Hashim Thaçi

Hashim Thaçi ([hä'ʃɪm 'θɑ:t͡ʃɪ]; born 24 April 1968) is a Kosovar politician who was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo and is the current Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the new cabinet led by Isa Mustafa, which assumed office on 12 December 2014. Thaçi is also the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK). He rose to prominence as the political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a paramilitary organisation which was active during the Kosovo War. In the meantime, he also served as head of a provisional government towards the end of and immediately after the war in 1999.

Early life and education

Hashim Thaçi was born in the village of Broćna, Srbica, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Buroja, Skenderaj, Kosovo).

Thaçi studied philosophy and history at the University of Pristina. By 1993, he was living in Switzerland, where he joined the Albanian political émigré group. He pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Zürich in the departments of history and international relations. He became a co-founder of the People's Movement of Kosovo (LPK).