Rrahman Morina
| Rrahman Morina | |
|---|---|
| 14th President of the League of Communists of Kosovo | |
|
In office 27 January 1989 – 12 October 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Remzi Kolgeci |
| Succeeded by | Post abolished (as the League of Communists disbanded) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
1943 Peć, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Died |
15 October 1990 (aged 47) Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Nationality | Yugoslav |
| Political party | Socialist Party of Serbia, League of Communists of Kosovo (until 1990) |
| Spouse(s) | Bratislava Buba Banjac-Morina |
| Profession | police officer, politician |
Rrahman Morina (Serbian: Рахман Морина, Rahman Morina), (1943 – 12 October 1990), was a Yugoslav police officer and political figure of Kosovo-Albanian origin. He is remembered as being an opponent of Albanian separatism.
Early career
Morina had a career as an agent of the Ministry of Interior of Yugoslavia, and later on as a party official in the League of Communists of Kosovo. He rose through the ranks and was in 1981 appointed as Kosovo's interior minister, and held thereby the top law enforcement office in the province. In March the same year, in the wake of the 1981 riots in Kosovo, he called in the national police to quell the uprising, without informing or consulting the provincial government. This act contributed to the resignation of Kosovan party boss Mahmut Bakalli, as the latter did not prove himself accountable enough in the eyes of the government in Belgrade.
Leader of Kosovo
In 1988, Morina was installed as leader of the Kosovan wing of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, due to the "anti-bureaucratic revolution", Milošević-orchestrated removal of Azem Vllasi and Kaqusha Jashari from the Kosovan party leadership, as he was one of very few non-Slavic opponents of tendencies of Kosovan separatism.
Morina came to be seen as a pliant proxy of the Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, although Milošević initially despised Morina. The Serbian leader once went to the Yugoslavian president Lazar Mojsov, furiously demanding Morina's removal from the Kosovan government (and the rest of it). Milošević even threatened to resign from his office as leader of the League of Communists of Serbia, if Morina was not ousted. In 1989 Morina resigned from Kosovo's political structures during the miners' strike.
Death
He died in 1990, at the age of 47, under suspicious circumstances in Pristina, while attending the constituent convention of the Kosovan branch of the Socialist Party of Serbia. The official death cause was labelled a heart attack, but persistent rumors says he was actually poisoned at the convention.
Private
He was married to Bratislava "Buba" Morina, a Serbian lawyer, government minister, and Commissioner for Refugees of Serbia.
References
Bibliography
- Raif Dizdarević, Od smrti Tita do smrti Jugoslavije (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 2000)
- Viktor Meier, Yugoslavia - A History of its Demise (London: Routledge, 1999)