A Muslim member of the Tatar minority and graduate of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance and Accounting, he was first employed as a construction worker before the fall of the Communist regime, present on the building site of the Danube-Black Sea Canal in 1980–1982.
[1] Elected to the Chamber for Constanța County during the 2000 suffrage, he sat with the Ethnic Minority group, and served on the Committee for Budget, Finance and Banks, and on the Committee for Regulation.
[1] In late 2001, following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City, he contended that Islamic fundamentalist groupings had attempted to infiltrate the UDTTMR and the Romanian Tatar community at large, but that the Union had rejected all collaboration.
[2] In his view, this information was reflected in reports presented by the Intelligence Service).
[2] Negiat Sali is noted for his views in respect to the total number of Tatars in Romania, arguing that the community is subject to under-counting, due to the alleged tendency of its members to declare Romanian ethnicity in censuses.