Haris Silajdžić

Infobox President
name = Haris Silajdžić
order = President of Bosnia and Herzegovina
primeminister = Nikola Špirić
term_start = 07 March 2008
predecessor = Željko Komšić
order0 = Bosniak Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
term_start0 = 06 November 2006
predecessor0 = Sulejman Tihić
order1 = Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina
president1 = Alija Izetbegović
term_start1 = 25 October 1993
term_end1 = 30 January 1996
predecessor1 = Mile Akmadžić
successor1 = Hasan Muratović
president2 = Alija Izetbegović
Zivko Radisić
Ante Jelavić
Alija Izetbegović
Zivko Radisić
term_start2 = 03 January 1997
term_end2 = 06 June 2000
Serving with Boro Bosić (1997 – 1999) and Svetozar Mihajlović (1999 – 2000)
predecessor2 = Hasan Muratović
successor2 = Spasoje Tuševljak
birth_date = birth date and age|1945|10|01|df=y
birth_place = Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
religion = Islam
party = SBH

Dr. Haris Silajdžić (born on October 1, 1945) is a Bosnian politician and academic.

In the elections which were held on October 1, 2006, he was elected as the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the following four years in the rotating presidency. He ran for the position in 2002 but was defeated by Sulejman Tihić, who was in turn ousted by Silajdžić in the 2006 election.

From 1990 to 1993 he served as the foreign minister of Bosnia and as the prime minister from 1993 to 1996. During the war in Bosnia, starting in April 1992 and finally ending with the Dayton Accords, he was perceived as the most visible advocate for self-defense and military assistance to Bosnia, insisting Bosnia faced foreign aggression. He also spoke on the issue of "ethnic cleansing" of Bosniaks and Bosnian-Croats by Bosnian-Serb forces. He continuously visited Western and Islamic capitals, as well as to the UN, raising the issue of injustice and "ethnic cleansing."

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, as it didn't have the evidence for the extent of Belgrade's control over the Bosnian Serb army which the International Criminal Tribunal had [ [http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2007/04/serbias-darkest-pages-hidden-from.html Marlise Simon, Serbia's Darkest Pages Hidden from Genocide Court, "The International Herald Tribune", 8 April 2007] ] [ [http://www.bosnia.org.uk/news/news_body.cfm?newsid=2394 Bosnian Institute news: Open letter on genocide] ] , acquitted Serbia of the charges of complicity in genocide brought against the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" by the Bosnian government [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6395791.stm Court clears Serbia of genocide, BBC news] ] . Silajdžić expressed disappointment at the court's ruling, but welcomed the fact that the court "ruled that Serbia and Montenegro had violated the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by not preventing or punishing the perpetrators of the genocide."

Silajdžić has been a member of the Bosnian delegation which negotiated the US-brokered Dayton Accords. He continues stressing that the document was essential in ending the genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but now sees it as an obstacle in reunifying the country. Making strong steps and claims in 2006 and 2007 towards cancelling certain parts of Dayton accords, he directly opposes the constitution of the country, thus being a very controversial political figure, famous on the Bosniak and infamous on the Serbian side. His main directions are abolishing the existence of Republic of Srpska, breaking certain relations with Serbia and reforming the country towards unity. He continues to be a key figure in Bosnian politics. Originally, he was a member and vice-president of the Party of Democratic Action, but broke away from the party in 1997 by funding his own Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At this time, Haris Silajdžić is the last Bosnian war-time politician who still actively impacts public life, in addition to Zlatko Lagumdzija who was Bosnia's Deputy Prime Minister during the war and who has held, and continues to hold, various public offices since that time. Silajdžić had a strong political comeback in the 2006 elections. He is backed by authorities and organizations throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina that voice dissatisfactions with the Dayton Accord provisions and oppose autonomy of the Republic of Srpska entity within Bosnia-Herzegovina--relying on the argument that this territory was acquired based on a policy of "ethnic cleansing."

Positions held by Haris Silajdžić over the past 15 years:

* Minister of Foreign Affairs
* Prime Minister
* Co-President of the Council of Ministers
* Bosniak member of the presidency 2006-2010

Quotes

*"The Allies did not bomb the railway tracks leading to Auschwitz, because they feared it would arouse the wrath of the Nazis; six million people died. In our case, an arms embargo led to "only" a quarter of a million deaths - an embargo that penalized only the victims, for the aggressors already had more arms than they could handle".
*"The origins of this horrific human tragedy lay not in Bosnia itself, but in the policies conducted by demagogues in her neighboring countries, especially the Milosevic regime in Belgrade - policies that led to the violent dissolution of former Yugoslavia and the near-destruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its most plural republic".--Addressing the Stockholm International forum on the Holocaust, January 27, 2000.--

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7528901.stm Interview from the BBC's Hardtalk current affairs program]
* [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/bosnia/jan-june97/bosnia_5-13.html An interview with Haris Silajdžić]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/3890537.stm Haris Silajdžić interview with Tim Sebastian]
* [http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=382949&lng=1 Bosnia's new leadership takes shape]