Fortë during national elections. [4]
He is a lecturer of graphic design at the University for Business and Technology in Pristina. In 2005 together with Visar Arifaj co-founded the communication agency Trembelat. [5] Together with Arifaj, and other activists and artists from Kosovo he founded the satirical political party Strong Party. In 2013 the party won one seat in the local elections for the local assembly of the capital Pristina. He is also actively engaged as an outspoken atheist, publishing articles and debating with religious conservatives on national and regional media. He was claimed as "the pope of atheism in Kosovo" by the national newspaper Gazeta Express.
Yll appears frequently in national and international media and engages in public debates on politics of Kosovo and Albania. [6] [7] [8]
The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started in late February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian rebel group known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), with air support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) from 24 March 1999, and ground support from the Albanian army.
Ibrahim Rugova was the first President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova, serving from 1992 to 2000 and again from 2002 until his death in 2006, and a prominent Kosovo Albanian political leader, scholar, and writer. He oversaw a popular struggle for independence, advocating a peaceful resistance to Yugoslav rule and lobbying for U.S. and European support, especially during the Kosovo War. Owing to his role in Kosovo's history, Rugova has been dubbed "Father of the Nation" and "Gandhi of the Balkans". Rugova founded the political party Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) in 1989. The LDK, which had the support of 90% of the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo, advocated for Kosovo's independence by peaceful means. The party established a shadow government that provided basic government and social services to the Kosovo Albanian population, including education and health care, in effect creating a parallel state. In May 1992, Rugova was elected President of this parallel state. In March 2002, with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo administering the province, he was elected President of Kosovo. He held this position until his death in January 2006, and was posthumously declared a Hero of Kosovo.
The Democratic League of Kosovo is one of the three largest political parties in Kosovo, alongside its longtime rival, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, & Vetevendosje.
Bajram Kosumi is an Albanian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Kosovo for nearly one year. He was nominated by Kosovan President Ibrahim Rugova and elected Prime Minister by the Kosovo Parliament on 23 March 2005 following his predecessor Ramush Haradinaj's indictment for war crimes and subsequent resignation. Kosumi resigned on 1 March 2006 amid widespread unpopularity and was replaced by former rebel leader Agim Çeku. He also served as the deputy chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo.
The Parliamentary Party of Kosovo is a social-liberal political party in the Republic of Kosovo. It is led by former prime minister Bajram Kosumi. It is one of the oldest parties in Kosovo.
The People's Movement of Kosovo was a political party in Kosovo active after the Kosovo War, having originally been founded as a political movement of Albanian nationalists in 1981. Despite participating in several elections in autonomous Kosovo, its pre-war existence was its most historically significant period. Historically, its support and membership came from Albanian diaspora, especially within Switzerland and Germany, originating mainly from former Yugoslav republics.
The politics of Kosovo takes place in a framework of a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President (Presidenti) is the head of state and the Prime Minister (Kryeministri) the head of government. Parliamentary elections are held every four years, the most recent in 2019.
Vetëvendosje is a progressive, social-democratic, Albanian nationalist political party in Kosovo that opposes foreign involvement in the country's internal affairs, and campaigns for the principle of equal rights and fair equality of opportunity and for the sovereignty exercised by the people, as part of the right to self-determination. Vetevendosje is also the largest political party in Kosovo.
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Kosovo was a paramilitary organization, a military wing of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the main right-wing party in Kosovo established by Ibrahim Rugova and Bujar Bukoshi. It was active during the Kosovo War (1998–99).
Hashim Thaçi is a Kosovar politician who has been the President of Kosovo since April 2016. 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 December 12 2014.
Rexhep Qosja (born 1936 in Vusanje, Zeta Banovina is a prominent Albanian writer and literary critic from a part of Malësia in modern Montenegro. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pristina and graduated with a master's degree from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology in 1968.
The Kosovar Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major football national cup tournament in Kosovo. It was established in 1991, and is organized by the Football Federation of Kosovo. Feronikeli are the current holders, who won their 3rd Kosovar Cup against Trepça'89 at the 2018–19 Kosovar Cup Final held at the Fadil Vokrri Stadium.
Parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo on 12 December 2010, following a vote of no-confidence in the government that brought forward the election. They were the first elections after the country declared independence.
The Media of 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 Strong Party is a satirical political party in Kosovo formed in 2013. Its goal is "to come to power to control public money in the interest of supporters and the like-minded."
The media in Prishtina include 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.
Pristina is the capital city of Kosovo. In the preliminary results of the 2011 census the population of Pristina was around 198,000. The majority of the population is Albanian, but there are also smaller communities including Bosniaks, Serbs, Romani and others. The surface of Pristina is 854 km². Pristina is known as the center of cultural, economical and political developments. Since 2014 the current mayor is Shpend Ahmeti. The city is home of the University of Pristina, Pristina International Airport, the Government Building and the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo.
The R 7 Motorway, also commonly Autostrada Ibrahim Rugova, is the longest motorway in the Republic of Kosovo running 129.8 kilometres (80.7 mi) in the districts of Pristina and Prizren. It consists of two traffic lanes and an emergency lane in each driving direction separated by a central reservation.
Parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo on 11 June 2017.