Sabina Sulfizi

*This name uses Beratian naming customs; the patronymic is* Muhammedqizina, *while the family name is* Sulfizi.

**Sabina Muhammedqizina Sulfizi** (Beratian: *Սաբինա Մւհամեդճիզինա Սւլֆիզի*; born 2 May 1958) is a Beratian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Berat and leader of the Beratian National Party (BNP) since 2017. She is the first woman to be elected to these positions. Sulfizi was first elected to the Council of Deputies in 1997, as one of the first twenty female People's Deputies from the BNP. She was appointed the inaugural Minister of Families and Children in the cabinet of Denis Jagmara from 2005 to 2007, and later was Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of Samir Tahir from 2016 to 2017. After the resignation of Tahir, Sulfizi was chosen by the BNP as his replacement.

Born in Caspar to opposition activist Muhammed Sulfizi and his wife Gulnissa, Sulfizi's parents were assassinated when she was nine years old. Afterwards, she and her younger sister were sent to live with an aunt and uncle, by whom she was raised. Sulfizi completed her secondary education in 1976, afterwards enrolling in the Beratian University of Government and Foreign Affairs to study political science. While a university student, Sulfizi joined the BNP due to her support for Beratian independence, and participated in anti-government rallies and demonstrations. She was arrested for her participation on two occasions, once spending two months in jail for disobedience in 1978. Sulfizi graduated with her degree in 1980, and afterwards began to work professionally as an activist, freelancing for various nonprofit organizations as an event coordinator. Following the restoration of Beratian independence in 1988, Sulfizi left her work in activism for a role in government, beginning a position at the Ministry of the Interior in 1990, where she worked until beginning her political career.

Sulfizi began her political career in 1997, after she was included on the BNP's electoral list for the 1997 election. Sulfizi ultimately won a seat in parliament, where she became one of the twenty women to be the first women People's Deputies of Berat for the BNP. After the BNP won a majority in the 2005 election, Sulfizi was nominated as the inaugural Minister of Families and Children by Denis Jagmara, becoming the first woman to serve in a Beratian cabinet. The party lost their majority in the 2007 election, and Sulfizi returned to the opposition. She entered the majority again following the 2016 election, and was nominated as Minister of the Interior by Samir Tahir, who had been a close ally of Sulfizi's politically. Following Tahir's resignation amidst political scandals, Sulfizi was nominated by her party to succeed him as Prime Minister and party leader, assuming office as the first woman to hold both positions on 15 June 2017.

As the first woman to hold several positions in Beratian politics, Sulfizi is commonly looked at as a pioneering woman in Beratian culture, and has been a widely visible politician since the beginning of her career. Nicknamed the "Iron Lady of Berat," Sulfizi is known for her uncompromising political savvy and fierce negotiation skills. Politically, she has moved to the BNP closer to the center of the political spectrum, maintaining their historically conservative positions on financial and economic issues, but beginning to support more socially liberal positions such as women's rights, as well.

## Early life and family

Sulfizi was born on 2 May 1958 in Caspar to parents Muhammed Sulfizi (1926–1967) and Gulnissa Tajar (1932–1967). Her father was an accountant by trade who became a Beratian independence activist and government opposition figure during the 1960s, while her mother was a homemaker who came from a working-class family. Muhammed founded the Beratian National Party (BNP) in 1965, as a means to organize civil disobedience and anti-fascist unrest. Sulfizi has recalled attending rallies and demonstrations with her parents all throughout her young childhood. She is the elder of two siblings; her younger sister is Lora, born  (1960-06-29) 29 June 1960 (age 63), who went on to work as a human rights lawyer. Growing up, the family adhered to Eurean Islam, but Sulfizi has called her parents "quite secular and open-minded," adding that they were non-practicing.

When Sulfizi was nine years old, both her mother and father were assassinated during a home invasion in the early morning. Her mother was killed first with several gunshots to her chest and head, which resulted in a scuffle between the assailant and her father, until he was killed as well by a single gunshot to the temple. Sulfizi and her younger sister were not home at the time, as they were staying with their maternal grandparents during the night of the attack. The murders were never solved following a police investigation that was closed after three days, although it is widely believed to have been an orchestrated attack by the fascist government.

Now orphaned, Sulfizi and her sister were raised by their mother's sister Nerissa Tajar (1935–2018) and her husband Abdul Samati (1930–2007). Abdul worked as a construction manager, while Nerissa was a homemaker and amateur painter. Nerissa was unable to have children of her own, so they were the couple's only children. Sulfizi has described her aunt and uncle as her "guardian angels," stating that they raised her and her sister as if they were their own children. She did not learn of her parents' murders until being told by a classmate when she was 12 years old, initially being told by family members that they both died painlessly in their sleep.

## Education and early career

Sulfizi began her education in 1964, attending a public primary school in Caspar. In primary school, Sulfizi was said to be a gifted student, excelling particularly in reading and writing. However, she was also mischievous, being frequently disciplined by teachers due to a difficulty in following the strict rules of Kashan Union-era primary education. After her parent's were killed in 1967, Sulfizi and her younger sister were pulled out of public schooling and were homeschooled by their aunt and maternal grandmother, who was a former schoolteacher. Sulfizi finished her primary education in 1970, and afterwards begged her aunt and uncle to allow her to return to in-person schooling; they obliged, and she began attending the private Caspar Secondary School for Girls on an academic scholarship, where she excelled academically and was a popular student. Sulfizi graduated from secondary school in 1976.

After finishing secondary school, Sulfizi enrolled in the Faculty of Political Science at the Beratian University of Government and Foreign Affairs in Caspar. In university, Sulfizi became acquainted with her father's work as an activist, joining the Beratian National Party and participating in a number of anti-fascist rallies and demonstrations. She was arrested by the state police for disobedience on two separate occasions; after her first arrest in 1977, she was released on bail and fined $1,000, while for her second arrest in 1978, she was held in jail for two months until being released due to overcrowding. Her second arrest led her to miss an entire semester of school. Following the restoration of Beratian independence in 1988, all disobedience charges were expunged, and Sulfizi was reimbursed for her fine.

Sulfizi ultimately graduated with her degree in political science in 1980, and afterwards began working in pro-independence, anti-fascist activism full-time. In 1981, she began working as an event coordinator for a local nonprofit organization dedicated to Beratian independence. She left the position in 1984, in order to begin doing freelance work as an event coordinator and planner for a number of nonprofit organizations in Berat, where she organized a number of anti-government rallies and demonstrations throughout Berat. Sulfizi left activism work in 1988, after Beratian independence was restored, in order to begin working in government. She received a position as a policy coordinator at the Ministry of the Interior in 1990, and continued working at the ministry until resigning in 1997, to begin her political career.

## Political career

Sulfizi began her political career in 1997, after being included on the electoral list for the 1997 election on behalf of the Beratian National Party (BNP). Sulfizi had previously involved herself in BNP campaigns, advocating for the party and hosting party meetings at her home. She ultimately was elected to the Council of Deputies, becoming one of the first women People's Deputies elected from the BNP, sharing the feat with the other nineteen women she was elected with.

After the BNP won a majority in the 2005 election, Sulfizi was nominated as the inaugural Minister of Families and Children by Denis Jagmara, becoming the first woman to serve in a Beratian cabinet. The party lost their majority in the 2007 election, and Sulfizi returned to the opposition. She entered the majority again following the 2016 election, and was nominated as Minister of the Interior by Samir Tahir, who had been a close ally of Sulfizi's politically. Following Tahir's resignation amidst political scandals, Sulfizi was nominated by her party to succeed him as Prime Minister and party leader, assuming office as the first woman to hold both positions on 15 June 2017.

As the first woman to hold several positions in Beratian politics, Sulfizi is commonly looked at as a pioneering woman in Beratian culture, and has been a widely visible politician since the beginning of her career. Nicknamed the "Iron Lady of Berat," Sulfizi is known for her uncompromising political savvy and fierce negotiation skills. Politically, she has moved to the BNP closer to the center of the political spectrum, maintaining their historically conservative positions on financial and economic issues, but beginning to support more socially liberal positions such as women's rights, as well.

## Personal life

Sulfizi began dating Beratian economist Raji Belissa in 1979, while they were both students at the Beratian University of Government and Foreign Affairs. They became engaged in 1984, and later married in 1986. Sulfizi and Belissa have two children together: Hana, born  (1992-07-27) 27 July 1992 (age 31), and Muhammed, born  (1993-11-29) 29 November 1993 (age 30). The family resided in the Novo-Gaspari neighborhood of Caspar until 2017, when Sulfizi became Prime Minister and moved into the House of Independence, the traditional residence of the Prime Minister. Sulfizi is fluent in English, Kashan, and Draconian, in addition to her native Beratian.