Xhezair Shaqiri (; born 15 May 1965), also known as Commander Hoxha, is a Macedonian politician of Albanian descent, former member of the

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an Albanians, ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Republic of Serbia (1992–2006), Republic of R ...

(KLA) and commander of the National Liberation Army (NLA).

Life

Xhezair Shaqiri was born on 15 May 1965 in

Tanuševci Tanuševci (, ) is a village in the Municipalities of North Macedonia, municipality of Čučer-Sandevo Municipality, Čučer-Sandevo, Republic of North Macedonia. Name Tanuševci, in local Albanian Tanushë comes from the name Tanush. Tanush is ...

SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. In 1998 he joined the KLA as a soldier. During his participation in the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

, he first participated in the

Battle of Glođane The Battle of Glođane (, ) was fought during the Kosovo War in the village of Glođane first on March 24, 1998, and again later on August 11, 1998. It involved the Kosovo Albanian militant group known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and th ...

, in which the Yugoslav Army was defeated and had to retreat. He later was put into a unit under the command of

Agim Ramadani Agim Ramadani (3 May 1963 – 11 April 1999) also known with nickname "KATANA", was an Albanian commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization that sought the independence of Kosovo from Serbia. He w ...

with who he fought the Yugoslav Army during the Koshare ambush. In 1999, he was active in

, where he led the 2nd Battalion of the 171st Brigade of the KLA. During this period, Tanusevci gained notoriety as one of the KLA's most significant arms depots. After the Kosovo War, he joined the National Liberation Army (NLA) during the

2001 insurgency in Macedonia The 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia was an armed conflict which began when the ethnic Albanians in North Macedonia, Albanian National Liberation Army (North Macedonia), National Liberation Army (NLA) insurgent group, formed from veter ...

, becoming one of the first NLA commanders and was active in the

Karadak Karadak is a village in the municipality of Raška, Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map ...

region mainly in the villages of Tanuševci, Lipkovo and

Aračinovo Aračinovo ( , ) is a village and seat of the Municipalities of North Macedonia, municipality of Aračinovo Municipality, Aračinovo, North Macedonia. History During the 2001 Macedonia conflict, it was occupied by ethnic Albanian insurgents. De ...

. He led the first NLA group into Tanuševci in mid-February. During the

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...

Shaqiri was suspected of kidnapping a local Macedonian mayor. According to the Macedonian Ministry of Interior, he was the direct perpetrator of the murder of a police officer, in the shopping center ''Chairchanka'' in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

. After the war, he joined the party National Democratic Party, taking some of his former soldiers with him. He was also a deputy in the Macedonian parliament. In 2007, he claimed to be in control of Tanuševci, wanting to secede and join

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. On 24 July 2001, he was placed on the Macedonian blacklist of citizens and 3 days later he was placed on the blacklist list of US President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. In May 2018, then-Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev appointed him as an adviser to the office of prime minister in the field of internal security and radicalism.

VMRO-DPMNE The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (), abbreviated as VMRO-DPMNE (), is a conservative and the main centre-right to right-wing political party in North Macedonia. It was establ ...

condemned his appointment. He resigned from the position due to the public reaction against him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaqiri, Xhezair 1965 births Living people Macedonian people of Albanian descent Military personnel from Skopje Macedonian politicians Kosovo Liberation Army soldiers National Liberation Army (Macedonia) soldiers