Career
He headed the delegation of Kosovo in the talks on the political status of Kosovo with Serbia in Vienna in February 2006. Haziri is a central figure in Kosovo politics and was a candidate for the successor of the late Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova for the chairmanship of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). Haziri was part of the students" leadership structures within the University of Pristina during the 1990s.
Since 1990, Haziri was part of the structures of the Ministry of Defence of the unrecognised Republic of Kosova and in charge of numerous functions within the then existing parallel structures in Kosovo.
In March 1990, Haziri was elected President of the Youth Forum of the Gnjilane branch of the LDK and served as its president until 1997. Haziri remained in both functions until 2000.
In October 1998, Haziri was arrested and imprisoned on charges of leadership of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) structures in the Karadaku zone (Gnjilane). After his release in August 1999, Haziri became Deputy Mayor of the municipality of Gnjilane, whereas in November 2000 he became mayor of the same municipality, in which function he remained until December 2004.
In June 2001, he was also elected chairman of the Association of Kosovo Municipalities.
In this function, Haziri was also chairman of the Kosovo Municipal Delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Governance in Strasbourg (Council of Europe). On 3 December 2004, Haziri was elected as Kosovo"s first Minister for Local Government. Haziri obtained a management diploma of the Organization for Security and Company-operation in Europe, certificates of Georgetown University, University of Colorado, a diploma from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) as well as other recognitions from local and international organisations.