Rexhai Surroi

Rexhai Surroi (June 8, 1929 — December 22, 1988) was the father of Veton Surroi and a journalist, diplomat and writer. He was a member of the first cohort of students to have finished high school in Albanian language in the former Yugoslavia in 1947/48. He graduated as a lawyer from the University of Belgrade. He was an active football player before becoming journalist and editor of weekly "Zani i Rinis". He was an editor in Radio Prishtina, where he became director in the mid-sixties. In 1969/70, as vice-president of the provincial government of Kosovo, he was one of the most fervorous advocates for the establishment of the University of Prishtina, the first and only in the Former Yugoslavia, where the language of instruction was Albanian. In 1971, he was appointed Ambassador of the Former Yugoslavia to Bolivia and from 1974-1977 he held the post of assistant secretary in the Federal Secretariat of Foreign Affairs. From 1977-1981 he was the Ambassador of the Former Yugoslavia to Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica and from 1981-1983 again held the post of the assistant secretary in the Federal Secretariat of Foreign Affairs. From 1983-1985 he was the general manager of the largest Albanian media company in Kosovo "Rilindja"; from 1985-1988 he was Ambassador of the Former Yugoslavia to Spain, where he died. He wrote "Besniku", "Dashunija dhe urrejtja", "Pranvera e tretë" and "Orteku I & II".

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