The Honorary Consul of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Republic of Turkey, Ahmet Kemal Baysak died last night at the age of 88 in the Turkish city of Izmir.

Baysak was an honorary citizen of Sarajevo, Goražde and Bihać and the Zenica-Doboj Canton, and in the period from 1994-1999, he was at the head of the Izmir municipality of Karsiyaka.

During the last war in B&H, he helped numerous Bosnian refugees, and after the war, he opened the B&H Economy Office in the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Izmir. He helped B&H businesses to present themselves at the Commerce Fair in Izmir, and he brought Turkish business people to B&H.

In September 2002, the B&H Council of Ministers appointed him the Honorary Consul of B&H in the Republic of Turkey, based in Izmir, for thirteen provinces stretching from Canakkale and the Dardanelles in the northwest to Antalya in the south.

The World Alliance of the B&H Diaspora appointed him its first ambassador at the 5th Congress in Sarajevo on May 21, 2010.

He was an honorary doctor of science in Azerbaijan and the winner of the United Nations Medal of Honor for many years of work and contribution to interpersonal and interstate relations and was credited for signing more than twenty agreements on twinning and friendship between municipalities and other local communities, schools and universities in BiH and Turkey. He also mediated in the twinning of the University of Zenica and the University of Izmir.

Baysak was born on March 31, 1933 in Izmir, Karşıyaka municipality, but on his father's side, he was a descendant of the Grebo family from Ljubinje, and on his mother's side the Resulović family from Trebinje. His ancestors emigrated to Turkey in 1878. He was one of the founders of the TERBAY family group and a long-time President of the Management Board of the Group.