Obala Kulina bana 7/II, Sarajevo 71000, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Alija Izetbegovic received his law degree from the University of Sarajevo in 1956.
Career
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
1992
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd wearing a flak jacket is guided through the war-torn streets of Sarajevo by President Alija Izetbegovic.
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
1993
Paris, France
Alija Izetbegovic visits Paris on January 9, 1993. Photo by Alexis Duclos
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
1993
Izetbegovic in Sarajevo, Paris and Rome with BH Levy G - Herzog on June 1st, 1993. Photo by Alexis Duclos
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
1993
Izetbegovic and Pope Francis. Photo by Alexis Duclos
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
1993
Paris, France
Alija Izetbegovic, the Bosnian president during his official visit with Francois Leotard, Minister of Defense, and Bernard-Henri Levy on January 9, 1993, in Paris, France. Photo by Alexis Duclos
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
1997
Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina
Aliza Izetbegovic in Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina on April 14, 1997. Photo by Livio Anticoli
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
1999
Berlin, Germany
In front of the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Federal President Johannes Rau (2nd from left) shows the members of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ante Jelavic, Alija Izetbegovic and Zivko Radisic (l-r), the park of the official residence on October 29, 1999. Photo by Andreas Altwein
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
2000
Sarajevo, Bosnia And Herzegovina
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic addresses the press in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on March 2, 2000. Photo by Mark H. Milstein
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Croat President Franjo Tudjman, and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic sign multiple copies of the Dayton Peace Agreement in the Palais de l'Elysee. Six other world leaders look on as witnesses to the historical agreement which was intended to end the bloodshed and vicious fighting which began after the fall of Communism in 1989-1990 in the republics of the former Yugoslavia. Photo by Peter Turnley
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
Bonn, Germany
Alija Izetbegovic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during a press conference in Bonn. Photo by Ulrich Baumgarten
Gallery of Alija Izetbegovic
President Bill Clinton (C), Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic (L) & Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. Photo by Diana Walker
Alija Izetbegovic, the Bosnian president during his official visit with Francois Leotard, Minister of Defense, and Bernard-Henri Levy on January 9, 1993, in Paris, France. Photo by Alexis Duclos
In front of the Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Federal President Johannes Rau (2nd from left) shows the members of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ante Jelavic, Alija Izetbegovic and Zivko Radisic (l-r), the park of the official residence on October 29, 1999. Photo by Andreas Altwein
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, France
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Croat President Franjo Tudjman, and Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic sign multiple copies of the Dayton Peace Agreement in the Palais de l'Elysee. Six other world leaders look on as witnesses to the historical agreement which was intended to end the bloodshed and vicious fighting which began after the fall of Communism in 1989-1990 in the republics of the former Yugoslavia. Photo by Peter Turnley
(Islam between east and west is not a book of theology, it...)
Islam between east and west is not a book of theology, it deal with dogmas, institutions and teachings of Islam with the aim of establishing the place of Islam in the general spectrum of ideas.
Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Notes from Prison, 1983-1988
(As the leading Muslim political spokesman and intellectua...)
As the leading Muslim political spokesman and intellectual, Izetbegovi'c was imprisoned by the Yugoslavian government in 1983 for a 14-year sentence. During the six years he served in prison, Izetbegovi'c wrote notes on life issues, religion and culture, and politics and political philosophy. These reflections were smuggled out of prison and edited for publication along with a selection of letters from his family. After describing prison life, Izetbegovi'c has organized his reflections into sections.
(An autobiography of humbling modesty, providing details o...)
An autobiography of humbling modesty, providing details of the former president's personal strife and progressing onto the forming of the SDA and the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. The book also sheds light on the labyrinthine manipulations of the various signatories to the Dayton Agreement, not least in the return and non-return of refugees to their homes. Overall, a spellbinding read that will capture readers' imaginations and respect from beginning to end. Inescapable Questions asks the obvious question: why was the war in the Balkans allowed to happen. Was it a conspiracy; didn't people know; why wasn't more done to stop it; and is it true that only bad things happen to good people?
Alija Izetbegovic was a Bosnian politician, lawyer, and author. He was the first president of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Background
Alija Izetbegovic was born on August 8, 1925, in Bos Samac, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia-Herzegovina). He was a son of Mustafa and Hiba Izetbegovic. He had four siblings. He moved during his childhood with his family to Sarajevo where he grew up. He also had two half-brothers from his father’s first marriage. Tragically, Mustafa was badly wounded on the Italian front in World War I, injuries which were later to result in a kind of palsy or paralysis that left him more or less bed-ridden for the last ten years of his life. Though the whole family helped to look after him, Alija’s mother, Hiba bore most of the burden of her husband’s illness.
Education
In 1943 Alija Izetbegovic graduated from Sarajevo's first boys' gymnasium high school. For the next three years, Izetbegovic attended the agricultural school but left it to study law. He received his law degree from the University of Sarajevo in 1956.
In 1946, after the war, Alija Izetbegovic was arrested for his activities during the course of the war and was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. After his release, Izetbegovic completed his studies and worked as a lawyer. Meanwhile, he continued to work for the moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community. In the 1970s, Izetbegovic published a manifesto titled, Islamic Declaration, which expressed his views on relationships between Islam, society, and state. The authorities interpreted this manifesto as a call to introduce sharia law in Bosnia and barred its publication.
During his second imprisonment, which lasted from 1983 to 1988, Izetbegovic’s best-selling book Islam between East and West was published. In 1990, Izetbegovic and other Bosnian activists established a political party Party of Democratic Action. Following this, the ethnic groups in Bosnia, Serbs, and Croats also established their own ethnically-based parties.
At the first democratic multi-party elections in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in November 1990, Izetbegovic (at age 65) was elected to the republic's eight-member presidency, a remnant of Tito's concept of collective leadership that, some argue, made Yugoslavia virtually ungovernable. On December 20, 1990, the presidency appointed him its president.
In 1991 the loosely organized nation of Yugoslavia fell apart. Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia declared independence, followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina the following year. But fierce fighting erupted almost immediately - Serbs against Croats, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats against Muslim Bosnians. Despite repeated peace efforts, the bloody civil war - fought almost exclusively within the 1991 boundaries of Bosnia-Herzegovina - dragged on well into 1994. Of the conflict's main leaders, Izetbegovic was blamed at least for the war's ethnically motivated atrocities against the civilian population.
From 1991 to 1994 one of the Bosnian Muslims' big-three - President Izetbegovic, Vice President Ganic, or Prime Minister Silajdzic - visited Iran at least once every month. A result of this relationship was that Iran provided arms to the Bosnian Muslims in spite of the United Nations' embargo. In addition, mujaheddin's Iran recruited entered Bosnia-Herzegovina to fight against Croats and Serbs.
In 1995, Izetbegovic along with his enemies was persuaded by the international community to take part in peace talks held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. There, they agreed to end the war with the NATO peacekeeping team was given the responsibility of maintaining the cease-fire. Izetbegovic became the Member President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, in 2000 he resigned his office in protest against the international community’s efforts to decrease the influence of Islam in his country, which he felt was an injustice against his people.
Alija Izetbegovic was a devout Muslim. The religious activism that earned him two jail terms under the communists was distorted by the Serb and Croat regimes to paint him as an Islamic supremacist. In 1970, he published his Islamic Declaration, a tract that says Islam is incompatible with non-Islamic systems and calls for Islamic religious and political revolution. The book made no reference to Bosnia, but it remained the basis for the well-funded and well-organized Serb and Croat campaigns to label Izetbegovic a fundamentalist.
Alija Izetbegovic outlined three integral views of the world, being the "religious", "materialistic" and "Islamic", which he argues reflect three "elemental possibilities": the "conscience", "nature" and "man". He asserts that each of these integral world views manifests itself as Christianity, materialism, and Islam. The first takes as its starting point the existence of the spirit, the second the existence of matter, and the third the "simultaneous existence of spirit and matter".
From a holistic approach, he underlines that Islam is the name for the "unity of spirit and matter", the highest form of which are humans. Highlighting an "inherent harmony between man and Islam", he stresses that ''in the same way as humankind is a unity of spirit and body, Islam is a unity of religion and social order.'' This unity, which is foreign both to Christianity and materialism, is basic and the "most Islamic" characteristic of Islam, he highlights. Izetbegovic argues that Islam is not only a religion or a way of life but primarily the "principle of the organization of the universe".
Politics
In 1990 Party of Democratic Action was founded by Alija Izetbegovic. It was a realization of Alija Izetbegović's idea of an Islamic religious and national party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the war from 1992 to 1995, he attempted to maintain good relations both with the East and the West. He was exceptionally appreciated in political circles as an example of a tolerant and wise politician, and an example of a modern democrat.
Views
Alija Izetbegovic read the classic works of European philosophy, and by the age of nineteen, he already had a solid grounding in the writings of Hegel, Spinoza, and Kant, whose “categorical imperative” had a particular impact when he was young. At the age of fifteen, in 1940, he co-founded an organization, Mladi Muslimani (Young Muslims) which helped the refugees during World War II. He supported media and press in the Bosnian language, making donations to news outlets such as the daily Dnevni List.
Quotations:
"I believe that the people, instead of pretty lies, should be told the truth, no matter how ugly it may be. What can we do, destiny hasn't been kind to us; but, with the help of God, we will prevail."
"In history, good intentions do not always make good consequences."
"Science attempts to figure out laws and then uses it later. While the work of art reflects the cosmic order without asking for an explanation."
Interests
Philosophers & Thinkers
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant
Connections
On May 26, 1949, Alija Izetbegovic married Halida Repovac. They had three children: Lejla, Sabina, Bakir.