NATO, the EU for the unity of Bosnia ‘and Herzegovina’
by
CÜNEYD ER*

All these topics popped up on the news recently. In particular, the story of Jolie’s film is being harshly criticized in Bosniak public opinion. The Women Victims of War Association of Bosnia especially reiterates that love is not possible in a concentration camp for mass rape.

The war in BiH was between 1992 and 1995. It is still remembered for its ethnic cleansing campaigns, mass torture and mass rape against Bosnian Muslims, as well as the Srebrenica genocide (confirmed as genocide by decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal and the International Court of Justice). Even the siege of Sarajevo was not a long time ago. Held between 1992 and 1996, it was the longest siege in the history of modern warfare of a capital city that was in the center of Europe.

This bloody war was an international conflict in our opinion. However, according to some other interpretations it was a civil war. The war came to an end on 1995 through the Dayton Peace Agreement signed by Alija Izetbegovic, president of Bosnia; Franjo Tudjman, president of Croatia; and Slobodan Milosevic, president of Serbia. Even the presence of those signatory parties represent that it was an international armed conflict. The Dayton Agreement was reached in Dayton, Ohio, but signed in Paris, France.

In brief, we would like to express that Dayton brought a peace with a very complex administrative system to a beautiful and modern European country. The top administrative body is the Presidential Council, which is composed of Bosniak, Croat and Serbian members. The Croat-Bosniak Federation (which is officially the Federation of BiH), Republika Srpska (RS) and the state itself have their own governments and ministers. Besides all these different governments and ethnically shared municipalities, the State of BiH also has a Council of Ministers, representing the whole country. It is composed of nine ministers, and -- of course -- each ethnic group is represented at the Council of Ministers. This article is not going to further analyze and discuss the parliaments and other systems in depth.

The elections are a further step

The Serbs who are living in Bosnia are one of the ethnic groups in the country. They are mainly living in the RS. The RS is accepted as one of the entities in BiH by the Dayton Peace Agreement. Unfortunately, the prime minister of RS, Mr. Milorad Dodik, has some other plans against Dayton and he objects to the presence of an international high representative, which was imposed under the peace agreement after the war. For this reason, the RS Parliament passed a recent law that enables the organizing of referendums on national issues, which may in the future include a declaration of independence from BiH. Simply, this idea was not very smart in a very sensitive country that has suffered greatly from a bloody war. Both the US and the European Union have reacted against these movements, which is dangerous in that political environment. They are closely following and noting the actions of the RS government.

Within this situation, general elections were conducted in BiH in line with international standards of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). International observers indicate that the elections are further promising steps towards integration into European structures. As a person who has been to that region several times, I have discussed this matter with Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian diplomats in different environments, and followed some hearings of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, the Netherlands. I would like to confirm that an international mediation summit by public international organizations is the only solution to be able to set a stable peace in the region. We have to highlight that, as many commentators agree, Dayton is only an armistice agreement. The system established by Dayton has been criticized by various experts. Even though some experts are proposing a negotiated three-way partition of Bosnia, I do not find that appropriate. Even starting negotiations for partitioning Bosnia would be “lighting the fuse” and this would be the most undesirable situation for the international community with unexpected results.

Instead of partitioning BiH, it would be more effective to set the Council of Europe standards (on democracy, rule of law and human rights) in order to make it ready for full accession negotiations for the EU. This makes sense because the accession period to the EU and to NATO would “trigger” the people of BiH to achieve stability of institutions and the guarantee of democracy, the rule of law and human rights as well as “digesting” the culture of living “together again.” Even though some shortcomings remain, we have to note that people of this country from every ethnic or religious origin won the recent elections. Again they have demonstrated a commitment to democracy. It is noteworthy to observe that social, economic and European integration subjects, as well as constitutional issues and known ethnic divisions remained in place. Although some inflammatory statements were noted, the election campaign was conducted in peace in general.

Bakir Izetbegovic, son of Alija Izetbegovic, scored a victory by winning the Bosnian Muslim seat in the presidency. He is known as a moderate politician. Zeljko Komsic, who represented Croats in the presidency, will keep his post for the new term. That is the same for Nebojsa Radmanovic, who won the seat of Serbs again.

In such an atmosphere, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a visit to Bosnia. Her efforts clearly show that BiH is still important for the US. It was reported by different sources that tensions diffused immediately after Secretary Clinton’s visit. All political leaders were present and shaking hands while smiling at each other. Although Secretary Clinton did not express anything, it was indicated before that the US strictly opposes any secession in the BiH. While researching on BiH and the region, you may see some ideas of establishing a third entity for Croats. That would not be different than the thoughts of secession of the Serbian entity. It again reminds one of the bloody war days, which included proclamations of a “Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna.” Almost three years ago, a diplomat from an effective country of the region had expressed to me during a private dinner in Ankara that one of the effective countries of the region (not the US) is planning over the very long term for the independence of “Herzegovina” and its secession from BiH. Even such an attempt would again cause the same result: “lighting the fuse” that is ready to explode.

Finally, we would like to note that the “West” should help “Bosnia and Herzegovina” with its integration into the EU and NATO with helping for some major amendments on the Dayton Peace Agreement. It seems that people of that beautiful country deserve it very much; deserve it more than being administrated by an artificial system that has established 13 governments, 16 assemblies, and almost 100 ministers. They deserve to live “together again” within the unity of “Bosnia and Herzegovina.”