Džemal Bijedić

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Džemal Bijedić
Džemal Bijedić 1975.jpg
Bijedić in 1975
23rd President of the Federal Executive Council
In office
30 July 1971 – 18 January 1977
PresidentJosip Broz Tito
Preceded byMitja Ribičič
Succeeded byVeselin Đuranović
3rd President of the People's Assembly of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office
1967 – July 1971
Preceded byRatomir Dugonjić
Succeeded byHamdija Pozderac
Personal details
Born(1917-04-12)12 April 1917
Mostar, Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary
Died18 January 1977(1977-01-18) (aged 59)
near Kreševo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia
NationalityBosniak[1][2]
Political partyLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ)

Džemal Bijedić (Bosnian pronunciation: [bijěːdit͡ɕ]; 12 April 1917 – 18 January 1977) was a Bosniak and Yugoslav Communist politician from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 30 July 1971 until his death in a plane crash on 18 January 1977.

Early life[]

Džemal Bijedić was born on 12 April 1917 in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Austria-Hungary) to Adem and Zarifa from the famous Bosniak merchant family Bijedić.[3] He finished his elementary and secondary education in Mostar, and graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, where he joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia in 1939.

WWII: a communist, a domobran, and a partisan[]

In a documentary produced by Face TV, Mišo Marić claims that Bijedić joined the Domobrans (Hrvatsko domobranstvo (NDH)) in April 1941, following the directives of League of Communists of Yugoslavia, as a lieutenant using an alias Ante Jukić.[4] Another documentary about Džemal Bijedić produced by Federalna televizija shows (at 15:34) a photo of Bijedić dressed in a military uniform with Domobrans' collar insignia. The same photo was shown at the beginning of the first documentary (01:27), but the Domobrans' insignia was painted over with Partisans' red star in colour. It is also mentioned that Bijedić joined the Yugoslav Partisans in February 1943.[5]

Politics[]

Džemal Bijedić visiting with U.S. President Gerald Ford, 1975

After the liberation, Bijedić had many political roles. From 1967, he was the president of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Assembly.[6] From July 1971 until his death in 1977, he was Prime Minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Bijedić played a vital role in affirming Muslims as a Yugoslav constitutive nation.[7] Bijedić was President of the People's Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1967 to 1971[8] and President of the Federal Executive Council of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia from 1971to 1977; i.e. Prime Minister.[9]

Death[]

On 18 January 1977, Džemal Bijedić, his wife Razija and six others were killed when their Learjet 25 crashed on the Inač mountain near Kreševo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plane took off from Batajnica Air Base in Belgrade and was en route to Sarajevo when it crashed, ostensibly due to poor weather conditions. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the crash was not an accident but rather the result of foul play at the hands of his rivals.[10]

Legacy[]

Significant progress in the economy of Herzegovina was made under Bijedić's leadership. The university in Mostar was renamed Džemal Bijedić University in his honour. Bijedić and his wife were survived by their two sons and one daughter.

References[]

Citations
  1. ^ Džemal Bijedić killed, Tito never knew what really happened. Archived 2014-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Isaković 1994, p. 288.
  3. ^ Bartolovic, Dragan (1985). Džemal Bijedić i njegovo vrijeme. Univerzitet "Džemal Bijedić". pp. 28–29.
  4. ^ von MureNL. "Miso Maric - Namigivanje zvijezdama - Dzemal Dzema Bijedic", bs:Face TV, DailyMotion, Published 14 March 2013.
  5. ^ PRIZNAJEM JUGOSLAVEN SAM. "Džemal Bijedic - Dokumentarac / Dokumentarni Film", Federalna televizija, YouTube, Published 17 January 2016.
  6. ^ Flere, Sergej; Klanjšek, Rudi (2019). The Rise and Fall of Socialist Yugoslavia: Elite Nationalism and the Collapse of a Federation. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-49854-197-8.
  7. ^ Velikonja, Mitja (1992). Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Texas A&M University Press. p. 223. ISBN 1-58544-226-7.
  8. ^ Da Graça, John (2017). Heads of State and Government. Springer. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-34965-771-1.
  9. ^ "The Death of Džemal Bijedić". Review of International Affairs. Federation of Yugoslav Journalists (642–665): 1. 1977.
  10. ^ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (8 January 2007). "Famous Air Crash Victims - Part 4: Politicians".
Bibliography
  • Isaković, Alija (1994). Antologija zla (in Bosnian). Ljiljan.

External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
Mitja Ribičič 		Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
30 July 1971–18 January 1977 		Succeeded by
Veselin Đuranović
Retrieved from ""