Milorad Dodik, the prime minister of the Republika Srpska, a semi-autonomous Serbian political entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said he and Israeli President Shimon Peres, with whom he met during his recent visit to Israel, “had a lot in common on all issues, particularly those relating to Turkey’s growing engagement in the Balkans,” as he spoke to reporters at a press conference in Banja Luka on Thursday.
During his three-day visit to Israel, Dodik met with Peres, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.
He said he discussed the role of Turkey in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Peres and expressed his uneasiness with what he calls “Turkey unilateral intervention” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Noting that Israel strongly supports the Dayton agreement, Dodik said Israel thinks Turkey’s role in the region may cause serious problems.
Serbs in Bosnia control 49 percent of Bosnian territory, are constantly advocating for more autonomy and adamantly oppose the centralization of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Turkey has repeatedly stated its support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity.
The Bosnian Serb leader on Monday also accused Turkey of interfering in Bosnian internal political affairs and of acting in favor of Bosnian Muslims. “We resent the fact that Turkey wants a unified and centralized Bosnia, favoring only one of the peoples [living in the country],” Dodik told Bosnian state radio from Israel following talks with Lieberman.
Dodik also said he had told Lieberman that the Bosnian Serb community “resented Turkey’s strong presence in Bosnia motivated only by support for the Bosnian Muslims, without any willingness to comprehend the context in which Bosnia exists.”
Turkey has been heavily involved in the reconciliation process among several nations in the Balkans in the past year, paving the way for nations in the region to enhance diplomatic exchanges and send mutual positive political messages. Turkey also says it supports Serbia’s integration into the European Union structure, a possible solution that would allow Serbia to reconcile with Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The 1992-95 Bosnian conflict left the country split into two semi-independent entities -- the Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation -- each having its own government. They are united by weak central institutions.
