Hakija Turajlic (1936-8 January 1993) was Deputy Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 7 April 1992 to 8 January 1993, when he was killed during the Bosnian War.
Biography[]
Hakija Turajlic was born in Capljina, Yugoslavia in 1936 to a family of Muslim Bosniaks, and he worked as director of the Energoinvest company for several years. When the Bosnian War broke out, Turajlic used his personal fortune to fund the ARBiH military of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he became Deputy Prime Minister. On 8 January 1993, he was escorted to Sarajevo International Airport by United Nations peacekeepers to receive an aid shipment, but the convoy was halted at Stup by a Yugoslav People's Army roadblock. The YPA soldiers forced the UN personnel to open the doors of the APC in the convoy, and a soldier gunned Turajlic down inside of the APC after identifying him. The UN peacekeepers decided to not shoot back, as it would start another war. Turajlic's killer was never caught, and his death was a major loss for Bosnia.