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Alija Izetbegovic ( August 8, 1925 - October 19, 2003) was a Bosnian Muslim activist and politician, president of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1990 to 1996 and member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1996 to 2000. He was a controversial figure in the former Yugoslavia and was often denounced by Serb and Croat politicians for his alleged support for Islamic fundamentalism. Many aspects of Izetbegovic's life remain strongly disputed between all three sides in the Bosnian War and his record has come under intense scrutiny, particularly in the light of war crimes allegations.
Izetbegovic was born in the northern Bosnian town of Bosanski Šamac, one of five children born to a distinguished but impoverished family descended from former OttomanOsmanlı İmparatorluğu Devlet-i Aliye-i Osmaniye The Ottoman Coat of Arms Imperial motto: unknown The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital İstanbul ( Constantinople) Sovereigns Sultans aristocrats from BelgradeFor other uses see Belgrade (disambiguation Belgrade ( Serbian, Beograd , (population in Belgrade region 1,711,800 by census of 2002) is the capital of Serbia (since 1403) and Serbia and Montenegro (since 2003) and Yugoslavia ( 1918- 2003). The city lies who moved to Bosnia after Serbia gained independance from the Ottoman Empire. His grandfather, Alija, was the mayor of Bosanski Samac. His father, an accountant, declared bankruptcy in 1927Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 See also 1927 in aviation 1927 in film 1927 in literature 1927 in mu and the family moved to SarajevoMiljacka river. Sarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located at 43°52'N and 18°25'E. According to a 1991 census, its population was 429,672; currently estimated at around 400,000. The city is considered one of the most impor. Izetbegovic became closely involved in Bosnian MuslimA Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. The word Muslim means one who submits and implies complete submission to the will of God ( Allah). Muslims believe that nature is itself Islamic, since it follows natural laws placed by God. Thus, a Muslim s society as he grew up during the 1930sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Link Trainer invented Sc and 1940sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the. However, he received a secular education, eventually graduating from law school in Sarajevo.
In 1941, when Izetbegovic was 16, Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia and incorporated Bosnia into the " Independent State of Croatia" ruled by the fascist Ustase movement. The largely Croatian Ustase, the Serbian Chetniks and the Communist partisans of Josip Broz Tito all vied for the support of Bosnia's Muslims.
During the war, Izetbegovic joined the Young Muslims (Mladi muslimani), an organisation headed by the conservative cleric Mehmed Handžic. It was an organisation headed by the conservative cleric Mehmed Handžic. It advocated a "purer" form of Islam and could be described as a Bosniak nationalist movement. As such, while it was not officially pro-fascist in orientation, the Young Muslims generally supported the Nazi/Ustase efforts to promote a Bosniak national identity in opposition to the Chetnik and Partisan guerrillas.
Immediately after the war, Tito's government undertook a severe crackdown on ethnic, religious and non-Communist political activity, executing tens of thousands and imprisoning hundreds of thousands more. Izetbegovic was caught in the net in 1946: he had joined with a fellow Muslim activist, Nedžib Šacirbegovic, to publish a dissident Islamic journal entitled Mudžahid (from the Arabic mujahid, in English Mujahideen, meaning "Soldier of God"). This was eventually shut down by the Yugoslav secret police and its publishers imprisoned. Izetbegovic himself was sentenced to prison for three years for anti-communist activities, including "statements against the Soviet Union". He was released in 1949 and began studying at the University of Sarajevo where he gained a BS in Law in 1956. He worked for most of the next 30 years as a lawyer, but continued to promote an essentially Bosniak and Islamic viewpoint, publishing a number of dissident works during this period.
One of Izetbegovic's most consistent concerns as a dissident, and later as President, related to the casual way in which Islam was practised in Yugoslavia and campaigned for a more purist approach. He argued that Bosnia's Muslims needed to be more rigorous in their practice of Islam, pointing out that their Bosniak identity was defined by their Islamic adherence. He warned that if they did not make more of an effort to differentiate themselves, they would risk being submerged by Croatian and Serbian nationalism. Much of his activity during his years as a dissident concerned attempts to define (or perhaps redefine) what it meant to be a Yugoslav Muslim.
In 1970, Izetbegovic published a manifesto entitled The Islamic Declaration, a work which contributed greatly to his later portrayal as an Islamic fundamentalist. He highlighted the decayed state of Islam and called for an religious and political regeneration across the Muslim world, although the book made no reference to Bosnia. In two particularly controversial passages, he declared that "there can be neither peace nor coexistence between the Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions" and that "the Islamic movement must and can, take over political power as soon as it is morally and numerically so strong that it can not only destroy the existing non-Islamic power, but also to build up a new Islamic one". He promoted the idea of a "united Islamic community" in which non-Muslims would have their rights guaranteed.
From an Islamic point of view, this was nothing new - many similar manifestos were circulating in the Muslim countries - and it was very much in accordance with traditional Koranic principles. It was also not a programme of Islamic fundamentalism in a sense that is generally understood by fundamentalists themselves: Izetbegovic explicitly accepted innovation and the "achievements of Euro-American civilization." He spoke approvingly of the high educational and economic standards prevailing in the West and urged that "instead of hating the West, let us proclaim cooperation instead of confrontation." However, his arguments were fundamentally at odds with both the anti-nationalist ideology of Communist Yugoslavia and with the later nationalist sentiment in Croatia and Serbia, which emphasized both nations' Christian heritage. Islam was widely perceived by non-Bosniak Yugoslavs as an alien influence introduced under the Turkish occupation, so Izetbegovic's call for an Islamic revival came to be seen as a threat by many in the countries' Catholic and Orthodox communities.
Izetbegovic wrote what is generally regarded as his major work, Islam Between East and West, in 1980. He declared that this was not a "book of theology" but a serious attempt to define the "place of Islam in the general spectrum of ideas." Like The Islamic Declaration, it focused on the importance of Islam and the need to serve God. Unfortunately for Izetbegovic, its appearance coincided with a spate of nationalist unrest following the death of Tito, which resulted in a widespread crackdown on nationalists and dissidents across Yugoslavia. Nationalists from many parts of Yugoslavia were tried and imprisoned for activities deemed harmful to Yugoslav "brotherhood and unity."
In April 1983, Izetbegovic and twelve other Muslim activists including Melika Salihbegovic and Hasan Cengic were tried before a Bosnian court for a variety of offences, principally "hostile activity inspired by Muslim nationalism", "association for purposes of hostile activity" and "hostile propaganda." Specifically, the defendants were accused of intending to create "an ethnically pure Muslim Bosnia-Herzegovina," an assertion based chiefly on Izetbegovic's Islamic Declaration. Izetbegovic was further accused of organizing a visit to a Muslim congress in Iran. All of those tried were convicted and Izetbegovic was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The verdict was strongly criticised by Western human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Helsinki Watch, which pointed out that 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 Izetbegovic's sentence to 12 years. He was pardoned in 1988 as communist rule faltered and was released from prison, but not before he had suffered serious and lasting damage to his health. The trial had another unfortunate consequence: it was widely perceived within Yugoslavia as a trial of Islam as a political system, contributing to a growing paranoia about the trustworthiness of the country's Muslims. Nationalist politicians were to capitalise on this in the 1990s as Yugoslavia descended into civil war. [1]