Haris Silajdžić

Haris Silajdžić (Cyrillic: Харис Силајџић; born 1 October 1945) is a Bosnian politician and academic. In the 2006 elections, Silajdžić was elected as the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina for four years in the rotating presidency.

Political career

File:Pm sanader receives bosnian presidency member.jpg

Haris Silajdžić and former Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader discuss Croatian-Bosnian relations, cooperation in energy, and the continuation of Euro-Atlantic integration processes on 27 May 2010 in Zagreb

From 1990 to 1993 he served as the foreign minister of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and as the prime minister from 1993 to 1996. In 1996, he left the Party of Democratic Action because of personal reasons, and founded the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH). His SBiH entered the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina and become one of the leading Bosnian Muslim parties the following year.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in the Hague acquitted Serbia of the charges of complicity in genocide brought against the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" by the Bosnian government. 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 canceling 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 Republika 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.

Silajdžić had a strong political comeback in the 2006 elections. He is backed by authorities and organizations throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina that voice dissatisfaction with the Dayton Accord provisions and oppose autonomy of the Republika Srpska entity within Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In 2005 he received a Doctor honoris causa by the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations

Quotes

I must say, that I enjoyed it, I must say that. Because those who killed so many defenseless people, those who aimed baby hospitals, those who aimed children while playing, could finally feel what it means to be targeted, to be defenseless.. and they deserved it.

- Commenting on the NATO bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb forces during an interview for the Death of Yugoslavia documentary, 1995.

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.

- Addressing the Stockholm International forum on the Holocaust, 27 January 2000.

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 Milošević 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, 27 January 2000.

If you kill one person, you're prosecuted. If you kill ten people, you're famous; if you kill a quarter-of-a-million people, you're invited to a peace conference.

- Commenting on Karadzić's U.N./E.C./U.S. invitation to New York.

The state cannot block the entity, but the entity can block the state.

- Commenting about the power relations between the Bosnian entities, the Bosnian parliament and central government during a lecture at the School of Law of UCLA, 17 February 2009.

References

Notes

Books

External links

• Interview from the BBC's Hardtalk current affairs program
• An interview with Haris Silajdžić
• Haris Silajdžić interview with Tim Sebastian
• Bosnia's new leadership takes shape

Political offices
Preceded by Mile Akmadžić	Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1993–1996	Succeeded by Hasan Muratović
Preceded by Hasan Muratović	Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1997–2000 Served alongside: Boro Bosić: 1997–1999 Svetozar Mihajlović: 1999–2000	Succeeded by Spasoje Tuševljak
Preceded by Sulejman Tihić	Bosniak Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2006–2010	Succeeded by Bakir Izetbegović
Preceded by Željko Komšić	Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2008	Succeeded by Nebojša Radmanović
	Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2010