Mural with the Likeness of General Mustafa Hajrulahović Talijan Unveiled in Ciglane

(Patria) - A mural featuring the painted likeness of General Mustafa Hajrulahović Talijan, the celebrated wartime commander of the First Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was unveiled in Sarajevo's Ciglane neighborhood.

The event was attended by members of Hajrulahović's family, his fellow soldiers and other citizens, representatives of the Centar Municipality, whose mural project is one way of marking the Day of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and contributing to the culture of remembrance of the defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last war, of deserving individuals, and war heroes, reports Fena.

Municipal Mayor Srđan Mandić, for whom Hajrulahović was a wartime commander, recalled, along with other speakers at the mural unveiling ceremony, the human qualities of the celebrated commander, above all his attitude towards subordinates in the military hierarchy and towards people in general.

Sabina Hrenovica, Hajrulahović's daughter, thanked the Centar Municipality for this project, with which the family is satisfied, emphasizing that any further remarks from her would inevitably turn into a personal emotional confession.

Mayor Mandić said that unveiling the mural more than 30 years after the war might indeed be the right time for it, due to the generations that were not even born during the war and their necessary awareness of the truth about the defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its heroes.

Photo: Patria

Rusmir Hanić Rus, a soldier, said that people last as long as others mention them, and that the location of the mural, Merhemića Square in Ciglane where Hajrulahović lived, was the nucleus of the 1st Corps and the defense.

Journalist and war reporter Arijana Saračević Helać, author of the documentary film "Talijan", emphasized that the hero of this work of hers was focused on the organized struggle for the defense of the attacked country and, above all, was a good person.

Hajrulahović's wartime merits and human qualities were also highlighted on this occasion in a brief address by the cantonal minister for veterans' affairs, Omer Osmanović.

Mustafa Hajrulahović Talijan, a general of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a hero of the defensive-liberation war of 1992-1995, a member of the Patriotic League and the first wartime commander of the First Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a military officer responsible for the defense of Sarajevo during the past war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He was born on January 22, 1957, in Banja Luka. He graduated from the Military Academy in Split, Croatia, in 1979. With the rank of captain, in 1991 he left the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and joined the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, defending the country from aggression.

He died on March 8, 1998, in Germany at the age of 41 from a heart attack.

In the most difficult days for the homeland of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he made an immeasurable contribution to the defense against aggression.

He was buried with full honors in the courtyard of the Ali Pasha Mosque in Sarajevo.