The Launch Event of the Book “Alija Izetbegović in the Foreign Policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1990-2003” Held in Sarajevo
The launch event for the book “Alija Izetbegović in the Foreign Policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1990-2003” written by Fikret Muslimović, published by the Association for the Protection of the Legacy of the Struggle for Bosnia and Herzegovina, was held on Thursday, October 26, 2023, in the ceremonial hall of the Sarajevo City Hall, starting at 7 p.m.
The event was organized by the Alija Izetbegović Foundation and under the auspices of the City of Sarajevo and Mayor Benjamina Karić.
The promoters were:
- Academician Ferid Muhić, Ph.D.
- Prof. Selmo Cikotić, Ph.D., and
- Assist. Prof. Jahja Muhasilović, Ph.D.
Mrs Dalila Omerović was the presenter during the promotion.
The launch event was well attended, over 120 guests were present from the diplomatic corps, partner organizations, friends of the Foundation and author Fikret Muslimović, and members of Alija Izetbegović’s family. This event was organized as part of a series of activities that marked the 20th anniversary of the death of President Alija Izetbegović and which offered the public an opportunity to be reminded of his life, his work aimed at preserving the integrity and the multi-ethnic character of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Alija Izetbegović’s very significant intellectual legacy.
The book is written in Bosnian and can be bought through the Association (zatebebih@bih.net.ba ).
Academician Mr Ferid Muhić on this occasion stated the following about Alija Izetbegović:
“It should be said that the result fully justified all his efforts and rewarded his painstaking work because he sovereignly, argumentatively and integrally evoked the specific, or rather – unique character of the statesman Alija Izetbegović. In short, these books confirmed that Alija Izetbegović is more than a rara avis – a rare bird in a motley flock of contemporary political leaders and statesmen! In the recent history of world politics, he is truly a unique example of a leader whose political beliefs are based on, derived and deduced from the premises of his own philosophical worldview and a highly developed understanding of the character and dynamics of social relations. To make this very clear: Alija Izetbegović is not exceptional because he was the only of all the statesmen of this era who, in conceptualizing his strategic political goals, referred to and relied on his own philosophical views, but rather because no other statesman had and still doesn’t have any philosophy of his or her own!
Such a statesman has long been absent either in the region or in the world, regardless of the size and population of the country they headed, either among the deceased or among the living. Whether it is Milošević and Tuđman, Vučić, Orban, Milanović, Plenković, or Macron, Biden, Trump, Putin, Netanyahu… not a single political leader of the recent era simply has any philosophical platform of his own that would serve as the basis for his actions. Instead, each of them operates from the unpredictable and fundamentally amoral perspective of the so-called “realpolitik”. I say the so-called – because no matter how realistic it is, that type of action is not actually politics, because politics, expressis verbis, is action for the welfare of the community, like bios politicos is the etymological equivalent of community life, and not the sphere of realization of personal interests of politicians.”
READ THE COMPLETE ADDRESS BY ACADEMICIAN FERID MUHIĆ ON THE OCCASION OF THE BOOK LAUNCH EVENT
ALIJA IZETBEGOVIĆ FOUNDATION
