Raif Dizdarević (born 9 December 1926) is a Bosnian politician who served as

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

's first

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

president of the Presidency from 1988 until 1989. He participated in the armed resistance as a

Yugoslav Partisan The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Didzarević also served as President of the Presidency of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Early life

Dizdarević was born into a

family in 1926, but became and remained an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

after entering school.

Political career

After the war, as a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

Dizdarević was elevated into high political functions. From 1945 he was a member of the

State Security Administration The State Security Service ( hr, Služba državne sigurnosti, sr, Служба државне безбедности; mk, Служба за државна безбедност; sl, Služba državne varnosti), also known by its original name ...

. As a diplomat, he served in embassies in Bulgaria (1951–1954), the Soviet Union (1956–1959), and Czechoslovakia (1963–1967). Dizdarević was an assistant Federal Secretary of Foreign Affairs, with

Miloš Minić Miloš Minić (Милош Минић) (August 28, 1914, Preljina, Čačak, Kingdom of Serbia – September 5, 2003, Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro) was a Yugoslav Serbian communist politician. Biography Minić graduated from secondary school in Ča ...

being the Minister. From April 1978 until April 1982, he was the President of the Presidency of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, after which he served as President of the Federal Assembly of Yugoslavia. From 15 May 1984 until 30 December 1987, Dizdarević was the

. On 15 May 1988, he became

President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia The office of the President of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Predsjednik Predsjedništva SFRJ, separator=" / ", Председник Председништва СФРЈ, mk, Претседател ...

, following the resignation of

Hamdija Pozderac Hamdija Pozderac (15 January 1924 – 7 April 1988) was a Yugoslav communist politician from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the 4th President of the People's Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from July 1971 to May 1974. ...

. During Dizdarević's time as head of state, Yugoslavia had a foreign debt of over US$21 billion and an annual inflation rate of 217 percent. In March 1989, Dizdarević had to cancel a foreign trip to Brazil, Uruguay and Senegal amid unrest in the Albanian-majority province of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

.''Yugoslav crisis hits president's foreign tour''. The Glasgow Herald - 11 March 1989.

Later life

Dizdarević, who tried to keep the Yugoslav federation together, lost his political influence with the start of the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...

. Later he lived in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

and published his memoirs. He published a memoir book ''Od smrti Tita do smrti Jugoslavije'' ("From the death of Tito to the death of Yugoslavia", ) and a book of memories on events and personalities ''Vrijeme koje se pamti' ("Times to be remembered", ). His son Predrag lives in the United States, while his daughter Jasminka lives in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Serbia. His nephew was journalist, diplomat, and activist Srđan Dizdarević, who died in 2016.

References

External links

Short biographyHronika naslućene smrti
review of Dizdarević's book of memoirs

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160224191958/http://www.radiosarajevo.ba/novost/66235/raif-dizdarevic-bio-sam-i-ostao-jugonostalgicar Radiosarajevo.ba: Raif Dizdarević: Bio sam i ostao jugonostalgičar (26. X 2011)].
Mojusk.ba: 'Put u raspad' - Knjiga Raifa Dizdarevića daje novo svjetlo o raspadu Jugoslavije (24. II 2012)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dizdarevic, Raif 1926 births Living people People from Fojnica Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina atheists Bosnia and Herzegovina people of World War II League of Communists of Bosnia and Herzegovina politicians Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia members Chairmen of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign ministers of Yugoslavia Government ministers of Yugoslavia Presidents of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia