The path to the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is not over, said at yesterday’s regular session “Circle 99”, the guest speaker Professor Dr. Marko Attila Hoare, historian, associate professor at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology.
Speaking on the subject of “BiH’s path to independence”, he recalled that the international community rejected BiH’s request that its independence be recognized at the same time as Croatia, with the explanation that a referendum should be held first.
“But later, between the end of the war in Croatia and the referendum, Serbian forces were simply given time to recover from their failure in Croatia and prepare for an attack on BiH. The international recognition and independence of BiH in 1992 was the work of the international community, which had already divided BiH in order to appease Serbia,” said Prof. Dr. Hoare.
He stressed that “the struggle for independence was fought against a militarily more powerful enemy, without adequate military preparation and for a population that was not psychologically prepared”.
According to him, Western powers, especially the United Kingdom (UK) and France supported Serbia, and proposed various plans for the division of BiH, which Serbian nationalists interpreted as a ‘green light’.
“Western powers also maintained an arms embargo that gave the Serbian rebels military superiority. United Nations (UN) forces on the ground cooperated with Serbian forces. In the massacre in Srebrenica, the Dutch UNPROFOR forces pushed the victims into the hands of the killers. Izetbegovic was therefore forced to lead independence in very unfavorable circumstances, without friends among the Western powers,” Prof. Dr. Hoare emphasized.
He pointed out that the victory of the BiH army, however, was prevented by Western diplomacy.
“As the BiH forces advanced towards Prijedor and Banja Luka, the United States (U.S.) envoy Richard Holbrooke threatened to bomb the BiH army unless Izetbegovic agreed to a ceasefire. This saved Republika Srpska (RS) from defeat. Izetbegovic was in a relatively difficult position, militarily dependent on untrustworthy Croatian allies and with a hostile international community. Izetbegovic agreed to partition under enormous pressure from the West, but in a way, this fits into his pure Bosniak strategy. BiH ended its war for independence with a constitutional solution that crippled the country. Dayton meant recognition of the genocidal entity RS with half of BiH’s territory,” stated Prof. Dr. Hoare.
According to him, the paradox of BiH’s independence is that its formal recognition coincided with the desecration of BiH’s statehood.
Furthermore, Professor Doctor Hoare emphasized that the Dayton Constitution prevents the functioning of BiH.
“It is impossible to reform the Dayton system by working within it. You cannot deny people democracy indefinitely. RS’s separatism accelerated under Dodik’s leadership. Christian Schmidt made changes to the Federation of BiH (FBiH) constitution to ensure that the HDZ has a veto on the Government. The problem is the Dayton Constitution. The international community will not liberate BiH. BiH should be independent and not under international control. The path to independence is not over,” Prof. Dr. Hoare concluded.
Photo: archive
E.Dz.
