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{{Short description|Bosnian politician, philosopher and author (1925–2003)}}
{{Infobox_President
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
| name=Alija Izetbegović
{{Infobox officeholder
| image=AlijaIzetbegovic1.jpg
| name = Alija Izetbegović
| order=1st [[President of Bosnia and Herzegovina|President]] of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
| image = Alija Izetbegovic (cropped).jpg
| term_start=3 March 1992
| caption = Izetbegović in 1997
| term_end=14 March 1996
| office1 = 1st [[Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
| predecessor=Position established
| term_start1 = 14 February 2000
| successor=[[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina#Presidency elected in 1998|Tripartite presidency]]
| term_end1 = 14 October 2000
| order2=1st [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] member of the<br/>[[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnian-Herzegovinian Presidency]]
| predecessor1 = [[Ante Jelavić]]
| term_start2=14 March 1996
| successor1 = [[Živko Radišić]]
| term_end2=October, 2000
| term_start2 = 5 October 1996
| predecessor2=
| term_end2 = 13 October 1998
| successor2=[[Halid Genjac]]
| predecessor2 = Himself
| birth_date={{birth date|1925|8|8|mf=y}}
| successor2 = Živko Radišić
| birth_place=[[Bosanski Šamac]], [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]]
| office3 = [[Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|President of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
| death_date= {{death date and age|2003|10|19|1925|8|8|mf=y}}
| term_start3 = 20 December 1990
| death_place=[[Sarajevo]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
| term_end3 = 5 October 1996
| spouse=
| primeminister3 = [[Jure Pelivan]] <br> [[Mile Akmadžić]] <br> [[Haris Silajdžić]] <br> [[Hasan Muratović]]
| party=[[Party of Democratic Action]]
| vicepresident3 = [[Adil Zulfikarpašić]]
| religion=[[Islam|Muslim]]
| predecessor3 = [[Obrad Piljak]] {{small|(as President of the Presidency of [[Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|SR Bosnia and Herzegovina]])}}
| successor3 = Himself {{small|(as Chairman of the [[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Tripartite presidency]])}}
| office4 = 1st [[List of Bosniak members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosniak Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
| term_start4 = 20 December 1990
| term_end4 = 14 October 2000
| alongside4 = [[Fikret Abdić]] {{small|(1992–1993)}} <br> [[Nijaz Duraković]] {{small|(1993–1996)}}
| predecessor4 = ''Office established''
| successor4 = [[Halid Genjac]]
| office5 = [[List of chairpersons of the Party of Democratic Action|President of the Party of Democratic Action]]
| term_start5 = 26 May 1990
| term_end5 = 13 October 2001
| predecessor5 = ''Office established''
| successor5 = [[Sulejman Tihić]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|08|08|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosanski Šamac]], [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|10|19|1925|08|08|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Sarajevo]], Bosnia and Herzegovina
| nationality = Bosnian
| party = [[Party of Democratic Action]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Halida Repovac|1949}}
| children = 3, including [[Bakir Izetbegović|Bakir]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Sarajevo]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LL.B.]], [[Master of Laws|LL.M.]])
| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|activist|author|philosopher}}
| profession =
| signature = Alija Izetbegović signature.gif
<!--Military service-->
| allegiance = {{flagcountry|Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
| branch = [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
| serviceyears = 1992–1996
| rank = [[File:20-Član Predsjedništva ARBiH 1992.png|15px]] [[Commander-in-chief]]
| commands = [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] <small>(supreme commander)</small>
| battles = [[Bosnian War]] <br> [[Croat–Bosniak War]]
| awards = [[File:Ribbon of a Grand Order of Queen Jelena.png|20px]] [[Grand Order of Queen Jelena]] <br> [[File:Order of the State of Republic of Turkey.png|20px]] [[Order of the State of Republic of Turkey]] <br> [[File:Order of Independence (Qatar) - ribbon bar.gif|20px]] [http://www.medals.org.uk/qatar/qatar001.htm Order of Independence]
}}
{{Alija Izetbegović series}}
'''Alija Izetbegović''' (8 August 1925 &ndash; 19 October 2003) was a [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] activist, [[lawyer]], [[author]], [[philosopher]] and [[politician]], 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]]''.
'''Alija Izetbegović''' ({{IPA|bs|ǎlija ǐzedbeɡoʋitɕ}}; 8 August 1925 – 19 October 2003) was a Bosnian politician, [[Islamic philosophy|Islamic philosopher]] and author, who in 1992 became the first [[Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|president of the Presidency]] of the newly independent [[Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. He later served as the first chairman of the [[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina]].
 
Shortly after his term began, the country's [[Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Serb community]] revolted and created the [[Republika Srpska (1992–1995)|Republika Srpska]], attempting to prevent the secession of Bosnia and Herzegovina from [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], which would lead to the outbreak of the [[Bosnian War]]. Izetbegović led the [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] forces initially alongside the [[Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Croat]] forces, until a [[Croat–Bosniak War|separate war]] erupted between them. Relations between the two sides were resolved in the [[Washington Agreement (1994)|Washington Agreement]], which he signed with Croatian president [[Franjo Tuđman]].
==Early life==
Izetbegović was born in the town of [[Bosanski Šamac]], situated in the north of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]]; he was one of five children born to a distinguished but impoverished family descended from former [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[aristocrat]]s from [[Belgrade]] who fled to Bosnia after [[Serbia]] gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. His grandfather, Alija, was the mayor of Bosanski Šamac. While grandfather Alija was a soldier in [[Üsküdar]], he married a Turkish woman called 'Sıdıka Hanım'. After marriage they moved to Šamac and had 5 children. Grandson Alija's father, an accountant, declared bankruptcy in 1927 and the family moved to [[Sarajevo]]. Izetbegović 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 [[law school]] in Sarajevo. At this time he also joined the ''Mladi Muslimani'' (Young Muslims), a partly collaborationist "party of Islamic renewal"<ref>Totten, Samuel; Paul Robert Bartrop, and Steven L. Jacobs. ''Dictionary of Genocide''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008
ISBN 0313346429, ISBN 9780313346422 P. 228</ref> and youth group that aided refugees during the Second World War.<ref>Baltic, Nina. "Theory and Practice of Human Rights and Minority Rights Under the Yugoslav Communist System". ''Sixth Framework Programme''. Mar. 2007. ''The European Academy''. Retrieved 25 Mar. 2009. http://www.eurac.edu/NR/rdonlyres/5BC4CBE8-A754-4040-B69E-8A21E19E768B/0/ReportontheTheoryandPracticeofHumanRightsandMinorityRightsundertheYugoslavCommunistS.pdf</ref> For most of World War II he did not participate in any armed forces, except half a year at the beginning of WWII in [[Josip Broz Tito|Tito]]'s [[anti-fascist]] [[Partisan (military)|partisans]].<ref name=FTV - Ko ima pravo baštiniti tradiciju ZAVNOBiH-a?> FTV - Ko ima pravo baštiniti tradiciju ZAVNOBiH-a? - [rtsp://195.222.58.181:7070/ftv/posteno1127.rm]</ref> After the war Izetbegović was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to 3 years in prison on charges of anti-communist activities. Once free, he earned a law degree at [[University of Sarajevo|Sarajevo University]] and remained engaged in politics.<ref name="Nedžad Latić, Boja povijesti">Nedžad Latić, Boja povijesti, ISBN: COBISS.BH-ID</ref>
 
The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina continued, with widespread [[Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War|ethnic cleansing]] and other war crimes committed by the three militias against the civil population, eventually culminating in the [[Srebrenica massacre|massacre of male Bosniaks]] in [[Srebrenica]] by Serb forces and neighbouring villages where Islamist and Croatian forces massacred Serb civilians which would later be determined to be [[Bosnian genocide|genocide]]. Izetbegović was also a signatory for the [[Dayton Agreement]], which ended the war in a stalemate following [[Operation Deliberate Force|NATO bombings]], and recognized Republika Srpska as an [[Republika Srpska|autonomous entity]] within Bosnia and Herzegovina. He continued to serve in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000.
== Dissident and activist ==
{{seealso|Islamic Declaration}}
 
Izetbegović was the founder and first [[List of chairpersons of the Party of Democratic Action|president]] of the [[Party of Democratic Action]]. He was also the author of several books, most notably ''Islam Between East and West'' and the ''[[Islamic Declaration]]''.
In 1970, Izetbegović 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.<ref name="BBC obituary">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3133038.stm |title=Obituary: Alija Izetbegovic |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2003-10-19}}</ref> The declaration remains a source of controversy. It was used by Serb nationalists as one of excuses for the war, often quoting the declaration as an intent to create an Iranian style Muslim republic in Bosnia.<ref name="BBC obituary"/> Passages from the declaration were frequently quoted by Izetbegović's opponents during the 1990s, portraying it as an open statement of Islamic fundamentalism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m102303.html |title=The Real Izetbegović:Laying to Rest a Mythical Autocrat}}</ref> The opinion is shared by some Western authors such as John Schindler.<ref>John R. Schindler, Zenith Press 2007</ref> Izetbegović vigorously denied such accusations.<ref name="BBC obituary"/> [[United Kingdom|British]] author [[Noel Malcolm]] asserted that the Serb nationalist interpretation of the Declaration was 'false propaganda' and offered a more benevolent reading of the declaration.<ref name="Malcolm">{{cite web |url=http://www.geocities.com/famous_bosniaks/ALIJA_IZETBEGOVIC.html |title=Bosnia and Death of Yugoslavia: 1989-1992 (translated) |author=[[Noel Malcolm]] |language=Bosnian}}</ref> arguing that it was "a general policy on politics and Islam, directed towards entire Islamic world; it's not about Bosnia, and Bosnia is not even mentioned there"... and "none of the cited points could be rightfully called fundamentalistic". Malcolm argues that Izetbegović's views were much more thoroughly expressed in his later book, ''Islam between East and West'', where he "tried to portray Islam as a spiritual and intellectual synthesis including West European values''.
 
==Early life and education==
Izetbegović wrote what is however regarded as his central work, 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 [[Dualism|dualistic]] existence".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.covertaction.org/content/view/113/75/ |title=Alija Izetbegovic: Islamic Hero of the Western World |author=Diana Johnstone |publisher=Institute for Media Analysis}}</ref>
Izetbegović was born on 8 August 1925 in the town of [[Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosanski Šamac]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://depo.ba/clanak/134526/izetbegovic-moja-porodica-je-posjedovala-adu-ciganliju-a-dedo-je-tokom-prvog-svjetskog-rata-spasio-niz-srba|title=Izetbegović: Moja porodica je posjedovala Adu Ciganliju, a dedo je tokom Prvog svjetskog rata spasio niz Srba}}</ref>{{sfn|Hamilton|1995|page=167}} While serving as a soldier in [[Üsküdar]], Izetbegović's paternal grandfather Alija married a [[Turkish people|Turkish woman]] named Sıdıka Hanım.<ref>{{citation |last=Carmichael|first=Cathie|year=2015|title=A Concise History of Bosnia|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-316-39529-5|page=178}}</ref> The couple eventually moved to Bosanski Šamac and had five children. Izetbegović's grandfather later became the town's mayor.{{sfn|Shay|2007|p=40}}
 
Izetbegović's father, an accountant, had fought for the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]] on the [[Italian Front (World War I)|Italian Front]] during [[World War I]] and sustained serious injuries which left him in a semi-paralyzed state for at least a decade. He declared bankruptcy in 1927. The following year, the family moved to [[Sarajevo]], where Izetbegović received a [[secular education]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Alija Izetbegović Museum|title=Alija Izetbegović: Introduction|url=http://www.muzejalijaizetbegovic.ba/en/page.php?id=30|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209084024/http://www.muzejalijaizetbegovic.ba/en/page.php?id=30|archive-date=9 December 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Imprisonment ==
In April 1983, Izetbegović and twelve other Bosniak activists (including [[Melika Salihbegović]], [[Edhem Bičakčić]], [[Omer Behmen]], [[Mustafa Spahić]] and [[Hasan Čengić]]) were tried before a Sarajevo [[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. Izetbegović was further accused of organizing a visit to a Muslim congress in [[Iran]]. All of those tried were convicted and Izetbegović was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. The [[verdict]] was strongly criticised by Western [[human rights]] organisations, including [[Amnesty International]] and [[Human Rights Watch|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 Izetbegović'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 and lasting damage.<ref name="Nedžad Latić, Boja povijesti"/>
 
In 1941, Izetbegović helped to found a Bosnian Islamist organization named "[[Young Muslims]]" (''Mladi Muslimani''), which was modeled after the [[Muslim Brotherhood]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lebl|first=Leslie S.|date=2014|title=ISLAMISM AND SECURITY IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep11466|journal=Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College}}</ref> When the "Young Muslims" became torn between supporting the largely Muslim ''[[Waffen-SS]]'' [[13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian)|Handschar Division]] or the [[Communism|communist]] [[Yugoslav Partisans]], according to the ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'', he joined the SS ''Handschar'', despite a lack of evidence.<ref name=Nytimes20031020>{{cite news|last=Binder|first=David|title=Alija Izetbegovic, Muslim Who Led Bosnia, Dies at 78|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/obituaries/20IZET.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=New York Times|date=20 October 2003}}</ref><ref name=BakirDeniesThis>{{cite news|last=Jukic|first=Elvira|url=https://balkaninsight.com/2014/11/28/bosniak-presidency-member-might-sue-serb-leader/|title=Bosniak Leader Rejects 'Nazi Father' Claims|date=28 November 2014|newspaper=Balkan Insight}}</ref> Izetbegović's family denied the claim and claimed that he had joined the communist Yugoslav Partisans.<ref name=BakirDeniesThis/> Izetbegović was detained by the Serb royalist [[Chetniks]] in mid-1944, but released by Chetnik voivode [[Dragutin Keserović]].<ref>{{harv|Izetbegović|2005|p=23}}:"Međutim, jedna grupa Srba je došla da intervenira kod tadašnjeg komandanta pukovnika Keserovića. On je bio načelnik Glavnog Štaba. Tad su mi izneli taj podatak da je moj djed spasio 40 Srba i da bi bio dužan da vrati milo za drago. I zahvaljujući toj okolnosti ja sam bio oslobođen."</ref> He was arrested by the Yugoslav communists following the war and sentenced to three years in prison in 1946 on charges of [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborating with the Nazi forces]].<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TfQEAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 | author-link = Marko Attila Hoare | first = Marko Attila | last = Hoare | title = Bosnian Muslims in the Second World War | page = 12 | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2014 | isbn = 978-0-19-932785-0}}</ref> Before incarceration, he had earned a law degree at the [[University of Sarajevo]]'s [[Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo|Faculty of Law]].<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BleF7tl_rbUC&pg=PA140 | author-link = Paul R. Bartrop | first = Paul R. | last = Bartrop | title = A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide: Portraits of Evil and Good | chapter = Izetbegović, Alija (1925–2003) | page = 140 | publisher = ABC-CLIO | year = 2012 | isbn = 978-0-313-38678-7}}</ref> He remained engaged in politics after serving the sentence.<ref name="Nedžad Latić, Boja povijesti">Nedžad Latić, Boja povijesti, ISBN COBISS.BH-ID</ref>
== Presidency ==
The introduction of a multi-party system in [[Yugoslavia]] at the end of the 1980s prompted Izetbegović 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 Abdić]] won the popular vote for president among the Bosniak candidates, with 44% of the vote, Izetbegović 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. Abdić agreed to stand down as the Bosniak candidate for the Presidency and Izetbegović became President.
 
==Dissident and activist==
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 Izetbegović 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. Izetbegović 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. Izetbegović 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]].<ref>After the Peace
{{See also|Islamic Declaration}}
By Robert L. Rothstein - ISBN 1555878288, 9781555878283[http://books.google.com/books?id=LZMp9ZfGfMUC&pg=PA174&dq=Izetbegovic+leukaemia+and+a+brain+tumour]</ref>
 
In 1970, Izetbegović published a manifesto entitled the ''[[Islamic Declaration]]'', expressing his views on relationships between Islam, state and society. The manifesto was banned by the government.<ref name="BBC obituary">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3133038.stm|title=Obituary: Alija Izetbegović|publisher=BBC|date=19 October 2003|access-date=1 January 2010}}</ref> In it, he tried to reconcile Western-style progress with Islamic tradition.<ref name=Ivo>[[Ivo Banac|Banac, Ivo]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yl3TAkJmztYC&pg=PA148&vq=islamic+declaration&dq=The+Muslims+of+Bosnia-Herzegovina&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U0tdhgWt6bYMK-8u_64XEnHuzBf7g ''Bosnian Muslims: From Religious Community to Socialist Nationhood and Post communist Statehood, 1918–1992''], pp. 147–148.</ref> The work issued a call for "Islamic renewal" without mentioning Yugoslavia specifically. However, he and his supporters were accused by the Communist authorities of reviving the "Young Muslims" organisation and of a conspiracy to set up an "Islamically pure" Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIlCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|title=The A to Z of Bosnia and Herzegovina|author=Ante Čuvalo|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Toronto, and Plymouth|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8108-7647-7|page=118}}</ref>
In January 1992, [[Portugal|Portuguese]] diplomat [[José Cutileiro]] drafted a plan, later known as the [[Lisbon Agreement]], that would turn Bosnia into a triethnic [[Canton (country subdivision)|cantonal]] state. Initially, all three sides signed up to the agreement; Izetbegović for the Bosniaks, [[Radovan Karadžić]] for the Serbs and [[Mate Boban]] for the Croats. Some two weeks later, however, Izetbegović withdrew his signature and declared his opposition to any type of division of Bosnia, supposedly encouraged by the then [[US]] ambassador to Yugoslavia, [[Warren Zimmermann]].{{Fact|date=March 2009}}
 
The declaration designated [[Pakistan]] as a model country to be emulated by Muslim revolutionaries worldwide.<ref name=Perica>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jIoKMGRHxn4C&pg=PA77|title=Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States|author=Vjekoslav Perica|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=77|isbn=9780195174298|author-link=Vjekoslav Perica}}</ref> One of the passages that was in particular picked out by his opponents during the trial was, "There can be no peace or coexistence between the Islamic faith and non-Islamic social and political institutions...the state should be an expression of religion and should support its moral concepts."<ref name=BenFowkes>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bRZaCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|title=Ethnicity and Ethnic Conflict in the Post-Communist World|author=Ben Fowkes|date=6 March 2002|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|page=88|isbn=9781403914309}}</ref> The declaration remains a source of controversy. Serbs, who were opposed to Izetbegović, often quoted the declaration as indicative of an intent to create an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Bosnia.<ref name="BBC obituary"/>
==War in Bosnia and Herzegovina==
{{main|Bosnian war}}
 
He himself later insisted many times that the statements about the creation of an Islamic state were hypothetical and were not to be the applied to the situation in Bosnia. Regardless, Bosnia's non-Muslim population were unsettled by several of his statements in his writings.<ref name=Takeyh>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=85BTay8abYsC&pg=PA87|title=The Receding Shadow of the Prophet: The Rise and Fall of Radical Political Islam|author1= Ray Takeyh|author2-link=Nikolas Gvosdev|author2=Nikolas Gvosdev|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|pages=87–88|isbn=9780275976293|author1-link=Ray Takeyh}}</ref> Passages from the declaration were frequently quoted by Izetbegović's opponents during the 1990s, who considered it to be an open statement of [[Islamic fundamentalism]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/world/alija-izetbegovic-muslim-who-led-bosnia-dies-at-78.html "Alija Izetbegović, Muslim Who Led Bosnia, Dies at 78"], ''The New York Times'', 20 October 2003</ref> This opinion is also shared by some Western authors.<ref name="Ambrosio2002">{{cite book|author=Thomas Ambrosio|title=Ethnic Identity Groups and U.S. Foreign Policy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0bsHGrl9p4sC&pg=PA108|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-97532-6|pages=108–}}</ref> Izetbegović vigorously denied these accusations.<ref name="BBC obituary"/>
In February 1992, Izetbegović called a national [[referendum]] on independence for Bosnia as a [[Europe]]an 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 Serbian-inhabited 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 (which almost entirely constituted of the Bosniak and Croat communities). The Bosnian parliament, already vacated by the Bosnian Serbs, formally declared independence from Yugoslavia on February 29 and Izetbegović announced the country's independence on March 3. 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. Izetbegović 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.
 
===Imprisonment===
Initially the Serb forces attacked non-Serb [[civilian]] population in Eastern Bosnia. Once [[town]]s and [[village]]s 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 [[civilian]]s 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 unhygienic 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.<ref name="ICTY: Kunarac, Kovač and Vuković judgement - Foča">{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/icty/kunarac/trialc2/judgement/kun-tj010222e-5.htm#VC |title=ICTY: The attack against the civilian population and related requirements}}</ref>
Izetbegović was first arrested in 1946 aged twenty-one. He was sentenced to jail in various cases in a total for 8 years for his membership in an organization fighting for human rights and religious rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalviews360.com/articles/alija-izetbegovic-journey-from-prison-to-bosnian-presidency|title=Alija Izetbegović: Journey from prison to Bosnian Presidency|last=Nalawala|first=Inshiya|publisher=Global Views 360|date=11 July 2020|access-date=12 August 2020|archive-date=16 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416224535/https://www.globalviews360.com/articles/alija-izetbegovic-journey-from-prison-to-bosnian-presidency|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
In April 1983, Izetbegović and twelve other [[Bosniak]] activists (including Melika Salihbegović, Edhem Bičakčić, [[Omer Behmen]], Mustafa Spahić and [[Hasan Čengić]]) were tried before a Sarajevo court for a variety of charges called "offences as principally hostile activity inspired by Islamic ideologies, association for purposes of hostile activity and hostile propaganda". Izetbegović was further accused of organizing a visit to a Muslim congress in [[Iran]]. All of those tried were convicted and Izetbegović was sentenced to fourteen years in prison.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}}
[[Image:Alija Izetbegovic.jpg|thumb|220px|Alija Izetbegović during his visit to the [[United States of America|United States]] in 1997.]]
Izetbegović 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 ([[Kreševo]], [[Vareš]], [[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 [[Lašva 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 [[nationalist]]s in November 1991.<ref name="ICTY: Blaškić verdict - A. The Lasva Valley: May 1992 – January 1993">{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/blaskic/trialc1/judgement/bla-tj000303e-3.htm#IIIA|title=ICTY: Blaškić verdict - A. The Lasva Valley: May 1992 – January 1993}}</ref> <ref name="ICTY: Initial indictment for the ethnic cleansing of the Lasva Valley area - Part II">{{cite web|url=http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/indictments/Kordic2.html|title=ICTY (1995): Initial indictment for the ethnic cleansing of the Lasva Valley area - Part II}}</ref><ref name="ICTY: Summary of sentencing judgement for Miroslav Bralo">{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/bralo/bra-sum051207-e.htm|title=ICTY: Summary of sentencing judgement for Miroslav Bralo}}</ref> Adding to the general confusion, Izetbegović's former colleague Fikret Abdić established an ''[[Western Bosnia|Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia]]'' in parts of [[Cazin]] and [[Velika Kladuša]] municipalities in opposition to the Sarajevo government and in cooperation with [[Slobodan Milošević]] and [[Franjo Tuđman]]. Abdić's faction was eventually routed by the Bosnian Army. By this time, Izetbegović's government controlled only about 25% of the country and represented principally the Bosniak community.
 
The [[verdict]] was strongly criticised by Western human rights organisations, including [[Amnesty International]] and [[Human Rights Watch|Helsinki Watch]], which claimed 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 Izetbegović'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.<ref name="Nedžad Latić, Boja povijesti"/>
For three and a half years, Izetbegović lived precariously in a [[Siege of Sarajevo|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 [[Wiktionary:massacre|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 ''El-Mudžahid''. The number of the ''El-Mudžahid'' volunteers is still disputed, from around 300<ref name="SENSE tribunal">SENSE Tribunal:ICTY - WE FOUGHT WITH THE BH ARMY, BUT NOT UNDER ITS COMMAND [http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?sta=3&pid=10225&kat=3]</ref><ref name="Islam, Bosna, Sloveni:Evropska izgubljena bitka ">{{cite web |url=http://www.islam.co.ba/razmisljanja/index.php?subaction=ostalo&id=1070747643|title=Predrag Matvejević analysis}}</ref> to 1,500.<ref name="SENSE tribunal"/> These caused particular controversy: foreign fighters, styling themselves ''[[mujahiddin]]'', turned up in Bosnia around 1993 with [[Croatia]]n 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 [[Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|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 (city)|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 Šiber]], the highest ranking ethnic Croat in Bosnian Army, the key role in foreign volunteers arrival was played by [[Franjo Tuđman]] and Croatian [[counter-intelligence]] underground with the aim to justify involvement of Croatia in Bosnian War and mass crimes committed by Croat forces. Although Izetbegović 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.<ref name="Islam, Bosna, Sloveni:Evropska izgubljena bitka ">{{cite web |url=http://www.islam.co.ba/razmisljanja/index.php?subaction=ostalo&id=1070747643|title=Predrag Matvejević analysis}}</ref> The entity defence minister of the [[Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]], Hasan Čengić, was closely associated with [[Iran]] and his dismissal in 1996 was a major US demand/condition for the funding and equipping of the Bosnian Federation Army.{{Fact|date=March 2009}}
 
==Early political career and 1990 election==
In mid-1993, Izetbegović 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. From around this time onwards, [[NATO]] 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.
{{Main|1990 Bosnian general election}}
 
The introduction of a multi-party system in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] at the end of the 1980s prompted Izetbegović and other Bosniak activists to establish a political party, the [[Party of Democratic Action]] (''Stranka Demokratske Akcije'', SDA) in 1990. It had a largely Muslim character; similarly, the other principal ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbs and Croats, also established ethnically based parties ([[Serb Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|SDS]] and [[Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina|HDZ BiH]]). The SDA won the largest share of [[1990 Bosnian general election|the vote]], 33% of the seats, with the next runners-up being nationalist ethnic parties representing Serbs and Croats. [[Fikret Abdić]] won the popular vote for [[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Presidency]] member among the Bosniak candidates, with 44% of the vote, Izetbegović 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 [[Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina|prime minister]] and a Serb the presidency of the [[Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Assembly]]. Abdić agreed to stand down as the Bosniak candidate for the Presidency and Izetbegović became [[Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Chairman of the Presidency]].{{cn|date=October 2024}}
In September 1993, the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals (Drugi bošnjački sabor) officially re-introduced the historical ethnic name Bosniaks instead of the previously used Muslim in former Yugoslavia which was imposed by Serb communists who were afraid of losing Serb policy domination in Bosnia allowing Muslims to consume rights of an ethnic group. 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.<ref name="Imamovic">Imamović, Mustafa (1996). Historija Bošnjaka. Sarajevo: BZK Preporod. ISBN 9958-815-00-1</ref> 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 [[Josip Broz Tito]] (1971).
 
==Presidency (1990–2000)==
==Ending the war==
[[File:Pope John Paul II in Bosnia 1997.jpg|thumb|left|Izetbegović with [[Pope John Paul II]] in 1997]]
In August 1995, following the [[Srebrenica massacre]], [[NATO]] launched an intensive two-week bombing campaign which destroyed the 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.
 
Bosnia and Herzegovina'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 Izetbegović was 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 [[Serb Democratic Party (Bosnia and Herzegovina)|SDS]] and [[Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina|HDZ BiH]] abandoned the [[Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina|government]]. When fighting broke out in Slovenia and Croatia in the summer of 1991, it was immediately apparent that Bosnia and Herzegovina would soon become embroiled in the conflict. Izetbegović 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 and Herzegovina&nbsp;... but for that peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina I would not sacrifice sovereignty." He abandoned the [[Zulfikarpašić–Karadžić agreement]] which would see Bosnia as a sovereign state in a confederation with Serbia and Montenegro, with 60% of [[Sandžak]] ceded to Bosnia.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jasminka Udovicki|author2=James Ridgeway|title=Burn This House: The Making and Unmaking of Yugoslavia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuGe9fy4raoC&pg=PA204|date=31 October 2000|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-2590-X|pages=204–}}</ref>
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 Tuđman and President Milošević respectively. Izetbegović represented the internationally recognised Bosnian Government.
 
On 6 October 1991, Izetbegović gave a televised proclamation of neutrality, it included the statement "it is not our war".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_ceXJTw71MC|title=The Muslim-Croat Civil War in Central Bosnia: A Military History, 1992–1994|first=Charles R.|last=Shrader|publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]]|location=College Station, Texas|year=2003|isbn=978-1-58544-261-4|p=25}}</ref> Izetbegović made a statement before the [[Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnian parliament]] on 14 October with regard to the JNA: "Do not do anything against the Army. (...) the presence of the Army is a stabilizing factor to us, and we need that Army... Until now, we did not have problems with the Army, and we will not have problems later." Izetbegović had a testy exchange with Bosnian Serb leader and SDS president [[Radovan Karadžić]] in parliament on that day. After Karadžić wagered that the Bosniak muslims could not defend themselves if a state of war developed, Izetbegović observed that he found Karadžić's manner and speech offensive and it explained why the Bosniaks felt unwelcome, that his tone might explain why the others federated by [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] felt repelled, and that the threats of Karadžić were unworthy of the Serb people.<ref>Tape record of the BiH Parliament, 88/3. – 89/2. AG, 89/3. – 90/4.</ref>
==War crimes investigation==
 
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 and Herzegovina while the Serbs wanted it to remain in a rump Yugoslavia dominated by Serbia. Izetbegović 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 [[leukemia]] and a brain tumour.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LZMp9ZfGfMUC&pg=PA174&dq=Izetbegovic+leukaemia+and+a+brain+tumour ''After the Peace'' by Robert L. Rothstein] {{ISBN|1-55587-828-8}} {{ISBN|978-1-55587-828-3}}</ref> In January 1992, [[Portugal|Portuguese]] diplomat [[José Cutileiro]] drafted a plan, later known as the [[Peace plans proposed before and during the Bosnian War#Carrington–Cutileiro plan|Lisbon Agreement]], that would turn Bosnia into a triethnic [[Canton (administrative division)|cantonal]] state. Initially, all three sides signed up to the agreement; Izetbegović for the Bosniaks, Karadžić for the Serbs and [[Mate Boban]] for the Croats. Some two weeks later, however, Izetbegović withdrew his signature and declared his opposition to any type of [[Partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina|partition of Bosnia]], supposedly encouraged by [[Warren Zimmermann]], the [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Yugoslavia|United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia]] at the time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/29/world/us-policymakers-on-bosnia-admit-errors-in-opposing-partition-in-1992.html|title=U.S. Policymakers on Bosnia Admit Errors in Opposing Partition in 1992|last=Binder|first=David|date=1993-08-29|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2017-02-04}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es267LuAcAA YouTube]</ref>
Although Alija Izetbegovic was never charged with war crimes for his role during the Bosnian war, following his death, the ICTY acknowledged that he had been under investigation for possible war crimes but that the investigation had been terminated when he died.[http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle=10865] A representative of the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY, Hartmann, made the following statement:
 
===Bosnian War===
:''...Izetbegovic was one of the suspects under investigation as part of the current investigations, but the fact that he had died meant that all legal proceedings against him were dropped. Asked to confirm that up until he died he was under investigation, Hartmann replied that this was the case''.[http://www.un.org/icty/briefing/2003/PB221003.htm]
{{Main|Bosnian War}}
 
In February 1992, Izetbegović called an [[independence referendum]] on the European condition<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Burg | first1 = Steven L. | last2 = Shoup | first2 = Paul S. | title = The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention | publisher = M. E. Sharpe | location = Armonk | year = 2000 | isbn = 978-0-7656-3189-3 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-4eKmp_qu_QC |page=99}}</ref> for recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state, despite warnings from the Serb members of the presidency that it was unconstitutional<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Lauterpacht |editor1-first=Elihu |editor-link1=Elihu Lauterpacht |editor2-last=Greenwood |editor2-first=Christopher |editor-link2=Christopher Greenwood |year=1999 |title=International Law Reports |volume=150 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521642453 |pages=140–141}}</ref> and that any move towards independence would result in the [[Serb Autonomous Regions|Serb-inhabited areas]] seceding to remain with the [[Serbia and Montenegro|rump Yugoslavia]]. [[1992 Bosnian independence referendum|The referendum]] achieved a 99.4% vote in favor on a 63% turnout,<ref>{{cite report | title = The Referendum on Independence in Bosnia-Herzegovina: February 29 – March 1, 1992 | journal = Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)| date = 12 March 1992 | location = Washington D.C. | url = http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=UserGroups.Home&ContentRecord_id=250&ContentType=G&ContentRecordType=G&UserGroup_id=5&Subaction=ByDate | ref = {{harvid|CSCE|12 March 1992}} | url-status=dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110522132353/http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=UserGroups.Home&ContentRecord_id=250&ContentType=G&ContentRecordType=G&UserGroup_id=5&Subaction=ByDate | archive-date = 22 May 2011 }}</ref> largely boycotted by the Serbs.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Nettelfield | first = Lara J. | year = 2010 | title = Courting Democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Oxford | isbn = 978-1-58544-226-3 | url = https://archive.org/details/religiousseparat0000veli |page=67}}</ref> Namely, according to the constitution of the [[Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]], the change of the state-legal status was not possible without the national consensus of all three nations. This mechanism was incorporated into the constitution due to [[Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia|the genocide committed against Serbs]] in [[World War II]], which disturbed the ethnic balance. Another possibility was for two-thirds of the citizens to vote in a referendum to leave the Yugoslav federation.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} The Serbs did not agree with the secession from Yugoslavia. Furthermore, less than two-thirds of the population went to the referendum. Nevertheless, the EU and the US accepted the referendum.
==After the war==
[[Image:Sarajevo Grave of Alija Izetbegovic.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Alija Izetbegović's grave built in [[Sarajevo]] by the [[Istanbul]] Municipality.]]
After the [[Bosnian War]] was formally ended by the Dayton peace accord in November 1995, Izetbegović became a Member President of Presidency of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. His party's power declined after the international community installed a [[High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina|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, Izetbegović remained popular with the Bosniak public, who nicknamed him ''Dedo'' (which in [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]] means ''[[grandparent|granpa]]''). His endorsement helped his party to bounce back in the elections of 2002.
 
The Bosnian parliament, already vacated by the Bosnian Serbs, formally declared independence from Yugoslavia on 29 February and Izetbegović announced the country's independence on 3 March. It did not take effect until 7 April 1992, when the [[European Union]] and United States recognized the new country. Sporadic fighting between Serbs and government forces occurred across Bosnia in the run-up to international recognition. Izetbegović 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 against the poorly equipped government security forces. Initially, Serb forces attacked the non-Serb civilian population in eastern Bosnia. Once towns and villages were securely in their hands, the Serb forces systematically ransacked or burnt down Bosniak houses and apartments, 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 unhygienic conditions, including also being raped repeatedly by Serb soldiers or policemen.<ref name="ICTY: Kunarac, Kovač and Vuković judgement - Foča">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/kunarac/trialc2/judgement/kun-tj010222e-5.htm#VC |title=ICTY: The attack against the civilian population and related requirements |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219012918/http://un.org/icty/kunarac/trialc2/judgement/kun-tj010222e-5.htm |archive-date=19 February 2009 }}</ref>
He died in October 2003 of [[heart disease]] complicated by injuries suffered from a fall at home.
 
Izetbegović consistently promoted the idea of a multi-ethnic Bosnia under central control, which seemed a hopeless strategy under the circumstances. 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 [[Croat–Bosniak War|fighting broke out in 1993]]. In some areas local armistices were signed between the Serbs and Croats. Croat forces launched their first attacks on Bosniaks in central Bosnia in June 1992, but these failed.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} The [[Graz agreement]] caused deep division among Bosnian Croats and strengthened separatist Herzeg-Bosnia, and led to the [[Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing]] campaign against Bosniak civilians from May 1992 to March 1993.<ref name="ICTY: Blaškić verdict - A. The Lasva Valley: May 1992 – January 1993">{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/icty/blaskic/trialc1/judgement/bla-tj000303e-3.htm#IIIA|title=ICTY: Blaškić verdict – A. The Lasva Valley: May 1992 – January 1993}}</ref><ref name="ICTY: Initial indictment for the ethnic cleansing of the Lasva Valley area - Part II">{{cite web|url=http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/indictments/Kordic2.html |title=ICTY (1995): Initial indictment for the ethnic cleansing of the Lasva Valley area – Part II |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225200519/http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/indictments/Kordic2.html |archive-date=25 February 2009 }}</ref>
==Personal life and other information==
 
Adding to the general confusion, Izetbegović's former colleague Fikret Abdić established an ''[[Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia]]'' in parts of [[Cazin]] and [[Velika Kladuša]] municipalities in opposition to the Sarajevo government and in cooperation with [[Slobodan Milošević]] and [[Franjo Tuđman]]. Abdić's faction was eventually routed by the Bosnian army. By this time, Izetbegović's government controlled only about 25% of the country and represented principally the Bosniak community.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}
Izetbegović was married to Halida Repovac and they had three children Lejla, Sabina and Bakir. The Spanish newspaper ''[[El Mundo (Spain)|El Mundo]]'' declared him "Person of the Year" in 1995. He has received the "Reward from King Feysal" and a medal from "The Center For Democracy, Washington." His most famous book outside Yugoslavia was ''Islam Between East And West'', which has been published widely in a number of languages since its release in 1984. Other published works include ''The Islamic Declaration'', ''Problems of Islamic Renaissance'', ''My Escape to Freedom'', ''Notes from Prison, 1983-1988'' and most recently the memoirs ''Inescapable Questions: Autobiographical Notes''.
 
[[File:Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman sign the Croat-Muslim Federation Peace Agreement - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg|thumb|right|Izetbegović and [[Franjo Tuđman]] signing the [[Washington Agreement (1994)|Washington Agreement]] in 1994]]
Serb nationalists and institutions twice petitioned the [[ICTY]] to indict him on war crimes and other charges.<ref name="Glas Javnosti">{{cite web |url=http://arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs/arhiva/2002/05/02/srpski/B02042906.shtml|title=Banjalučki sud sastavio listu osumnjičenih za ratne zločine:Tuđman među osumnjičenim}}</ref> An [[ICTY]] investigation of Izetbegović was started, but terminated when he died.<ref name="Florence Hartmann statement">{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/icty/briefing/2003/PB221003.htm|title=Florence Hartmann statement}}</ref> In his autobiography ''Inescapable Questions'', Izetbegović admits one occasion in which a small number of soldiers of the Bosnian army deliberately killed civilians, and details his government's struggles to maintain discipline over the hastily assembled army.<ref>Inescapable Questions, Autobiographical Notes, ISBN 0860373673 [http://www.angelfire.com/dc/mbooks/inescapable-questions.html Book Rewiew]</ref>
Alija Izetbegović died in October 2003 in Sarajevo. Following his death there was a drive to rename a part of the main street of [[Sarajevo]] from Ulica [[Josip Broz Tito|Maršala Tita]] (Marshall Tito Street) and the [[Sarajevo International Airport]] in his honour. Following objections from politicians from [[Republika Srpska]], the international community, and [[UN]] envoy [[Paddy Ashdown]], both initiatives failed. Unlike mass hysteria against Marshall Tito in Serbia and Croatia after breakup
of Yugoslavia, Izetbegović himself never insisted on renaming Marshall Tito Street in Sarajevo, after he became president, although he was political prisoner of Tito's regime as a declared anti-communist. Izetbegović considered Tito's [[anti-fascist]] role in WWII to be important for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Europe in general. Izetbegović participated in Tito's [[Partisan (military)|partisan]] forces during WWII for half a year, but was unsatisfied with communist political influence on anti-fascist fight.<ref name=FTV - Ko ima pravo baštiniti tradiciju ZAVNOBiH-a?> FTV - Ko ima pravo baštiniti tradiciju ZAVNOBiH-a? - [rtsp://195.222.58.181:7070/ftv/posteno1127.rm]</ref>
 
For three and a half years, Izetbegović lived precariously in a [[Siege of Sarajevo|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. [[Osama bin Laden]] was given a [[Bosnia and Herzegovina passport|Bosnian passport]] during Izetbegović's [[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|presidency]] and went on to visit Bosnia and Kosovo several times.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Forum: Anti-Serb programs in Kosovo|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/apr/9/20050409-102733-9741r/|access-date=2020-12-02|newspaper=The Washington Times|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=N.N|date=2011-05-03|title=Ko je dao bh. pasoš Osami bin Ladenu?|url=http://www.nezavisne.com/novosti/svijet/Ko-je-dao-bh-pasos-Osami-bin-Ladenu/88242|access-date=2020-12-02|website=Nezavisne novine|language=sr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2001-11-01|title=Al Qaeda's Balkan Links|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1004563569751363760|access-date=2020-12-03|issn=0099-9660}}</ref> Bin Laden stated to a German reporter that he planned to bring Muslim volunteers to Bosnia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bin Laden najmanje dva puta boravio na Balkanu|url=https://www.vijesti.me/svijet/balkan/362993/bin-laden-najmanje-dva-puta-boravio-na-balkanu|access-date=2020-12-02|website=vijesti.me|language=sr}}</ref> Following massacres on Bosnian Muslims by Serb and, to a lesser extent, Croat forces, foreign Muslim volunteers joined the Bosnian army in the so-called [[Bosnian mujahideen]], numbering between 300 and 1,500.<ref name="SENSE tribunal">SENSE Tribunal:ICTY – WE FOUGHT WITH THE BH ARMY, BUT NOT UNDER ITS COMMAND {{cite web|url=http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?sta%3D3%26pid%3D10225%26kat%3D3 |title=SENSE Tribunal : ICTY |access-date=2007-11-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214215330/http://www.sense-agency.com/en/stream.php?sta=3&pid=10225&kat=3 |archive-date=14 December 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref> They quickly attracted heavy criticism amplified by Serb and Croat [[Propaganda during the Yugoslav Wars|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 [[Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnian army]] had thousands of troops and no need for more soldiers, but for arms. Many Bosnian army officers and intellectuals were suspicious regarding foreign volunteers' arrival in the central part of the country, because they came from [[Split (city)|Split]] and [[Zagreb]] in Croatia, and were passed through the self-proclaimed Herzeg-Bosnia unlike Bosnian army soldiers who were regularly arrested by Croat forces. According to general [[Stjepan Šiber]], the highest-ranking ethnic Croat in the Bosnian army, the key roles in the foreign volunteers' arrival were played by [[Franjo Tuđman]] and Croatian [[counter-intelligence]] underground with the aim to justify the involvement of Croatia in the Bosnian War and mass crimes committed by Croat forces. Although Izetbegović 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islam.co.ba/razmisljanja/index.php?subaction=ostalo&id=1070747643|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516123449/http://www.islam.co.ba/razmisljanja/index.php?subaction=ostalo&id=1070747643|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 May 2007|title=Predrag Matvejević analysis|access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Islam.co.ba is not adequate for reliably sourcing the claims made in this paragraph.|date=March 2022}}
His grave at the Kovači cemetery in Sarajevo was badly damaged by a bomb on the morning of 11 August 2006. The identity of the bomber or bombers has not been determined.<ref name="BBC Europe">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4783333.stm |title=Izetbegović grave damaged}}</ref>
 
In 1993, Izetbegović 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 US military training given to the Croatian Army. 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 airlifted 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 Second Bosniak Congress officially re-introduced the historical ethnic name Bosniaks.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} The Yugoslav "[[Muslims (ethnic group)|Muslims 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.<ref name="Imamovic">Historija Bošnjaka by Mustafa Imamović (1996), Sarajevo: BZK Preporod; {{ISBN|9958-815-00-1}}</ref>
French philosopher [[Bernard-Henri Lévy]] described Izetbegović's wartime career in a favorable documentary called ''Bosna!''
 
====Ending the war====
In October 2006, his son Bakir (born 1956) was elected to a four-year term in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a representaive of the [[Party of Democratic Action|SDA]].
[[File:DaytonAgreement.jpg|thumb|left|[[Slobodan Milošević]], Izetbegović and Tuđman initialling the [[Dayton Agreement]], 21 November 1995]]
 
The [[Washington Agreement (1994)|Washington Agreement]] in March 1994 ended the [[Croat-Bosniak War]] and divided the combined [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|ARBiH]] and [[Croatian Defence Council|HVO]] territory into ten autonomous cantons, establishing the [[Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]].
 
In August 1995, following the [[Srebrenica massacre]] and the [[Markale massacres#Second massacre|2nd Markale massacre]], [[NATO]] launched an [[1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina|intensive bombing campaign]] which destroyed the 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 ceasefire. The parties agreed to meet at [[Dayton, Ohio]] to negotiate a peace treaty under the supervision of the United States. Serb and Croat interests were represented by Milošević and Tuđman, respectively. Izetbegović represented the internationally recognized Bosnian government.<ref>Dianna Johnstone. ''Fool's Crusade'', London: 2002 {{ISBN|978-1-58367-084-2}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=September 2013}}
 
====After the war====
[[File:President Clinton meeting with Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic in Tuzla, Bosnia - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] meeting with Izetbegović in [[Tuzla]], 22 December 1997]]
 
After the [[Bosnian War]] was formally ended by the [[Dayton Agreement|Dayton peace accord]] in November 1995, Izetbegović became a Member of the Presidency of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. His party's power declined after the international community installed a [[High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina|High Representative]] to oversee affairs of state, with more power than the Presidency or parliaments of either the Bosniak-Croat or Serb entities. He stepped down in October 2000 at the age of 74, citing poor health. However, Izetbegović remained popular with the Bosniak public, who nicknamed him ''Dedo'' (which in [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]] means ''[[grandparent|grandfather]]''). His endorsement helped his party to bounce back in the [[2002 Bosnian general election|2002 general election]]. Some observers have described his rule as [[authoritarianism|authoritarian]] with nationalist positions.<ref>{{cite thesis|last1=Carson|first1=Jason Edward |title=A Leader Despite Himself? An Analysis of the Statesmanship of Alija Izetbegovic, 1990–2000|date=April 2009|url=https://irl.umsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1164&context=thesis | degree = Master of Arts | institution = University of Missouri-St. Louis}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ginsburg |first1=Tom |last2=Simpser |first2=Alberto |title=Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes
|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1107729780 |page=202 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/man-of-decent-intentions-but-flawed-1.386910|title=Man of decent intentions, but flawed|date=25 October 2003|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ohr.int/?ohr_archive=ohr-bih-media-round-up-23102003-4|title=OHR BiH Media Round-up, 23/10/2003|date=23 October 2003|publisher=Office of the High Representative}}</ref>
 
==Death==
{{See also|Funeral of Alija Izetbegović}}
[[File:Sarajevo Alija Izetbegović Grave.jpg|thumb|right|Izetbegović's grave in [[Sarajevo]]]]
 
Izetbegović died on 19 October 2003 of [[Cardiovascular disease|heart disease]] complicated by injuries suffered from a fall at home. An [[ICTY]] investigation of Izetbegović was in progress, but ended with his death.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bosnia leader was war crimes suspect|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3203323.stm|newspaper=BBC|date=22 October 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dead Bosnia Hero Focus of War Crimes Inquiry|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/23/world/dead-bosnia-hero-focus-of-war-crimes-inquiry.html?ref=alijaizetbegovic|newspaper=New York Times|date=23 October 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2004/bosnia-and-herzegovina|title = Bosnia and Herzegovina|date = 13 January 2012|access-date = 28 April 2019|archive-date = 28 April 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190428031628/https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2004/bosnia-and-herzegovina|url-status = dead}}</ref> [[Funeral of Alija Izetbegović|His funeral]], held three days after his death, on 22 October, drew many Bosnian officials, dignitaries from 44 foreign countries, 105 members of the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey]] and between 100,000 and 150,000 people, with his family receiving over 4,000 telegrams.<ref name="cazin">{{cite web|url=https://www.cazin.net/vijesti/pogledajte-snimak-dzenaze-alije-izetbegovica|title=Pogledajte snimak dženaze Alije Izetbegovića: Prisustvovalo 150.000 ljudi (VIDEO)|date=19 October 2019|access-date=19 October 2019|language=bs|author=Azra L.|publisher=cazin.net}}</ref> Over 400 [[journalist]]s attended the funeral as it was broadcast live on TV with 37 cameras.<ref name="cazin"/>
 
Following Izetbegović's death there was an initiative to rename a part of the main street of [[Sarajevo]] from [[Marshal Tito street (Sarajevo)|Ulica Maršala Tita]] (Marshal Tito Street) and the [[Sarajevo International Airport]] in his honor. Following objections from politicians from [[Republika Srpska]], the international community, and UN envoy [[Paddy Ashdown]], both initiatives failed.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bajramovic|first=Dino|title=Street Name Change Splits Bosnian Capital|url=http://iwpr.net/report-news/street-name-change-splits-bosnian-capital|newspaper=Institute for War & Peace Reporting|date=21 February 2005|access-date=6 March 2012|archive-date=29 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192524/http://iwpr.net/report-news/street-name-change-splits-bosnian-capital|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
He had a son, [[Bakir Izetbegović|Bakir]], who also entered politics and served as [[Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Presidency]] member from 2010 to 2018, as well as two granddaughters (Jasmina and Mirzela Izetbegović).<ref name="Nytimes20031020"/>
 
On 11 August 2006, Izetbegović's grave at the Kovači cemetery in Sarajevo was badly damaged by a bomb. The identity of the bomber or bombers has never been determined.<ref name="BBC Europe">{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4783333.stm|title=Izetbegović grave damaged|work=BBC News|date=11 August 2006|access-date=1 January 2010}}</ref>
 
==Honours and decorations==
===Military rank===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
|-
! colspan=2 | Award or decoration
|-
| [[File:20-Član Predsjedništva ARBiH 1992.png|50px]] || [[Commander-in-chief]] of the [[Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnian Armed Forces]]
|}
 
===International===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;"
|-
! colspan=2 | Award or decoration !! Country !! Awarded by !! Year !! Place
|-
| [[File:Ribbon of a Grand Order of Queen Jelena.png|80px]] || [[Grand Order of Queen Jelena]] || {{flag|Croatia}} || [[Franjo Tuđman]] || 1995 || [[Zagreb]]
|-
| [[File:Order of the State of Republic of Turkey.png|80px]] || [[Order of the State of Republic of Turkey]] || {{flag|Turkey}} || [[Süleyman Demirel]] || 1997 || [[Ankara]]
|-
| [[File:Order of Independence (Qatar) - ribbon bar.gif|80px]] || [http://www.medals.org.uk/qatar/qatar001.htm Order of Independence] || {{flag|Qatar}} || [[Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani]] || 1998 || [[Doha]]
|}
 
==Writings==
{{wikiquote}}
'''Available in English'''
* ''Islam Between East and West'', ''Alija Ali Izetbegović'', ''American Trust Publications'', ''1985 (also ABC Publications, 1993)''
* ''Inescapable Questions: Autobiographical Notes'', '''Alija Izetbegović'', ''The Islamic Foundation'', ''2003''
* ''Izetbegović of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Notes from Prison, 1983-19881983–1988'', ''Alija Izetbegović'', ''Greenwood Press, 2001''
* ''Notes From Prison -– 1983-19881983–1988''
* ''[[The Islamic Declaration]]'', ''Alija Izetbegović'', ''s.n., 1991''
 
'''Available in Bosnian'''
* ''Govori i pisma'', ''Alija Izetbegović'', ''SDA'', ''1994''
* ''Rat i mir u Bosni i Hercegovini'' ''(Biblioteka Posebna izdanja)'', ''Alija Izetbegović'', Vijece Kongresa bosnjackih intelektualaca, 1998
* ''Moj bijeg u slobodu: Biljeske iz zatvora 1983-19881983–1988'' ''(Biblioteka Refleksi)'', ''Alija Izetbegović'', ''Svjetlost, 1999''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151222153157/http://profkaminskisreadings.yolasite.com/resources/Alija%20Izetbegovic-%20The%20Islamic-Declaration%20%281990%29.pdf ''Islamska deklaracija'' ''(Mala muslimanska biblioteka)'', ''Alija Izetbegović'', ''Bosna, 1990'']
 
==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}
 
==References==
{{reflistRefbegin|2}}
*{{cite book
| last = Bartrop
| first = Paul
| author-link = Paul R. Bartrop
| year = 2012
| title = A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide
| publisher = ABC-CLIO
| location = [[Santa Barbara, California]]
| isbn = 978-0-313-38679-4
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=55NPpA6EvyMC
}}
* {{cite book
|last1=Hamilton
|first1=Neil A.
|title=Founders of Modern Nations: A Biographical Dictionary
|date=1 December 1995 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic
|isbn=978-0-87436-750-8
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRPvAAAAMAAJ
|language=en
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Hamilton
| first = Neil A.
| editor-last = Hall
| editor-first= Richard C.
| year = 2014
| title = War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia
| chapter = Izetbegović, Alija
| publisher = ABC-CLIO
| location = Santa Barbara, California
| isbn = 978-1-61069-031-7
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wy3TBAAAQBAJ
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Izetbegović
| first = Alija
| title = Alija Izetbegović - dostojanstvo ljudskog izbora
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0HAMAQAAMAAJ
| year = 2005
| publisher = OKO
| isbn = 978-9958-43-113-5
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Pehar
| first = Dražen
| year = 2011
| title = Alija Izetbegović and the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina
| publisher = HKD Napredak
| location = [[Mostar]]
| isbn = 978-9958-841-05-7
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Shay
| first = Shaul
| year = 2007
| title = Islamic Terror and the Balkans
| publisher = Transaction Publishers
| location = [[Piscataway, New Jersey]]
| isbn = 978-1-4128-0931-3
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pGWimAEACAAJ
}}
{{Refend}}
 
==FurtherExternal readinglinks==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L11425553 Terror Attack: Alija Izetbegovic's Grave Damaged by Explosion] - Reuters, Aug 11, 2006
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.1Lit.com/izetbegovic Alija Izetbegovic: 1925-2003: Biographical information, book reviews and excerpts from Ummah.eu, Inc.]
*{{C-SPAN|19731}}
* "The leader caught without a land", The Times (UK), 4 February 1993
*"[https://www.angelfire.com/dc/mbooks/izetbegovic.html Alija Izetbegovic: 1925–2003]", Balkan News, 2014
* "[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907EFDB103EF933A15753C1A9659C8B63 Alija Izetbegović, Muslim Who Led Bosnia, Dies at 78]", New York Times, 20 October 2003
*"The leader caught without a land", The Times (UK), 4 February 1993
* "Obituaries; Alija Izetbegović, 78; Led Bosnia Through War", Los Angeles Times, 20 October 2003
*"[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-20-me-izetbegovic20-story.html Obituaries; Alija Izetbegović, 78; Led Bosnia Through War]", Los Angeles Times, 20 October 2003
* "Obituary: Alija Izetbegović: 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
*"[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/oct/20/guardianobituaries.iantraynor Obituary: Alija Izetbegović: first Chairman of the Presidency of post-communist Bosnia and Herzegovina, 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
*''Bosnia: A Short History'', Noel Malcolm, 1996
*''Galvanizing Fear of Islam: The 1983 Trial of Alija Izetbegović in Context'', Aimee Wielechowski, 1996
* ''The Two Faces of Islam'', Stephen Schwartz, 2002
* ''Inescapable Questions: Autobiographical Notes'', Alija Izetbegović, The Islamic Foundation, 2003
 
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Izetbegovic, Alija}}
[[Category:Alija Izetbegović| ]]
<!--Categories-->
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[[Category:20th-century philosophers]]
[[Category:21st-century philosophers]]
[[Category:Bosniak nationalism]]
[[Category:Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:Chairmen of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:Deaths from cardiovascular disease]]
[[Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina politicians]]
[[Category:Bosnian Muslims]]
[[Category:People of the Bosnian War]]
[[Category:People from Sarajevo]]
[[Category:History of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:People from Bosanski Šamac]]
[[Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina Islamists]]
[[Category:Victims of political repressions in Communist Yugoslavia]]
 
 
<!--Other languages-->
 
[[ar:علي عزت بيغوفيتش]]
[[az:Aliya İzzətbəyoviç]]
[[bs:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[bg:Алия Изетбегович]]
[[ca:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[cs:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[de:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[es:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[eu:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[fr:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[hr:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[id:Alija Izetbegovic]]
[[it:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[kk:Изетбегович, Алия]]
[[hu:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[mk:Алија Изетбеговиќ]]
[[ml:അലിജാ ഇസ്സത്ത്‌ ബെഗോവിച്ച്‌]]
[[mr:अलिजा इझेत्बेगोव्हिक]]
[[nl:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[ja:アリヤ・イゼトベゴヴィッチ]]
[[no:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[pl:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[pt:Alija Izetbegovic]]
[[ro:Alija Izetbegovici]]
[[ru:Изетбегович, Алия]]
[[sq:Alija Izetbegoviq]]
[[sk:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[sl:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[sr:Алија Изетбеговић]]
[[sh:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[fi:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[sv:Alija Izetbegović]]
[[tr:Aliya İzzetbegoviç]]
[[uk:Алія Ізетбегович]]
[[zh:阿利雅·伊泽特贝戈维奇]]
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