SARAJEVO, October 20 (FENA) - The sixteenth anniversary of the death of the first President of the Republic of BiH, Alija Izetbegović, was marked yesterday at the Shaheed Cemetery in Kovači, where a delegation of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and numerous citizens paid tribute to a man who dedicated his life to the fight for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the welfare of its people.
“Alija Izetbegović spent his youth fighting for Islam - to find space for faith and to get Islam back to this country and I think he succeeded. He fought for the survival of his people, the Bosniak people, for the survival of the country, for what it is, reiterating that this is not just a piece of land in the Balkans, but that BiH is the idea that different cultures and religions, identities can live together,” said the SDA President and Speaker of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Bakir Izetbegović.
BiH Presidency Member Šefik Džaferović was honored to have the opportunity to work with Alija Izetbegović, saying that he "has not met a man who cherished Bosnia and Herzegovina with such attention and responsibility."
Izetbegović is the author of a number of publications and studies, as well as the books "Islam between East and West", "Problems of Islamic Revival" and "Islamic Declaration".
These books have been translated into several languages and published in several countries. He published the book "My Escape to Freedom" in 1999, and in 2000 the book "Memories" (autobiographical record). Four years later, the collected works of Alija Izetbegović were published in 10 volumes.
Alija Izetbegović passed away on October 19, 2003. The letters of condolences came from around 100 countries and 150,000 people from all over BiH and abroad attended his funeral.
(FENA) A. B.