Bamir Topi

Bamir Topi married Teuta Mema in 1986. The couple has two children—both daughters, namely, Nada and Etida.

Bamir Topic was named the Honorary President of KF Tirana, a football club based in his hometown of Tirana.

Bamir Myrteza Topi was born on April 24, 1957 in the Albanian city of Tirana. Not much information is available about the Bamir Topi’s parents but he belonged to a Muslim family.Not a lot of information is available regarding his childhood years. He studied at the University of Tirana and his field of study was veterinary studies. Eventually, he went on to earn a doctorate in the subject.

Bamir Topi started working as a research scholar at the Institute of Veterinary Scientific Research in the 1984. In 1987, he went to Italy for post graduate studies in Molecular Biology. He completed his post-graduation in 1990 and returned to Albania.

After returning to Albania, Bamir Topi was made the Director of the Food Safety and Veterinary Institute. He worked at the particular institute till the year 1995 and throughout his time at the institute he became well-known as a lecturer in toxicology as well as pharmacology.

Bamir Topi entered politics in 1996 that and won a seat in the Albanian parliament as a representative of the Democratic Party of Albania. His party had formed the government at the time and he became the Minister of Agriculture and Food in the new government. He served in that role till 1997.

Bamir Topi rose in profile within the Democratic Part of Albania quite quickly and in fact headed the Democratic Party of Albania in the Parliament in the year 2001. After Genc Pollo left the party, Bamir Topi became the vice president of the Democratic Party of Albania and became close to the president of the party, Sali Berisha. During the 2001 elections, Topi was particularly influential as he was the chief arbitrator in discussions in the election process regarding a joint candidate.

In the 2005 elections, the Democratic Party of Albania returned to power and Bamir Topi again found himself in a position of strength within the party. However, it was two years later that Bamir Topi announced himself as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Albania with the support of Sali Berisha. Bamir Topi finally became the President of Albania after four rounds of voting after none of the candidates were able to reach 84 votes that are required.

After becoming the President of Albania on 24 July 2007, Bamir Topi gave up the vice presidency of the Democratic Party of Albania and over the course of his tenure he became a passionate supporter of a separate state for Kosovo. However, his most significant presidential campaign was that of inducting Albania into NATO as well as the European Union.

Bamir Topi’s most important contribution as President has been the campaign to induct Albania into the European Union and NATO.