Raif Dizdarevic (9 December 1926-) was President of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina from April 1978 to April 1982, succeeding Ratomir Dugonjic and preceding Branko Mikulic, and President of Yugoslavia from 15 May 1988 to 15 May 1989, succeeding Lazar Mojsov and preceding Janez Drnovsek.
Biography[]
Raif Dizdarevic was born in Fojnica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1926, a member of a Bosniak Muslim family. During World War II, he joined the communist Yugoslav Partisans, and he became a member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia after the war. He served as a diplomat to Bulgaria from 1951 to 1954, to the Soviet Union from 1956 to 1959, and to Czechoslovakia from 1963 to 1967; as Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1978 to 1982, as Chairman of the Federal Assembly from 1982 to 1983, as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1984 to 1988, and as President of Yugoslavia from 1988 to 1989. During his time as head of state, Yugoslavia suffered from high debt and inflation, and ethnic tensions in Albania flared up.