Rauf Fico


Rauf Fico was an Albanian diplomat and politician.

Life

Rauf Fico was born in 1881 to Tahmaz Fico of the Fico family of Gjirokastër and Hava Buzo from Berat. He studied in Vienna and later at the Mekteb-i Mülkiye. In 1912 he joined Vlora's government as a councilor in the Ministry of the Interior. In 1916, during the Austrian military administration, he served as vice-prefect of Tiranë. In that position, he co-founded Streha Vorfnore, the city's first public orphanage, on November 28, 1917, the date of the fifth anniversary of the Albanian Declaration of Independence. His collaborators that also constituted the board of the orphanage were Zyber Hallulli, Mytesim Këlliçi, Luigj Shala and Xhelal Toptani. Fico was one of the initiators of Congress of Tiranë together with Abdi Toptani and Ismail Ndroqi, which would lead the path to the Congress of Durrës later that month, establishing the continuity of the newly created Albanian state after World War I; the preparative meetings would take place at his office on December 7, 1918.
In 1921 he served as acting Minister of Interior Affairs in Pandeli Evangjeli's cabinet. In the elections of 1923 and 1925 he was elected deputy of Durrës.
In the late 1920s he served as an ambassador to Turkey and Bulgaria and in April 1929 was appointed Foreign Minister of Albania. However, due to his opposition to the Italians he was removed from this post in November 1930 and returned to being an ambassador, to Yugoslavia, Greece and Germany. After Albania's invasion by the Italian army, he was arrested and interned in Italy. He died in Tirana on January 23, 1944 a few months after he returned from Italy following the country's capitulation.

Orders, decorations, and honours

Throughout his political and diplomatic career Fico had been awarded various orders: