Mehmeti was a very well known wrestler in Macedonia in his youth: he was tough, strong, and fought in the rugged mountains of the Balkans until the end of 1948 when he crossed the border into Greece.
His ‘application for registration as an alien’ in New Zealand, dated 25 May 1951 and witnessed by Constable K. H. English at Pahiatua, described Nazmi Mehmeti as 5”11, of good build, with brown hair and green eyes.
In August 1957 Nazmi and his wife Sonya were interviewed by a civil servant processing their naturalisation application; he noted that Mrs Mehmet ‘has adopted the Moslem religion since her marriage to Mehmet’ and with regards to the oath of allegiance to New Zealand, ‘both wish to take the oath on the Koran.’[1] By trade, Mehmeti was a carpenter and worked around Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, and Wellington.
He made a marked contribution to the leadership of the New Zealand Muslim Association during the 1960s and is particularly remembered for his constant efforts to maintain the NZMA Islamic Centre property on Hargreaves Street.
A few days before the festival of Eid al Adha in 1963, a Muslim burial plot was officially established in the Waikumete Cemetery in western Auckland.