Renowned Albanian academic Ylli Popa passed away

16/08/2017 00:00

Ylli Popa, one of the main founders and leaders of the Albanian cardiology, has died at 87.

Popa was born in Elbasan, and has been author and co-author of many academic books which have been published and used for the past decades at the university of medicine.

Popa was a renowned scholar in the regional and even international arena. Many of his books were published in scientific magazines indexed abroad.

Popa will be remembered beyond medicine. He is author of the first of the first article that contested the values of the constitutional and political system that Albania inherited from 1944.

His article, with a title borrowed from the renowned work of Marsel Prust, “Looking for the lost time”, was published on April 30th and May 1st of 1990, on the daily newspaper of the communist party still in power. His article caused a powerful ideological shock, and was seen as a sign abroad that Albania was having different opinions even publicly, which was the first step towards the future democratic developments.

For 10 years, from 1997 to 2007, he led the Science Academy. He was a member and founder of the Albanian Helsinki Committee, the first organization that criticized the political system that Albania had inherited, the first organization that formalized its activity even before the creation of an Albanian opposition.

Popa was MP of the Albanian Parliament for two terms.

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