BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: Co-president Bakir Izetbegovic says the Bosnian state is at a crossroads

Record ID: 491363

  • Title: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: Co-president Bakir Izetbegovic says the Bosnian state is at a crossroads
  • Date: 11th May 2011
  • Summary: SARAJEVO, BOSNIA&HERZEGOVINA (MAY 11, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) BAKIR IZETBEGOVIC, MEMBER OF BOSNIAN TRIPARTITE PRESIDENCY, SAYING: "Entities organise referendums on the issues out of their responsibilities, which affects other ethnic groups and all citizens. Every day there is a talk about partition of the country in order to make this idea look legitimate and acceptable. The court ruling on genocide in Srebrenica has been denied. There is demand for national balance for committed war crimes. And it is well known who committed genocide in Srebrenica, who besieged Sarajevo killing more than 12,000 of its citizens, who committed massacres in Brcko, Kozarac, held concentration camps in Omarska and Manjaca and so on. There were crimes on all sides, but crimes committed by army of Bosnian Serbs that I have just named make some 90 percent of all crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is time to face the facts, to stop denying them, and based on truth and the acceptance of truth to start building our better future." IZETBEGOVIC TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) BAKIR IZETBEGOVIC, MEMBER OF BOSNIAN TRIPARTITE PRESIDENCY, SAYING: "In regard of reactions coming from neighbouring countries and their presidents, I would remind you about the speech Croatian President Josipovic made in Bosnian parliament some two years ago. He then stated that Croatia made mistakes towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbian President Tadic, some twenty days ago in Karadzordjevo, gave a similar statement. He said that in that town of Karadzordjevo was made a wrong plan which caused destruction and misery to Bosnia and Herzegovina. From both of them I expect that they do not forget what they said and would not make similar mistakes. Especially in the light of common aspirations of all the countries in the region for joining the European Union and I expect them to support common trends of integration." VIEW OF SARAJEVO BELGRADE, SERBIA (MAY 11, 2011) (REUTERS) SERBIAN PRESIDENT, BORIS TADIC, AT NEWS CONFERENCE SERBIAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) SERBIAN PRESIDENT, BORIS TADIC, SAYING: "I disagree with my friend Valentin Inzko in that respect. Situation was really horrible 15 years ago and ten years ago. And right now situation is much better. Even though I am facing also with some problems to understand why the institutions and the legitimate representatives of the people in Bosnia cannot solve faster problems they are facing. Anyway we are ready to support all those initiatives that are going to bring political parties in Bosnia&Herzegovina together in order to find a solution for that neighbouring state. In general Serbia is fully supporting integrity of Bosnia&Herzegovina but at the same time we do not want to interfere in their political relations. This is independent country, a member state of United Nations and we are respecting integrity - political and territorial integrity of that country." TADIC LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • City:
  • Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA26SRAGW8ZCTPKURG10UH5N8J2
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Co-president of Bosnia&Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic, on Wednesday (May 11) said clashes between those in favour of integration and those pushing for disintegration had put the country at a crossroads.
    "The current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina looks like a crossroad where trends of integration and disintegration clash with each other. Various anti-Dayton and anti-state declarations and acts have been accumulating over the years and now are getting concrete form. There has been questioning of laws adopted by the parliament and institutions, like the state court and prosecution. There has been questioning of the authority of the High Representative and all decisions made based on his authority, which questions Dayton peace agreement itself," Izetbegovic said days after comments by the country's U.N. High representative that ethnically divided Bosnia was facing its most serious crisis since it was established as a state 15 years ago.
    Izetbegovic, son of Alija Izetbegovic, the first president of Bosnia&Herzegovina, and currently co-president of the country said that ethnic rivalry had left Bosnia in political deadlock.
    "Entities organise referendums on the issues out of their responsibilities, which affects other ethnic groups and all citizens. Every day there is a talk about partition of the country in order to make this idea look legitimate and acceptable," Izetbegovic said, also berating the Bosnian Serbs for refusing to recognise the part of the Bosnian-Serb army in the 1990s war.
    "And it is well known who committed genocide in Srebrenica, who besieged Sarajevo killing more than 12,000 of its citizens, who committed massacres in Brcko, Kozarac, held concentration camps in Omarska and Manjaca and so on. There were crimes on all sides, but crimes committed by army of Bosnian Serbs that I have just named make some 90 percent of all crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is time to face the facts, to stop denying them, and based on truth and the acceptance of truth to start building our better future," he said.
    U.N. envoy, Valentin Inzko, who is due in the Bosnian capital this week to pass judgement on an upcoming Bosnian Serb referendum on the validity of the country's judiciary and U.N. bodies also accused the Serb Republic of threatening the peace of the country.
    Serbia's President Boris Tadic responded to Inzko's comments, saying that the situation could not be compared to 1996.
    "I disagree with my friend Valentin Inzko in that respect. Situation was really horrible 15 years ago and ten years ago. And right now situation is much better," Tadic said in Belgrade.
    Tadic said the country's inability to resolve its problems was hard to understand, although he dismissed the possibility of renewed fighting in the future, saying that Serbia fully supported the integrity of the Bosnian state as outlined by the 1995 Dayton peace treaty.
    "Serbia is fully supporting integrity of Bosnia&Herzegovina but at the same time we do not want to interfere in their political relations. This is independent country, a member state of United Nations and we are respecting integrity - political and territorial integrity of that country," he said.
    European and U.S. officials are hoping Serbia can play a moderating role on the Bosnian Serbs and their regional president, Milorad Dodik, who has said he is ultimately seeking autonomy for his section of the country.
    Bosnia is now made up of two autonomous regions -- a separatist Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat federation -- under a weak central government.
    The site of Europe's worst fighting since World War Two, Bosnia remains divided between former wartime adversaries along ethnic lines. As a result, it lags behind its neighbors in progress towards the European Union and in attracting foreign investment.
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