Oliver Ivanović

Oliver Ivanović (Оливер Ивановић; 1 April 1953 – 16 January 2018) was a Kosovo Serb politician.

Ivanović was born in Rznić, a village near Dečani in the west of SAP Kosovo, FPR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo), on 1 April 1953.

His father, Bogdan, was a history professor, and his mother, Olga, was a professor of Serbian language and literature.

He also had a brother, Miroslav, and a sister, Nataša.

His paternal heritage was Montenegrin.

He attended primary and secondary mechanical-technical school in Kosovska Mitrovica.

After turning 18, he joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in 1971.

Ivanović enrolled in the Zagreb Military Academy to become a pilot.

During his studies he started karate training and quickly became an instructor.

Three years into his studies he was diagnosed with a color vision deficiency and left the Military Academy.

He returned to Kosovo and graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Kosovska Mitrovica, University of Priština.

He also studied at the Faculty of Economics in Priština.

He continued, parallel to his studies, professionally training in karate.

He received higher belts and achieved recognition as an honorary international karate judge.

After the studies, he worked in several companies in Kosovska Mitrovica.

With the creation of multi-party system in SFR Yugoslavia in 1990, he stepped out of parties, declaring himself "a man of the people".

From 1991 to 1998, he was the head of the Sports Center in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Prior to the Kosovo War and the establishment of UNMIK in Kosovo, Ivanović was a lesser-known member of the Socialist Party of Serbia in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Also, from 1998 to 2004, he served as the general director of nickel mine company "Feronikl" located in Glogovac.

Ivanović joined the Democratic Alternative led by Nebojša Čović.

With the establishment of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija in 1999, he was appointed as the president of the executive board for North Kosovo.

He was removed from this position on 6 June 2001.

He was also removed from the presidential function of the Regional Board of Serbian National Council in October 2001.

On 2 August 2001, he became the Head of the Department for Economic Development and Reconstruction of the "Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija", while the Head of the Center was Nebojša Čović.

Ivanović led the Coalition "Return" in the 2001 Kosovan parliamentary election held in November 2001, getting 89,388 votes which earned 22 places in the Assembly of Kosovo (120 places in total) for his coalition.

He was appointed as the minister in the newly formed Government of Kosovo and a member of the Presidency of the Assembly of Kosovo on 2 December 2001.

In March 2004, a violent unrest in Kosovo broke out, in which Kosovo Albanians took part in wide-ranging attacks on the Kosovo Serbs minority.

The Government of Kosovo consisted of Serbian representatives fell soon after.

In 2004, Ivanović's party Democratic Alternative (DA) merged into the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and he together with Nebojša Čović became one of the party's leaders.

Also, in the same year he became the director of the National Employment Service for Kosovo and Metohija controlled by the Government of Serbia.

He was the leader of the Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija in the 2004 Kosovan parliamentary election held in October 2004.

The election was massively boycotted by Kosovo Serbs.

Eventually, the list won 1,414 votes, thus taking 8 out of 10 Serbian minority places in the Assembly of Kosovo (110 places in total).

Ivanović served as the State Secretary of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija from 2008 to 2012 and was also a member of the Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija from 2001 to 2008.

On 17 February 2008, Kosovo Albanians unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in the Assembly of Kosovo.

In a meeting attended by 109 of the total 120 MPs, the assembly unanimously declared Kosovo's independence, while all 11 representatives of the Kosovo Serbs minority boycotted the proceedings.

In July 2008, Ivanović joined the Government of Serbia as the State Secretary of the newly formed Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija under Minister Goran Bogdanović.

The Ministry took over jurisdictions of disbanded "Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija".

In January 2010, the SDP ceased to exist, which resulted in an exchange of bitter words between Ivanović and Čović.

He was assassinated by unknown perpetrators on 16 January 2018 in North Mitrovica.