betrayed his ideals of either Muslimhood or humanism, nor did he ever accept the
shortcut explanation of the anti-Bosnian war and aggression according to which a
conspiracy theory lay behind it. On the contrary, he tried to find solutions and ways
out of the terrible cataclysm of Bosnian suffering using the mind and reason, justice
and law, and regulations and procedures. In the end, Bosnia and Herzegovina are
preserved as a single state, while Alija Izetbegović has several times been characterized as the moral winner.

Sjećanja in Contexts

Twenty years have passed since the first edition of Sjećanja by Alija Izetbegović.(9) These
two decades have been a canvas of time ensuring a sufficient historical distance for
many studies of this exceptional work. In addition, Sjećanja has had an undoubtedly
huge international reception in terms of reading and analysis, particularly regarding
its translations into English as Inescapable Questions, Autobiographical Notes (2001),
Turkish as Tarihe Tanıklığım (2003), and Arabic as Sīrah ḏātiyyah wa asʻilah lā mafarra
minhā (2004).

For this particular reason, Sjećanja should nowadays be read and studied within
several contexts that must not be neglected. The context of time, the present time,
and that addressed in Sjećanja require critical comparisons. In this regard, importance is had in bearing in mind the maxim that the author expresses several times
in Sjećanja and that describes Bosnia as a severely hurt patient who needs help and
IV fluids administered by the international community in order to recover and stand
on their feet. To what extent is Bosnia and Herzegovina a patient today, and to what
extent is the international community a healer? Sjećanja is a good basis for studying
this topic; it is a mirror reflecting the principles proclaimed by international law 25
years after the Bosnian disaster.

Today, Sjećanja should also be read and juxtaposed with the other works by
Alija Izetbegović, such as the ones he wrote in the times of his ideals or before
going to his long imprisonment (1983), such as Islamska deklaracija [The Islamic
Declaration] and Islam između Istoka i Zapada [Islam Between the East and the
West]; equally, Sjećanja should also be critically read and studied in comparison
with the other memoirs of numerous significant figures who entered the political
scene in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This is particularly relevant to the

(9) The launch of first edition was held in Sarajevo on July 6, 2001 at the Army Hall in Sarajevo.