Raif Dizdarević is a former Bosniak politician. Dizdarević was born in Fojnica

Fojnica

Fojnica is a town and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located west of the capital Sarajevo. It lies in the valley of the Fojnička River, tributary of the river Bosna...

, Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...

. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he participated in the armed resistance in the Partisans

Partisans (Yugoslavia)

The Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II anti-fascist resistance movement in Yugoslavia...

.

After the war, as a member of the Communist Party and collaborator of Josip Broz Tito

Josip Broz Tito

Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...

, he was elevated into high political functions. From 1945 he was a member of the Department of State Security.

Positions

• diplomat, serving on embassies in Bulgaria
  Bulgaria
  Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
  
   (1951–1954), the Soviet Union
  Soviet Union
  The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
  
   (1956–1959), and Czechoslovakia
  Czechoslovakia
  Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
  
   (1963–1967)
• 1978 - 1982: Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 1982 - 1983: Chairman of Federal Assembly
• 1984 - 1988: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia
• 1988 - 1989: Chairman of the Collective Presidency of Yugoslavia
  Presidency of the SFRY
  Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a collective head of state of the Yugoslav federation. It was established in 1970 according to constitutional amendments and reorganized in 1974 by the new constitution. In the period from 1970 to 1974, the Presidency had 23 members -...
  
  . During his time as head of state, Yugoslavia had a foreign debt of over $21 billion USD and an annual inflation rate of 217 percent. In March, 1989 Dizdarević had to cancel a foreign trip to Brazil
  Brazil
  Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
  
  , Uruguay
  Uruguay
  Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
  
   and Senegal
  Senegal
  Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
  
   amid unrest in the Albanian
  Albanians
  Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
  
  -majority province of Kosovo
  Kosovo
  Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
  
  .

Post-communism

Dizdarević, who tried to keep the Yugoslav federation together, lost his political influence with the start of the Yugoslav wars

Yugoslav wars

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...

. Later he lived in Sarajevo

Sarajevo

Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....

 and published his memoirs. His son Predrag lives in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, while his daughter Jasminka lives in Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

.

External links

• Short biography
• Hronika naslućene smrti, review of Dizdarević's book of memoirs