Muhamed Kreševljaković Explained

Muhamed Kreševljaković
Office:31st Mayor of Sarajevo
Term Start:December 1990
Term End:April 1994
Predecessor:Juraj Martinović
Successor:Tarik Kupusović
Birth Date:16 July 1939
Birth Place:Sarajevo, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Death Place:Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Party:Party of Democratic Action
Relations:Hamdija Kreševljaković (father)
Alma Mater:University of Sarajevo (BA, MA)

Muhamed Kreševljaković (16 July 1939 – 5 December 2001) was a Bosnian politician who served as the 31st mayor of Sarajevo from 1990 to 1994. He was mayor when the Bosnian War broke out in 1992 and for the first two years of the Siege of Sarajevo.

Family

Kreševljaković was the son of Hamdija Kreševljaković, a historian, and Razija (née Ćorović). His paternal grandfather Mehmed (died 1929), was the son of Ibrahim Kreševljaković.

Mayor of Sarajevo (1990–1994)

Kreševljaković was elected Mayor of Sarajevo in the December 1990 elections.[1]

Siege of Sarajevo

American writer Susan Sontag gained attention for directing a production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in a candlelit Sarajevo theatre in the city, that Kevin Myers in the Daily Telegraph called "mesmerisingly precious and hideously self-indulgent." Myers wrote, "By my personal reckoning, the performance lasted as long as the siege itself."[2] However, many of Sarajevo's besieged residents disagreed:

To the people of Sarajevo, Ms. Sontag has become a symbol, interviewed frequently by the local newspapers and television, invited to speak at gatherings everywhere, asked for autographs on the street. After the opening performance of the play, the city's Mayor, Muhamed Kreševljaković, came onstage to declare her an honorary citizen, the only foreigner other than the recently departed United Nations commander, Lieut. Gen. Phillippe Morillon, to be so named.[3]

"It is for your bravery, in coming here, living here, and working with us," he said.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sarajevo: biografija grada. IIS. 2 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160309140958/http://www.iis.unsa.ba/pdf/donia_sarajevo.pdf. 9 March 2016. dead.
  2. News: Personal View . I wish I had kicked Susan Sontag . Telegraph . 2 January 2005. 2 April 2016 . London.
  3. Web site: To Sarajevo, Writer Brings Good Will and 'Godot'. New York Times. 19 August 1993. 2 April 2016.