Talat Xhaferi

Talat Xhaferi or Talat Džaferi (, ; born 15 April 1962) is a Macedonian politician and the current President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia since 2017. He was also Minister of Defense from 2013 to 2014. Early life and military career Xhaferi, an ethnic Albanian, was born on 15 April 1962 in the village of Forino near Gostivar, PR Macedonia, FPR Yugoslavia. He attended primary school in the nearby village of Čegrane and continued secondary education at the Belgrade Military High School. He studied at the Military Academy of the Land Army Infantry of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in Belgrade and Sarajevo and specialised in command and staff duties at the General Mihailo Apostolski Military Academy in Skopje. From 1985 to 1991 he was a JNA officer, and from 1992 to 2001 an officer of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM). During the 2001 insurgency, in which ethnic Albanian militants attacked security forces, Xhaferi was at first a senior officer in the ARM, commanding troops in the Tetovo barracks. On April 28, the day of the Vejce massacre, he was on duty as commander at the barracks. Several days later he deserted and joined the National Liberation Army (NLA), an Albanian guerrilla group against the Republic of Macedonia, and became its commander of the 116th Brigade with the nickname of "Commander Forina", from his birthplace. He was later amnestied, following the Ohrid agreement. Political career Xhaferi was first elected to the Macedonian parliament in 2002 for the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which was formed that year by members of the dissolved NLA. From 2004 to 2006 Xhaferi was Deputy Minister of Defence. From 2008 to 2013, Xhaferi was a Macedonian MP for the DUI party, allied with the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party.