Abdich, Fikret

Fikret Abdich was the third child of thirteen children in the family of Hashim and Zlata Abdich. Family poverty and poverty, intensified during the years of the Italian-German occupation , left an imprint on the education of Fikret Abdich. Since his father, at a later stage of the war, voluntarily joined the Yugoslav partisans , Fikret was brought up in an atmosphere of communist ideals, brotherhood and unity of the Yugoslav peoples and negatively skeptical attitude to religious disagreements and contradictions, since it was these contradictions that were used by the Italian during World War II fascists and German Nazis to set Yugoslav peoples against each other .

As a young, ambitious and very hardworking graduated agricultural engineer, Abdich, as an agricultural cooperative in the Great Kladush, realizes his life and business plans. Having built one of the most powerful agricultural and business empires in the territory of Socialist Yugoslavia - the Agrokomerc plant, which employed more than 13,000 workers, turned the Tsazin Krajina from a region plagued by poverty into a regional power.

Local residents of the Great Kladushi region called him “Babo” (Pope) and “were ready to do everything he said” ^[2] . The technology of business success was built on a skillful combination of socialist contests among workers (organizing an annual festival of achievements), using modern Western approaches to work, television advertising and supporting the influential Bosnian politician Hamdia Pozderats .

In late 1987 , shortly before Hamdia Pozderatz was ready to join the Presidium of Yugoslavia , a scandal erupted as a result of which Abdich was arrested and Hamdia Pozderatz resigned. The scandal shocked not only the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina , but the whole of Yugoslavia .

Subsequently, it turned out that the Agrocommerce process was directed against Hamdia Pozderats (in order to discredit him as the head of the Audit Commission on the Constitution of Yugoslavia). Fikret Abdich, as the director of Agrocommerce, was arrested for allegedly financial abuse and threats to the social planning of Yugoslavia.

After his release from prison, Abdich, together with M. Filipovic and A. Izetbegovic , founded the conservative democratic party of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990, and during the 1990 elections went to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina . After the posts were filled, the members of the Council elected the Chairman of the Presidium, who acted as its leader. Although Abdich received more votes than Alia Izetbegovic , Abdich refused to take office for reasons that still remain unclear.

Being the main opponent of the regime of Aliya Izetbegovich , and realizing the impossibility of a compromise, Abdich went on to form state-territorial structures controlled by himself.

On September 29, 1993, Fikret Abdic came to power in the Great Kladush (with the intention of doing the same in Bihac ), and created the Autonomous Region of Western Bosnia . This was done in collaboration with Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman .

Aliya Izetbegovic’s government hastened to declare the declaration of autonomy “an unconstitutional and illegal act that is contrary to the Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina .”

Fikret Abdich got an agreement with Radovan Karadzic and Mate Boban (in the framework of the previous agreement with Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman). In Zagreb on October 21, 1993, in the presence of Franjo Tudjman , Fikret Abdic and Boban signed a joint statement on the division of Bosnia. Mate Boban subsequently stated that units of the Croatian army from the Bihach region had joined the forces of Fikret Abdic. A day later, on October 22, 1993, after signing the agreement with Boban, Fikret Abdic was in Belgrade with Radovan Karadzic , and in the presence of Slobodan Milosevic , they signed a declaration that called on the conflicting parties for peace.

As a confirmation of this agreement, on November 7, 1993, a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Republika Srpska Republic , Republika Srpska and the Autonomous Region of Western Bosnia was held .

Abdich’s organization of his own fortified area with autonomy in northwestern Bosnia and his own army diverted significant forces from the Bosnian forces and thereby helped the Serbs and Croats.

Abdich received the status of a privileged partner from the Croatian authorities, as well as the right to tariff-free use of the port of Rijeka . Trade with Croatia and other countries was carried out by the company Voće, approved by the Croatian authorities. In addition, Abdic acquired Croatian citizenship and immunity from requests for his extradition from Bosnia and Herzegovina .

Despite friendly relations with the regime of Franjo Tudjman , Abdich after the end of the Bosnian war could not receive guaranteed immunity from prosecution.

In 1997, the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened a criminal case against Abdich, accusing him of genocide and war crimes. However, Croatia then refused to extradite him.

Despite the impossibility of returning, Abdich energetically tried to continue to engage in political activities. He created his party "Democratic People's Union" in Bosnia and Herzegovina and led it from abroad. However, in 1998, Abdich lost the presidential election to Aliya Izetbegovic .

In 2000, Abdic was arrested on the territory of Croatia itself.

In July 2002, the 63-year-old Fikret Abdic was sentenced by a court in the Croatian city of Karlovac to twenty years in prison (capital punishment). The court ruled that Abdich was responsible for the death of 121 civilians and three prisoners of war.

Already in a Croatian prison, Fikret Abdic managed to register his candidacy for the presidential elections held in Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 2002. However, he again lost the election, gaining only a few percent of the vote ^[3] .

In 2005, the Croatian Supreme Court reduced the punishment of Abdic to 15 years. March 9, 2012 Fikret Abdich was prematurely released after serving two-thirds of his term ^[4] .

In the Bosnian municipal elections of 2016, Abdich was elected the new mayor of Veliki Kladusa, gaining 48.10% (9,026) votes

• Nine Lives of a Bosnian businessman (inaccessible link)