Šuljak was born in village Zasad near Trebinje in 1901. He graduated at primary school in Trebinje and commercial secondary school in Sarajevo. Šuljak then attended high commercial school in Zagreb and Vienna. Šuljak belonged to a group of notable Muslims who declared their ethnicity as Croatian and struggled for the Independent State of Croatia. The majority of Bosnian Muslims held this group in low regard by 1943. The main organizer of supporter of the Ustaše ideology in region of Gacko was Alija Šuljak, a professor from Trebinje. Šuljak propagated Ustaše ideology in Gacko even before World War II, promoting fascism and disseminating religious and ethnic hatred toward Serbs. Before the World War II Šuljak lived in Dubrovnik, as Ustaše commissioner for Dubrava County and professor at Commercial Academy in Dubrovnik. He was member of Pobočnički zbor of the Main Ustaša Headquarters.
World War II
When Axis occupied Yugoslavia in April 1941 and Ustaše proclaimed establishment of Croatia, Šuljak visited Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić during the first reception he organized on 24 April 1941 and on behalf of Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina held a greeting speech. Pavelić appointed Šuljak as Ustaše commissioner for the region of Eastern Herzegovina and went to Gacko. Šuljak belonged to group of Ustaše officials who incited the Muslims against the Serbs. Together with Andrija Artuković, Pavao Canki and Mijo Babić, Šuljak carried on Genocide of Serbs. Šuljak dispatched first units of "Ustaše-Hunters" to Trebinje, his birthplace, and massacred the first victims of Ustaše genocide in Herzegovina. Alija Šuljak had important role in genocidal organization of Ustaše, he held the rank of "poglavni pobočnik". Šuljak became notorious for organizing aggressive Ustaša propaganda. On 27 May 1941 Šuljak and Togonal held speech in hotel in Gacko emphasizing that all Serbs are to be exterminated, and those who can not be exterminated are to be expelled to Serbia. At the end of Autumn 1941 Alija Šuljak went to the region of Borač and organized Ustaše units in Borač who torched Serb populated villages of Bodenište and Vratlo. Šuljak participated in the Holocaust in Croatia when he participated in organization of Ustaše transport to Kerestinec camp of Jews on Krešimir Square in Zagreb in October 1941. Šuljak belonged to a group of Muslims who supported establishment of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar.
Emigration
After the World War II Šuljak fled Yugoslavia. He lived in Rome and Cairo before he finally settled in Istanbul in Turkey. Son of Alija Šuljak is Turkish businessman Nedim Šuljak who was subjected to police investigation in relation to international arms smuggling during and after the War in Bosnia. Bibliography:
Suliak, Ali /Alija Suljak./ Initiation a la Cooperation Rurale. Tunis: "Proeres Social," 1961. Suljak, Alija.
