Post by MiG on Feb 18, 2010 0:57:27 GMT -5
Bosnia and the referendum talk
Just last week Bosnia’s autonomous Serb entity, the Serb Republic, amidst warnings from members of the “international community,” passed a controversial referendum law that could pave the way for an eventual referendum on territorial secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina. US Congressman Joe Lieberman called this a “disappointing and alarming” move.
For years now, the Serb Republic’s prime minister, Milorad Dodik, has been unambiguously threatening to hold a referendum on secession and. while waiting to do so, has done everything from obstructing state reforms to denying wartime massacres of Bosnian civilians in Sarajevo and Tuzla. The European Union’s incumbent high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, just like the previous Miroslav Lajcak and Schwartz Schilling, although having the power to sack obstructive cowboy-styled politicians such as Dodik, chose not to depart from his lethargic bystander attitude.
Interestingly enough, the Swiss referendum on minarets did much to encourage Bosnian Serb politicians in their own political aspirations. Nebojsa Radmanovic, the Serb member of Bosnia’s three-man presidency, stated that “if others can have referendums on rivers, watersheds and minarets, so can we on essential questions.” Wise words, nonetheless. It seems that Bosnian Serb politicians decided to play the “democratic right” card most appealing to Western observers. But is everything as democratic as it seems?
Let’s recap the history of the Serb Republic. Prior to the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serb Republic did not exist. Bosnia and Herzegovina was a single state, with a mixed ethnic population composed of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), who had a majority, followed by Serbs and Croats. During the war, the Army of the Serb Republic along with militias and regular troops from neighboring Serbia, carried out a policy of ethnic cleansing whereby all non-Serb (Bosniak and Croat) populations were expelled, resulting in an ethnically pure Serb territory. The UN-established International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled that genocide was carried out against the Bosniak population in and around Srebrenica in 1995. Srebrenica today is in the Serb Republic.
Coming back to the referendum question, the Serb Republic’s prime minister has not shied away from stating his intentions to hold a referendum on independence whereby the Serb Republic would secede from the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If this is to happen, and just last week they got a step closer to it happening, Bosnian Serbs stand to gain absolute legitimacy over a territory they gained forcefully by expelling its Bosnian Muslim and Croat inhabitants, over a territory where they destroyed hundreds of mosques and Catholic churches, over a territory where they committed an internationally recognized genocide against Bosniaks, and over a territory where they have done everything to prevent its pre-war Bosniak and Croat populations from returning.
But Bosnian Serb politicians would not be as brave had there not been support from neighboring Belgrade. Serbian President Boris Tadic, a proven supporter of Dodik, has been sending ambiguous messages to Bosnia, to say the least. Although recently declaring his support for an integral “Dayton” Bosnia, it is noteworthy to remember that he was also the person who officially opened a primary school in the war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s wartime capital Pale, right next to Sarajevo. The construction of the school, funded by Serbia and thus named “Serbia,” was interpreted not by a few as a symbolic act of marking Serb territory. This cast some doubt on his true intentions for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina may have a complex state structure and a bloated administration, but it is far from the failed state that some try to portray it to be. Foreign observers should bear in mind that it suits Serb and Croat nationalists to portray Bosnia as a dysfunctional state so that they may forward their own territorial claims. And what a better time to legitimize land grabs than when all of Europe is in a “referendum mood”?
Just last week Bosnia’s autonomous Serb entity, the Serb Republic, amidst warnings from members of the “international community,” passed a controversial referendum law that could pave the way for an eventual referendum on territorial secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina. US Congressman Joe Lieberman called this a “disappointing and alarming” move.
For years now, the Serb Republic’s prime minister, Milorad Dodik, has been unambiguously threatening to hold a referendum on secession and. while waiting to do so, has done everything from obstructing state reforms to denying wartime massacres of Bosnian civilians in Sarajevo and Tuzla. The European Union’s incumbent high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, just like the previous Miroslav Lajcak and Schwartz Schilling, although having the power to sack obstructive cowboy-styled politicians such as Dodik, chose not to depart from his lethargic bystander attitude.
Interestingly enough, the Swiss referendum on minarets did much to encourage Bosnian Serb politicians in their own political aspirations. Nebojsa Radmanovic, the Serb member of Bosnia’s three-man presidency, stated that “if others can have referendums on rivers, watersheds and minarets, so can we on essential questions.” Wise words, nonetheless. It seems that Bosnian Serb politicians decided to play the “democratic right” card most appealing to Western observers. But is everything as democratic as it seems?
Let’s recap the history of the Serb Republic. Prior to the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serb Republic did not exist. Bosnia and Herzegovina was a single state, with a mixed ethnic population composed of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), who had a majority, followed by Serbs and Croats. During the war, the Army of the Serb Republic along with militias and regular troops from neighboring Serbia, carried out a policy of ethnic cleansing whereby all non-Serb (Bosniak and Croat) populations were expelled, resulting in an ethnically pure Serb territory. The UN-established International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled that genocide was carried out against the Bosniak population in and around Srebrenica in 1995. Srebrenica today is in the Serb Republic.
Coming back to the referendum question, the Serb Republic’s prime minister has not shied away from stating his intentions to hold a referendum on independence whereby the Serb Republic would secede from the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If this is to happen, and just last week they got a step closer to it happening, Bosnian Serbs stand to gain absolute legitimacy over a territory they gained forcefully by expelling its Bosnian Muslim and Croat inhabitants, over a territory where they destroyed hundreds of mosques and Catholic churches, over a territory where they committed an internationally recognized genocide against Bosniaks, and over a territory where they have done everything to prevent its pre-war Bosniak and Croat populations from returning.
But Bosnian Serb politicians would not be as brave had there not been support from neighboring Belgrade. Serbian President Boris Tadic, a proven supporter of Dodik, has been sending ambiguous messages to Bosnia, to say the least. Although recently declaring his support for an integral “Dayton” Bosnia, it is noteworthy to remember that he was also the person who officially opened a primary school in the war criminal Radovan Karadzic’s wartime capital Pale, right next to Sarajevo. The construction of the school, funded by Serbia and thus named “Serbia,” was interpreted not by a few as a symbolic act of marking Serb territory. This cast some doubt on his true intentions for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina may have a complex state structure and a bloated administration, but it is far from the failed state that some try to portray it to be. Foreign observers should bear in mind that it suits Serb and Croat nationalists to portray Bosnia as a dysfunctional state so that they may forward their own territorial claims. And what a better time to legitimize land grabs than when all of Europe is in a “referendum mood”?
Source: www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-201826-109-bosnia-and-the-referendum-talk-by-harun-karcic.html