Ali Ahmeti

Ali Ahmeti (; born 4 January 1959), also known by his nom de guerre Abaz Gjuka is a Macedonian politician of Albanian descent, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, and a junior coalition partner in the Macedonian government from 2008 to 2024. Ahmeti was the political leader of the former Albanian National Liberation Army in the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia.

Life Ali Ahmeti was born on 4 January 1959, in Zajas, PR Macedonia, FPR Yugoslavia. From 1979 to 1983, Ahmeti studied philosophy at the University of Pristina in Kosovo, graduating in 1983. Between 1981 and 1983, he also was one of the student leaders in the 1981 protests in Kosovo. For these activities, Ahmeti was arrested and imprisoned for one year by the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities.

Between 1984 and 1986, he was involved with the reconsolidation of the student movement (and general popular movement) in Kosovo. In 1986, Ahmeti gained political asylum in Switzerland, where he lived until 2001, and was working as a coordinator of different groups.

From 1988 to 1989, he was one of the leaders of the student and miners' protests against the Milosevic government. From 1989 to 1990, he was one of the main organizers of protests of the Albanian diaspora in Europe. In this light, he initiated and was named as a leader of the Coordination Council which unified all Albanian political parties in Macedonia, and the former structures of the NLA. In 2008, DUI entered in coalition with VMRO-DPMNE.

On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck Albania. Ahmeti was part of a delegation of Albanian politicians from North Macedonia visiting the earthquake epicentre that expressed their condolences to the Albanian president Ilir Meta.

In September 2020, Ahmeti testified to prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers regarding war crimes in the Kosovo War. In May 2024, he was honored with the title "Honorary Citizen of Tirana" in Albania.