Post by bob1389 on Dec 11, 2008 19:41:22 GMT -5
Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) leaders have strongly rejected what they call another bid by Bosnian Croat politicians to create a separate, third entity in the ethnically-divided country.
“Borders cannot be rewritten,” local media on Thursday quoted the deputy president of the ruling Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party of Democratic Action, SDA, Bakir Izetbegovic.
Strong criticism from Izetbegovic and other Bosniak officials was aimed against the announcement in which premiers of the three predominately Croat cantons pledged to prepare and sign an agreement that would establish closer cooperation among the three cantons.
The three officials failed to provide further details about the possible timeline and scope of the planned agreement. Still, Bosniak politicians strongly rebuffed this initiative as unconstitutional and pledged to block it through all available institutional mechanisms, including Bosnia’s Constitutional Court.
The Dayton peace accord, which ended Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, divided the country as a loose confederation of two entities – Republika Srpska and the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim)-Croat Federation. The Federation is further divided into ten cantons, out of which, the three southernmost are predominately populated by Croats.
During and after the war, Bosnian Croat hardliners tried to establish a separate Croat entity, but any such attempts were rebuffed by Bosniaks and squashed by the international community. The last time Croat radical politicians tried to establish a separate entity was in 2001, when they established a similar inter-cantonal cooperation council. The attempt failed and Croats suffered strong international sanctions.
In subsequent years, especially since 2006, Bosnian Croats – who are the smallest of the three constitutive peoples in Bosnia – were often outvoted by Bosniaks and Serbs. As a result, many Bosnian Croats argued that establishment of their separate entity became the only way for their survival, rather than an expression of nationalist sentiment.
Even the influential leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Bosnia, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, supported that notion.
“Personally, I think that what two ethnic groups in Bosnia have, the third ethnic group should have as well. But the main question is how to achieve that,” media quoted Puljic as saying during a meeting in Zagreb on Tuesday.
“Muslim-Bosniaks and Serbs must find a way how to make Croats satisfied, and Europe will have to acknowledge that too,” Puljic said but admitted that the international community remains opposed to this option, afraid of further ethnic divisions in Bosnia.
www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/15478/
malo vas je ;D
“Borders cannot be rewritten,” local media on Thursday quoted the deputy president of the ruling Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party of Democratic Action, SDA, Bakir Izetbegovic.
Strong criticism from Izetbegovic and other Bosniak officials was aimed against the announcement in which premiers of the three predominately Croat cantons pledged to prepare and sign an agreement that would establish closer cooperation among the three cantons.
The three officials failed to provide further details about the possible timeline and scope of the planned agreement. Still, Bosniak politicians strongly rebuffed this initiative as unconstitutional and pledged to block it through all available institutional mechanisms, including Bosnia’s Constitutional Court.
The Dayton peace accord, which ended Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, divided the country as a loose confederation of two entities – Republika Srpska and the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim)-Croat Federation. The Federation is further divided into ten cantons, out of which, the three southernmost are predominately populated by Croats.
During and after the war, Bosnian Croat hardliners tried to establish a separate Croat entity, but any such attempts were rebuffed by Bosniaks and squashed by the international community. The last time Croat radical politicians tried to establish a separate entity was in 2001, when they established a similar inter-cantonal cooperation council. The attempt failed and Croats suffered strong international sanctions.
In subsequent years, especially since 2006, Bosnian Croats – who are the smallest of the three constitutive peoples in Bosnia – were often outvoted by Bosniaks and Serbs. As a result, many Bosnian Croats argued that establishment of their separate entity became the only way for their survival, rather than an expression of nationalist sentiment.
Even the influential leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Bosnia, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, supported that notion.
“Personally, I think that what two ethnic groups in Bosnia have, the third ethnic group should have as well. But the main question is how to achieve that,” media quoted Puljic as saying during a meeting in Zagreb on Tuesday.
“Muslim-Bosniaks and Serbs must find a way how to make Croats satisfied, and Europe will have to acknowledge that too,” Puljic said but admitted that the international community remains opposed to this option, afraid of further ethnic divisions in Bosnia.
www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/15478/
malo vas je ;D