Ivan Tolj, an independent candidate on the list of Croats in the elections in Croatia and general of the Croatian Army, said that Herzeg-Bosnia should be restored “if the violation and usurpation of the positions of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) continues.”
“The President of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Franjo Tudjman, would not have signed the Dayton Peace Agreement if he had known that the Washington Agreement would not be respected and that the Croats would be played,” Tolj said. Namely, Tolj is in second place on the list for the Croatian Parliament led by General Ljubo Cesic Rojs.
In his words, Croatia today, as a member of NATO, the European Union (EU) and as an ally of the United States (U.S.), “can help to prevent the usurpation of the Croatian position in the Presidency of BiH, where Zeljko Komsic was elected Croatian representative on four occasions by the votes of Bosniak voters”.
When asked by the journalist whether, if the violation of the Dayton Agreement continues, it would be wise for the Croatian leadership in BiH to say that it is necessary to go back to the initial settings, which is Herzeg-Bosnia.
“It’s a big reality, I’m convinced. Our generation has no confidence in itself. To me, the problem is that Croats are losing faith in themselves. In order for the nation to be sovereign, individuals must be sovereign,” said General Tolj.
The Croatian community of Herzeg-Bosnia was founded on November 18th, 1991, and at that time the explanation for it was that “Croats in BiH defend themselves against the aggression of the Yugoslav People Army (JNA) and the Serbian side.”
In August 1993, it became the parastate of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia.
With the Washington peace agreement on the establishment of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) from March 1994, Herzeg-Bosnia became an integral part of the FBiH.
According to the verdict of the Hague Tribunal for war crimes committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia from 2017, part of the leadership of Herzeg-Bosnia was declared guilty of a joint criminal enterprise of ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks and the annexation of part of the territory of BiH to the Republic of Croatia, in which, according to the verdict, the Croatian state leadership was also involved led by President Franjo Tudjman.
General Tolj found the part of the verdict on joint criminal enterprise inadmissible, stating that Croatia and Croats in BiHshould have launched a review.
He recently spoke at the promotion of the book by Valentin Coric, who served a sixteen-year prison sentence for war crimes in BiH.
