Sifet Podžić (born 1 May 1959) is a Bosnian politician and former Army

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

who served as

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

from 2019 to 2023. He has been a member of the Democratic Front since 2013. Podžić previously served as member of the national House of Peoples from 2015 to 2019, and was also the first Chief of Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2006 to 2008. He has served as the

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Ambassador to

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

as well.

Early life and education

Podžić was born in Žepa,

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 1 May 1959. He earned an MS in diplomacy and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the Faculty of Political Sciences at the

University of Sarajevo The University of Sarajevo (Bosnian language, Bosnian, Croatian language, Croatian and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a List of universities in Bo ...

Minister of Defence (2019–2023)

Appointment

On 23 December 2019, Podžić was appointed by the Democratic Front as

in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Zoran Tegeltija Zoran Tegeltija (; born 29 September 1961) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Serb politician serving as director of the Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ITA) since June 2023. He previously served as Ministry of F ...

Tenure

On 14 July 2021, Podžić and the Bosnian Foreign Minister

Bisera Turković Bisera Turković (; born 8 December 1954) is a Bosnian diplomat and politician who served as Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2023. She was the first female foreign minister of Bosnia ...

met with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Secretary General

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (; born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. Since 2025, he has been the Minister of Finance in the Støre Cabinet. He has previously been the prime minister of Norway and secretary general of NATO. ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. In August 2021, Bosnian Presidency members

Željko Komšić Željko Komšić (; born 20 January 1964) is a Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Croat politician serving as the List of Croat members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6th and current Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia a ...

and

Šefik Džaferović Šefik Džaferović Nishan-e-Pakistan, N.Pk (born 9 September 1957) is a Bosnian politician who served as the List of Bosniak members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7th Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from ...

, without including third member

Milorad Dodik Milorad Dodik ( sr-Cyrl, Милорад Додик, ; born 12 March 1959) is a Bosnian Serb politician currently serving as the 8th president of Republika Srpska since 2022, a position he previously held from 2010 to 2018. He also served as ...

, instructed the Ministry of Security to be available for putting out the

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

s in

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...

which had formed a few days before. This came after Dodik refused to give consent to the Bosnian Armed Forces to use its

military helicopter A military helicopter is a helicopter that is either specifically designed for or converted for usage by a military. A military helicopter's mission is a function of its design or conversion. The most common use of military helicopters is airlif ...

s to help put out the fires, because the consent of all three members of the Presidency is required for the military force's helicopters to be used. On 19 August, Dodik justified withholding consent, saying the "Helicopters are 40–50 years old. The people flying them have courage. Of course, that is not the only reason why I did not participate in the Presidency sessions. That reason is well known and it will remain so." However, on 23 August, Podžić reacted to Dodik's statement, saying "The helicopters are perfectly fine, the only reason they didn't help in putting out the fires is Dodik." In October 2021, Podžić canceled a

military exercise A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in Military education and training, training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of ...

between the

Serbian Army The Serbian Army () is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. Its organization, composition, weapons and equipment are adapted to the assigned missions and tasks of the Serbian Armed Forces, primarily for operatio ...

and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the "bad

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

epidemiological situation in the country and because of the small number of vaccinated members of the Armed Forces." This was met with outrage by Chairman of the Council of Ministers Zoran Tegeltija, who sent a request for the removal of Podžić as minister to the national

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Some days later, he submitted the decision on the dismissal of Podžić to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. On 26 October, the majority of the House of Representatives members voted against Tegeltija's decision and did not support Podžić's dismissal. Podžić was succeeded as Minister of Defence by

Zukan Helez Zukan Helez (born 1 January 1964) is a Bosnian politician serving as Minister of Defence since January 2023. He is also the current Vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving alongside Staša Košarac. He was ...

on 25 January 2023, following the formation of a new

presided over by

Borjana Krišto Borjana Krišto (; born 13 August 1961) is a Bosnian Croat politician serving as Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina since January 2023. She previously served as the 8th president of the Federation of Bosnia and He ...

Personal life

Podžić is married and has two children. Besides his native Bosnian, he speaks English and Slovene fluently.

Health

On 17 October 2022, Podžić was rushed to hospital and had emergency surgery to remove a

blood clot A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

in his

abdominal aorta In human anatomy, the abdominal aorta is the largest artery in the abdominal cavity. As part of the aorta, it is a direct continuation of the descending aorta (of the thorax). Structure The abdominal aorta begins at the level of the diaphragm ...

. He was placed into the

intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensive care medicine. An inten ...

the next day. Podžić recovered and was discharged from hospital on 21 October.

References

External links

Minister of Defence profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Podzic, Sifet 1959 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina soldiers Ambassadors of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Bulgaria Members of the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina Government ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Defence ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina