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Rizvan Sulejmani

Rizvan Sulejmani (Skopje, January 5, 1957) is an Albanian professor, activist, philosopher and politician from North Macedonia. He is a co-founder, pro-rector, and full professor of Political Thought at the Mother Teresa University in Skopje. Before his engagement at Mother Teresa University, he held several governmental positions. From 1994 to 2001, he served as a Member of Parliament for the Party for Democratic Prosperity in the Macedonian Parliament. In 2001, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense in the SDSM-DUI government, a position he held until 2004. In December 2004, he was appointed Minister of Local Self-Government, a role he held until August 2006.

Family

Rizvan Sulejmani is a scion of one of the most prominent Albanian families (Matkali). The family originates from the village of Dardhë in Mat, Albania, but relocated to Skopje at the end of the 18th century. The most notable family member was Ibrahim Aga Matkaliu, who, around the late 19th century, was one of the largest landowners in Skopje at that time. He earned the nickname Matkali because of his ownership of an iconic property for the family—Matka. During the Albanian National Awakening a period of the struggle for the creation of the Albanian state he was one of the leaders of the Skopje branch and a member of the League of Prizren. For his involvement, Ibrahim Aga was imprisoned on March 23, 1888, alongside other prominent Albanians, and sent to the prison on the island of Rhodes, where he was incarnated for 10 years. Upon his release, he and his descendants continued their resistance and activities for the Albanian cause, opposing measures such as the agrarian reform used by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to displace Albanians, and contributing to movements like Balli Kombëtar and beyond. Due to these efforts, the family often faced persecution, imprisonment, and liquidation.

Early Life and Career

Rizvan Sulejmani was born on January 5, 1957, in Skopje, the son of Zulfi Sulejmani, a distinguished activist for the Albanian cause in North Macedonia. He completed primary school in the village of Lubin and secondary school at Zef Lush Marku Gymnasium in Skopje, where he was one of the most outstanding students of his generation. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje.

From an early age, he followed in his family’s footsteps in national activism, which made him a target of discrimination and persecution under the Yugoslav communist regime of the time. In 1984, he began working at the Sharrcem factory in Hani i Elezit, Kosovo, as an electronics engineer. He remained in this position for about seven years before returning to his hometown to engage in political and organizational activities for Albanians in Macedonia. During this period, he worked as a mathematics and informatics teacher at Zef Lush Marku High School in Skopje.

His political engagement became institutionalized in 1994 when he was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Party for Democratic Prosperity in the Republic of Macedonia. In 1998, he was re-elected as an MP for the Skopje district for a second term, during which he served as a political representative during the 2001 conflict. Following the Ohrid Framework Agreement, in the new government formed by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and the Democratic Union for Integration, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense in 2002. In this role, he worked on reforms and increasing Albanian representation in state institutions. During this period, he also advocated for Macedonia's NATO membership and founded the NATO Club of Macedonia.

He held the position of Deputy Minister of Defense until December 2004, when he became Minister of Local Self-Government in the new SDSM-DUI government. During this time, he worked on implementing decentralization and fiscal decentralization, aimed at empowering municipalities after the new territorial division of Macedonia. This enabled Albanians to govern two predominantly Albanian municipalities, Kërçovë and Struga. He held the ministerial position until August 2006, after which he went for specialization at Georgetown University in Atlanta, USA.

After completing his specialization in the USA, he earned a doctorate in political science from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje while also serving as the director of the Institute for Political and Intercultural Studies. In 2007, he was engaged as an external expert for the government of the Republic of Kosovo, advising Deputy Prime Minister Lutfi Haziri. He continued his consulting work until 2009, when he was appointed a professor at the Balkan University and the University of Tetova.

Founding of Mother Teresa University

In 2015, recognizing the need for an Albanian university in Skopje, the historical capital of Albanians, he initiated the effort alongside fellow activists. This initiative bore fruit in 2016 when he became one of the founders and first professors of Mother Teresa University in Skopje. In 2020, he was elected pro-rector of Mother Teresa University, a position he held until his retirement.

Personal Life

Rizvan Sulejmani is married and the father of two children.