Alija Izetbegovi

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Alija Izetbegovi

1st President of Bosnia and Herzegovina In office 20 December 1990 14 March 1996 Jure Pelivan Mile Akmadi Prime Haris Silajdi Minister Hasan Muratovi Obrad Piljak (As President of the SR Preceded by Bosnia and Herzegovina) ivko Radii (As President of the Succeeded by Tripartite presidency) 1st Bosniak member of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Presidency In office 14 March 1996 15 October 2000 Succeeded by Halid Genjac Personal details 8 August 1925 Bosanski amac, Kingdom of Serbs, Born Croats and Slovenes

19 October 2003 (aged 78) Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosniak Nationality Political party Party of Democratic Action Halida Repovac Spouse(s) Politician, activist, lawyer, author, Profession and philosopher Sunni Islam Religion Died Alija Izetbegovi (Bosnian pronunciation: [alija iztbit]) (8 August 1925 19 October 2003) was a Bosniak politician, activist, lawyer, author, and philosopher who in 1990 became the first President of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000. He was also the author of several books, most notably Islam Between East and West and the Islamic Declaration.

Contents

1 Early life 2 Dissident and activist 3 Imprisonment 4 Presidency 5 Bosnian War 6 Ending the war 7 After the war 8 Personal life 9 Writings 10 References 11 Links

Early life
Izetbegovi was born in the town of Bosanski amac, situated in the north of Bosnia; he was one of five children born to a distinguished but impoverished family descended from former Slavic Ottoman aristocrats from Belgrade who fled to Bosnia in 1868, after Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. His grandfather, Alija, was the mayor of Bosanski amac. While his grandfather Alija was a soldier in skdar, he married a Turkish woman, Sdka Hanm. The couple moved to amac and had five children. His father, an accountant, declared bankruptcy in 1927, and the next year the family moved to Sarajevo. Izetbegovi became closely involved in Bosniak society as he grew up during the 1930s and 1940s. With a devoted family and Muslim upbringing, he received a secular education, eventually graduating from the Sarajevo Law School. Around the same time he joined the Mladi Muslimani (Young Muslims), a controversial[why?] organization that aided Bosniak refugees during the Second World War.[clarification needed] After the war, Izetbegovi was arrested in 1946 and sentenced

to three years in prison for his wartime activities.[clarification needed][1] Once free, he earned a law degree at Sarajevo University and remained engaged in politics.[2] Izetbegovi was married four times. He had a son, Bakir, who followed his father into politics, as well as two daughters.[1]

Dissident and activist

See also: Islamic Declaration In 1970, Izetbegovi published a manifesto entitled the Islamic Declaration, expressing his views on relationships between Islam, state and society. The authorities interpreted the declaration as a call for introduction of Sharia law in Bosnia, and banned the publication.[3] The declaration remains a source of controversy. It was used by Serb nationalists to justify the war, often quoting the declaration as an intent to create an Iranian style Muslim republic in Bosnia.[3] Passages from the declaration were frequently quoted by Izetbegovi's opponents during the 1990s, who considered it to be an open statement of Islamic fundamentalism. [4] The opinion is shared by some Western authors such as John Schindler.[5] Izetbegovi vigorously denied such accusations.[3] British author Noel Malcolm asserted that the Serb nationalist interpretation of the Declaration was false propaganda and offered a more benevolent reading.[6] Explaining that it was "a general treatise on politics and Islam, directed towards the entire Muslim world; it is not about Bosnia and does not even mention Bosnia" and that "none of these points can be described as fundamentalist". Malcolm argues that Izetbegovi's views were much more thoroughly expressed in his later book, Islam between East and West, where he presented Islam as a kind of spiritual and intellectual synthesis which included the values of West Europe."[6] Izetbegovi wrote the book Islam between East and West in 1980. It explores the notion that "Islam is the only synthesis capable of unifying mankind's essentially dualistic existence".

Imprisonment
In April 1983, Izetbegovi and twelve other Bosniak activists (including Melika Salihbegovi, Edhem Biaki, Omer Behmen, Mustafa Spahi and Hasan engi) were tried before a Sarajevo court for a variety of made-up charged called "offences as principally hostile activity inspired by Muslim nationalism, association for purposes of hostile activity and hostile propaganda". Izetbegovi was further accused of organizing a visit to a Muslim congress in Iran. All of those tried were convicted and Izetbegovi was sentenced to fourteen years in prison.[citation
needed]

The verdict was strongly criticised by Western human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Helsinki Watch, which claimed that the case was based on "communist propaganda", and the accused were not charged with either using or advocating violence. The following May, the Bosnian Supreme Court conceded the point with an announcement that "some of the actions of the accused did not have the characteristics of criminal acts" and reduced Izetbegovi's sentence to twelve years. In 1988, as communist rule faltered, he was pardoned and released after almost five years in prison. His health had suffered serious damage.[2]

Presidency
The introduction of a multi-party system in Yugoslavia at the end of the 1980s prompted Izetbegovi and other Bosniak activists to establish a political party, the Party of Democratic Action (Stranka Demokratske Akcije, SDA) in 1989. It had a largely Muslim character; similarly, the other principal ethnic groups in Bosnia, the Serbs and Croats, also established ethnically based parties. (The Communist Party renamed itself the Party of Democratic Changes.) The SDA won the largest share of the vote, 33% of the seats, with the next runners-up being nationalist ethnic parties representing Serbs and Croats. Fikret Abdi won the popular vote for president among the Bosniak candidates, with 44% of the vote, Izetbegovi closely behind with 37%. According to the Bosnian constitution, the first two candidates of each of the three constitutient nations would be elected to a seven-member multi-ethnic rotating presidency (with two Croats, two Serbs, two Bosniaks and one Yugoslav); a Croat took the post of prime minister and a Serb the presidency of the Assembly. Abdi agreed to stand down as the Bosniak candidate for the Presidency and Izetbegovi became President.[citation needed] Bosnia's power-sharing arrangements broke down very quickly as ethnic tensions grew after the outbreak of fighting between Serbs and Croats in neighboring Croatia. Although Izetbegovi was to due to hold the presidency for only one year according to the constitution, this arrangement was initially suspended due to "extraordinary circumstances" and was eventually abandoned altogether during the war as the Serb and Croat nationalistic parties SDS and HDZ abandoned the government. When fighting broke out in Slovenia and Croatia in the summer of 1991, it was immediately apparent that Bosnia would soon become embroiled in the conflict. Izetbegovi initially proposed a loose confederation to preserve a unitary Bosnian state and strongly urged a peaceful solution. He did not subscribe to the peace at all costs view and commented in February 1991 that I would sacrifice peace for a sovereign Bosnia-Herzegovina ... but for that peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina I would not sacrifice sovereignty. By the start of 1992 it had become apparent that the rival nationalist demands were fundamentally incompatible: the Bosniaks and Croats sought an independent Bosnia while the Serbs wanted it to remain in a rump Yugoslavia dominated by Serbia. Izetbegovi publicly complained that he was being forced to ally with one side or the other, vividly characterising the dilemma by comparing it to having to choose between leukaemia and a brain tumour.[7] In January 1992, Portuguese diplomat Jos Cutileiro drafted a plan, later known as the Lisbon Agreement, that would turn Bosnia into a triethnic cantonal state. Initially, all three sides signed up to the agreement; Izetbegovi for the Bosniaks, Radovan Karadi for the Serbs and Mate Boban for the Croats. Some two weeks later, however, Izetbegovi withdrew his signature and declared his opposition to any type of division of Bosnia, supposedly encouraged by Warren Zimmermann, the United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia at the time.[citation needed]

Bosnian War
Main article: Bosnian War

In February 1992, Izetbegovi called a national referendum on independence for Bosnia as a European condition for recognition of Bosnia as an independent state, despite warnings from the Serbian members of the presidency that any move to independence would result in the Serbianinhabited areas of Bosnia seceding to remain with the rump Yugoslavia. The referendum was boycotted by Serbs, who regarded it as an unconstitutional move, but achieved a 99.4% vote in favour on a 67% turnout (almost entirely constituted of Bosniaks and Croats).[citation needed] The Bosnian parliament, already vacated by the Bosnian Serbs, formally declared independence from Yugoslavia on 29 February and Izetbegovi announced the country's independence on 3 March. It did not take effect until 7 April 1992, when the European Union and United States recognised the new country. Sporadic fighting between Serbs and government forces occurred across Bosnia in the run-up to international recognition. Izetbegovi appears to have gambled that the international community would send a peacekeeping force upon recognising Bosnia in order to prevent a war, but this did not happen. Instead, war immediately broke out across the country as Serb and Yugoslav Army forces took control of large areas of Bosnia against the opposition of poorly-equipped government security forces. Initially the Serb forces attacked non-Serb civilian population in Eastern Bosnia. Once towns and villages were securely in their hands, the Serb forces the military, the police, the paramilitaries and, sometimes, even Serb villagers applied the same pattern: Bosniak houses and apartments were systematically ransacked or burnt down, Bosniak civilians were rounded up or captured, and sometimes beaten or killed in the process. Men and women were separated, with many of the men detained in the camps. The women were kept in various detention centres where they had to live in intolerably unhygeinic conditions, where they were mistreated in many ways including being raped repeatedly. Serb soldiers or policemen would come to these detention centres, select one or more women, take them out and rape them.[8] Izetbegovi consistently promoted the idea of a multi-ethnic Bosnia under central control, which in the circumstances seemed a hopeless strategy. The Bosnian Croats, disillusioned with the Sarajevo government and supported militarily and financially by the Croatian government, increasingly turned to establishing their own ethnically-based state of Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia in Herzegovina and Central Bosnia. The Croats pulled out of the Sarajevo government and fighting broke out in 1993. In most areas local armistices were signed between the Serbs and Croats (Kreevo, Vare, Jajce). Croat forces started their first attacks on Bosniaks in Gornji Vakuf and Novi Travnik, towns in Central Bosnia on June 1992, but the attacks failed. The Graz agreement caused deep division inside the Croat community and strengthened the separation group, which led to the Lava Valley ethnic cleansing campaign against Bosniak civilians. The campaign planned by the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia's political and military leadership from May 1992 to March 1993 and erupting the following April, was meant to implement objectives set forth by Croat nationalists in November 1991.[9][10][11] Adding to the general confusion, Izetbegovi's former colleague Fikret Abdi established an Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia in parts of Cazin and Velika Kladua municipalities in opposition to the Sarajevo government and in cooperation with Slobodan Miloevi and Franjo Tuman. Abdi's faction was eventually routed by the Bosnian Army. By this time, Izetbegovi's government controlled only about 25% of the country and represented principally the Bosniak community.[citation needed]

For three and a half years, Izetbegovi lived precariously in a besieged Sarajevo surrounded by Serb forces. He denounced the failure of Western countries to reverse Serbian aggression and turned instead to the Muslim world, with which he had already established relations during his days as a dissident. The Bosnian government received money and arms. Following massacres on Bosnian Muslims by Serb and, to a lesser extent, Croat forces, Arab volunteers came across Croatia into Bosnia to join the Bosnian Army. They were organized into detachment called ElMudahid. The number of the El-Mudahid volunteers is still disputed, from around 300[12][13] to 1,500.[12] These caused particular controversy: foreign fighters, styling themselves mujahiddin, turned up in Bosnia around 1993 with Croatian identity documents and passports. They quickly attracted heavy criticism amplified by Serbian and Croatian propaganda, who considered their presence to be evidence of violent Islamic fundamentalism at the heart of Europe. However, the foreign volunteers became unpopular even with many of the Bosniak population, because the Bosnian army had thousands of troops and had no need for more soldiers (especially controversial ones who could undermine their reputation as a defending army), but for arms. Many Bosnian Army officers and intellectuals were suspicious regarding foreign volunteers arrival in central part of the country, because they came from Split and Zagreb in Croatia, and were passed through the self-proclaimed Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia without problems unlike Bosnian Army soldiers who were regularly arrested by Croat forces. According to general Stjepan iber, the highest ranking ethnic Croat in Bosnian Army, the key role in foreign volunteers arrival was played by Franjo Tuman and Croatian counter-intelligence underground with the aim to justify involvement of Croatia in Bosnian War and mass crimes committed by Croat forces. Although Izetbegovi regarded them as symbolically valuable as a sign of the Muslim world's support for Bosnia, they appear to have made little military difference and became a major political liability.[14] In 1993, Izetbegovi agreed to a peace plan that would divide Bosnia along ethnic lines but continued to insist on a unitary Bosnia government from Sarajevo and on the allocation to the Bosniaks of a large percentage of Bosnia's territory. The war between the Bosniaks and Croats was eventually ended by a truce brokered with the aid of the Americans in March 1994, following which the two sides collaborated more closely against the Serbs. NATO then became increasingly involved in the conflict with occasional "pinprick" bombings conducted against the Bosnian Serbs, generally following violations of ceasefires and the no-fly zone over Bosnia. The Bosnian Croat forces benefited indirectly from the military training given to the Croatian Army by the American military consultancy Military Professional Resources, Inc. In addition, the Croatians provided considerable quantities of weaponry to the Bosnian Croats and much smaller amounts to the Bosnian Army, despite a UN weapons embargo. Most of the Bosnian Army's supply of weapons was air-lifted from the Muslim world, specifically Iran an issue which became the subject of some controversy and a US congressional investigation in 1996. In September 1993, the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals (Drugi bonjaki sabor) officially reintroduced the historical ethnic name Bosniaks instead of the previously used Muslim in former Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav Muslim by nationality policy was considered by Bosniaks to be neglecting and opposing their Bosnian identity because the term tried to describe Bosniaks as a religious group not an ethnic one.[15] To quote Bosnian politician and president Hamdija Pozderac: "They don't allow Bosnianhood but they offered Muslimhood. We shall accept their

offer, although the name is wrong, but with it we'll start the process." In discussion with Tito (1971).[citation needed]

Ending the war

In August 1995, following the Srebrenica massacre and the 2nd Markale massacre, NATO launched intensive bombing campaign which destroyed Bosnian Serb command and control system. This allowed the Croatian and Bosniak forces to overrun many Serb-held areas of the country, producing a roughly 50/50 split of the territory between the two sides. The offensive came to a halt not far from the de facto Serb capital of Banja Luka. When the Croat and Bosniak forces stopped their advance they had captured the power plants supplying Banja Luka's electricity and used that control to pressure the Serb leadership into accepting a cease fire. The parties agreed to meet at Dayton, Ohio to negotiate a peace treaty under the supervision of the United States. Croatian and Serbian interests were represented by President Tuman and President Miloevi respectively. Izetbegovi represented the internationally recognised Bosnian Government.[16]

After the war

Alija Izetbegovi's grave in Sarajevo After the Bosnian War was formally ended by the Dayton peace accord in November 1995, Izetbegovi became a Member President of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. His party's power declined after the international community installed a High Representative to oversee affairs of state, with more power than the presidents or parliaments of either the Bosniak-Croat or Serb entities. He stepped down in October 2000 at the age of 74, citing his bad health. However, Izetbegovi remained popular with the Bosniak public, who nicknamed him Dedo (which in Bosnian means granpa). His endorsement helped his party to bounce back in the 2002 elections.[citation needed]

He died in October 2003 of heart disease complicated by injuries suffered from a fall at home. An ICTY investigation of Izetbegovi was in progress, but terminated after his death.[17][18] Following his death there was an initiative to rename a part of the main street of Sarajevo from Ulica Marala Tita (Marshal Tito Street) and the Sarajevo International Airport in his honour.[19] Following objections from politicians from Republika Srpska, the international community, and UN envoy Paddy Ashdown, both initiatives failed. On 11 August 2006, Izetbegovi's grave at the Kovai cemetery in Sarajevo was badly damaged by a bomb. The identity of the bomber or bombers has not been determined.[20]

Personal life
In October 2006, his son Bakir (born 1956) was elected to a four-year term in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a representative of the SDA. Four years later, in October 2010, he too was elected to the Presidency as the Bosniak member.[citation needed]

Writings
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alija Izetbegovi Available in English

Islam Between East and West, Alija Ali Izetbegovi, American Trust Publications, 1985 (also ABC Publications, 1993) Inescapable Questions: Autobiographical Notes, 'Alija Izetbegovi, The Islamic Foundation, 2003 Izetbegovi of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Notes from Prison, 19831988, Alija Izetbegovi, Greenwood Press, 2001 Notes From Prison 19831988 The Islamic Declaration, Alija Izetbegovi, s.n., 1991

Available in Bosnian

Govori i pisma, Alija Izetbegovi, SDA, 1994 Rat i mir u Bosni i Hercegovini (Biblioteka Posebna izdanja), Alija Izetbegovi, Vijece Kongresa bosnjackih intelektualaca, 1998 Moj bijeg u slobodu: Biljeske iz zatvora 19831988 (Biblioteka Refleksi), Alija Izetbegovi, Svjetlost, 1999 Islamska deklaracija (Mala muslimanska biblioteka), Alija Izetbegovi, Bosna, 1990

References

1. ^ a b Binder, David (20 October 2003). "Alija Izetbegovic, Muslim Who Led Bosnia, Dies at 78". New York Times. 2. ^ a b Nedad Lati, Boja povijesti, ISBN COBISS.BH-ID 3. ^ a b c "Obituary: Alija Izetbegovi". BBC. 19 October 2003. Retrieved 1 January 2010. 4. ^ "Alija Izetbegovi, Muslim Who Led Bosnia, Dies at 78", New York Times, 20 October 2003 5. ^ John R. Schindler, Zenith Press (2007) 6. ^ a b Noel Malcolm. Bosnia: a short history. 7. ^ After the Peace By Robert L. Rothstein ISBN 1-55587-828-8, ISBN 978-1-55587828-3 [1] 8. ^ "ICTY: The attack against the civilian population and related requirements". 9. ^ "ICTY: Blaki verdict A. The Lasva Valley: May 1992 January 1993". 10. ^ "ICTY (1995): Initial indictment for the ethnic cleansing of the Lasva Valley area Part II". 11. ^ "ICTY: Summary of sentencing judgement for Miroslav Bralo". 12. ^ a b SENSE Tribunal:ICTY WE FOUGHT WITH THE BH ARMY, BUT NOT UNDER ITS COMMAND [2] 13. ^ "Predrag Matvejevi analysis". 14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Islam.2C_Bosna.2C_Sloveni:_Evropska_izgubljena_bitka was invoked but never defined (see the help page). 15. ^ Imamovi, Mustafa (1996). Historija Bonjaka. Sarajevo: BZK Preporod; ISBN 9958815-00-1 16. ^ Dianna Johnstone,Fool's Crusade,(London, 2002) 17. ^ "Bosnia leader was war crimes suspect". BBC. 22 October 2003. 18. ^ "Dead Bosnia Hero Focus of War Crimes Inquiry". New York Times. 23 October 2003. 19. ^ Bajramovic, Dino (21 February 2005). "Street Name Change Splits Bosnian Capital". Institute for War & Peace Reporting. 20. ^ "Izetbegovi grave damaged". BBC News. 11 August 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2010. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alija Izetbegovi

Links

"The leader caught without a land", The Times (UK), 4 February 1993 "Obituaries; Alija Izetbegovi, 78; Led Bosnia Through War", Los Angeles Times, 20 October 2003 "Obituary: Alija Izetbegovi: Bosnia's first president, a devout Muslim who fought for his country's survival in war and peace during the 1990s", The Guardian (UK), 20 October 2003 Bosnia: A Short History, Noel Malcolm, 1996 Galvanizing Fear of Islam: The 1983 Trial of Alija Izetbegovi in Context, Aimee Wielechowski, 1996 The Two Faces of Islam, Stephen Schwartz, 2002

Inescapable Questions: Autobiographical Notes, Alija Izetbegovi, The Islamic Foundation, 2003