United States (U.S.) professor of philosophy and Holocaust and genocide studies, David Pettigrew, was the introductory speaker at yesterday’s session of Circle 99, where constitutional reforms were discussed, and the professor also commented on Milorad Dodik’s statements.
He reminded that the Dayton Peace Agreement established the division of power on the basis of ethnic divisions, and not on democracy based on, as he stated, shared citizenship. He highlighted some of the concerning tendencies in Bosnian and Herzegovinian (BiH) politics.
“Bosnian Croat nationalists are relentlessly seeking the creation of a third entity, which would weaken the sovereignty of BiH. Presidency member Zeljka Cvijanovic (SNSD) dramatically referred to the struggle of Republika Srpska (RS) for freedom, and Dodik’s recent hate speech about Muslims, in which he speaks about ‘Turks’ and the need to resist the ‘Islamisation’ of Istocno Sarajevo, is dangerous incitement that should be prosecuted,” he stressed.
For Pettigrew, this is an indication that nationalist ideologies are in full swing. He believes that the international community, as he noted, has mostly supported the division of power as defined by the Dayton Constitution through its inaction.
He pointed out that messages from the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and from Croatia show adherence to parts of the Constitution of BiH that imply ethnic and territorial segregation. He called for constitutional reforms that would make the state a state without division of power on an ethnic basis.
