Hakija Turajlić (1936 – 8 January 1993) was a Bosnian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

and businessman who served as the first Deputy

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

of the

Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Република Босна и Херцеговина) was a state in Southeastern Europe, existing from 1992 to 1995. It is the direct lega ...

from 15 June 1992 until he was killed on 8 January 1993. Prior to the start of the 1992–95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turajlić was the director of the multifaceted Bosnian company

Energoinvest Energoinvest (full name: Energoinvest, d.d. - Sarajevo) is a multidisciplinary engineering and energy company with headquarters in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. History Energoinvest was established as a small design office under the name of ...

and as such secured large sums of money for war preparations. He was known for his ability to cooperate, especially for persuading everyone through his own self-denial and hard work. His death at the hands of the

Bosnian Serb Army The Army of Republika Srpska ( sr, Војска Републике Српске/Vojska Republike Srpske; ВРС/VRS), commonly referred to in English as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of Republika Srpska (RS), the self-proclaimed Serb ...

in the

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

neighbourhood of Stup was one of the great losses that the

Bosnian government The Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, whereby executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Legislative power is vested in both the Cou ...

was to sustain during the war.

Death

On 8 January 1993, Turajlić went to

Sarajevo International Airport Sarajevo International Airport ( bs, Međunarodni aerodrom Sarajevo/Међународни аеродром Сарајево) is the main international airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It i ...

to greet Orhan Sefa Kilercioğlu who had accompanied an aid shipment from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. In order to return to

he had to pass through Serb-controlled territory for which

UNPROFOR The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav War ...

was supposed to provide protection. The UN convoy which was taking Turajlić to Sarajevo was stopped by

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

soldiers at a roadblock a few kilometers from the airport. After a 90-minute standoff, a French UNPROFOR officer opened the door to the armoured personnel carrier in which Turajlić was sitting and a Serb soldier opened fire with an

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

. Turajlić was hit with 7–8 rounds. The French troops did not return fire, call for reinforcements — less than six hundred yards away — or detain the killers. British troops who arrived on the scene were ordered to leave. When the same French peacekeepers came home to France, they were decorated for heroism. His death strained relations between the

and UNPROFOR and was also the reason that peace talks in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

were cancelled. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

and the Serbs both refused to cooperate with the Bosnian government investigation and help find the killer. A

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

soldier, Goran Vasić, was eventually charged with Turajlić's murder but ultimately acquitted of that charge in 2002. In 1998, a wall about ten meters long and just under two meters high, reminiscent of the Berlin Wall, was put up by residents in

Dobrinja Dobrinja ( sr-cyrl, Добриња) is a neighbourhood in the western outskirts of Sarajevo, part of the municipality of Novi Grad. It is estimated to have a population of 25,063 inhabitants. Its name comes from the short river ''Dobrinjka'' th ...

after the

Bosnian police Law enforcement in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the responsibility of an EU-sponsored Bosnia police force to which the role of maintaining security in the region was handed over from the United Nations's 1,800 strong International Police Task Force.BB ...

entered a Bosnian Serb suburb to arrest Vasić.

Honors

A street in the

section of Sarajevo is named in Turajlić's honor. A

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

tournament Memorijal Hakija Turajlić takes place in

every year in his honor. Since 1994, more than 400 boxers from 30 countries participated in this tournament. From 1998 until 2008, it was one of strongest amateur boxing tournaments in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turajlic, Hakija 1936 births 1993 deaths People from Čapljina Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Muslims Politicians of the Bosnian War Government ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina People killed in the Bosnian War Deaths by firearm in Bosnia and Herzegovina Assassinated Bosnia and Herzegovina politicians People murdered in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1993 crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1993 murders in Europe 1990s murders in Bosnia and Herzegovina