| Edhem Bičakčić | |
| Office: | 9th Mayor of Sarajevo |
| Term Start: | 1935 |
| Predecessor: | Ibrahim Šarić |
| Successor: | Muhamed Zlatar |
| Term Start1: | October 1928 |
| Term End1: | 1929 |
| Predecessor1: | Ibrahim Hadžiomerović |
| Successor1: | Asim-beg Mutevelić |
| Birth Date: | 3 May 1884 |
| Birth Place: | Sarajevo, Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary |
| Death Place: | Sarajevo, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Spouse: | Razija |
| Party: | Yugoslav Muslim Organization |
Edhem Bičakčić (3 May 1884 – 31 December 1941) was a Bosnian politician who became the only Mayor of Sarajevo to serve two nonconsecutive terms, first from 1928 to 1929, then again from 1935 to 1939. He was a close associate of Mehmed Spaho and a member of the Yugoslav Muslim Organization. Bičakčić died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 57.
Bičakčić was born on 3 May 1884 in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary, in what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina, to a Bosniak merchant family. His paternal uncle Salih Bičakčić was an Ottoman statesman and one of the leaders of the resistance against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For his involvement in the resistance, Edhem's uncle was tried before the court-martial of General Josip Filipović, and eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence.[1] Following the acquittal, Salih returned to Sarajevo where he and his brother, Edhem's father, established several banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Young Edhem worked on the construction of a small hydropower plant in Hrid, near Sarajevo, on the banks of the Miljacka river.[2]
CBS News and the Associated Press reported in 2010 that a postcard sent by Bičakčić, dated 13 June 1915, was discovered by a retired jeweler who purchased it at an antique fair in Long Beach, California.[3] [4] Bičakčić had sent a black-and-white photograph as a postcard to his wife Razija, parents and daughters Zekija and Čamka while serving in Hungary during World War I from the town Villány.[5] [6] [7] The Bosnian American jeweler who discovered the postcard after 95 years, was visiting his native Sarajevo in June 2010 when he coincidentally met Bičakčić's grandson while looking around a local antique shop in downtown Sarajevo.[8] Because the grandson had the same last surname as Edhem Bičakčić, the jeweler presented the postcard to the grandson, who immediately recognized his grandfather on the photograph.[9] [10]
Bičakčić was elected as the 9th Mayor of Sarajevo in October 1928,[11] taking over for Ibrahim Hadžiomerović. His term lasted one year. He was re-elected as mayor in 1935 and stayed on post until 1939. Bičakčić was the only mayor of Sarajevo to serve two nonconsecutive terms.[12]
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