HDZ President Dragan Čović stated in an interview with RTVHB that he has been working for months to “relax relations” with the SDA, and the People and Justice party, among others, reacted to this statement.
As they stated in the reaction, Čović’s statements suggest that earlier announcements from NiP turned out to be correct.
“The statement of HDZ BiH president Dragan Čović did not bring any new political knowledge, but only publicly confirmed what Narod i Pravda has been warning about for months – that there are intense political talks between HDZ BiH and SDA, the content and goals of which remain hidden from the public. When Dragan Čović talks about ‘relaxation of relations’, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina know very well that behind this term is not the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights or the elimination of discrimination, but above all the realization of the multi-year political goals of HDZ BiH around the concept of so-called legitimate representation, new constituencies and further ethnic territorialization of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, they stated.
They stated that the Troika parties (SDP, NiP, NS) did not agree to such conditions.
“Precisely because he did not find interlocutors among the Troika parties ready to subordinate the interests of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the political demands of the HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović apparently turned to the SDA as a political partner with whom he is trying to achieve what he failed to do with the current parliamentary majority,” NiP stated.
As they further pointed out, Čović should clarify the statements about the relaxation of relations between Bosniaks and Croats and say what exactly was agreed upon.
“Does the relaxation of relations imply that the city authorities in Mostar will finally enable the construction of the cultural center of the Islamic community? Does it imply the resolution of the issue of burials in the cemetery in Stolac, which has burdened the local community for years? Does it imply the end of discrimination in the health system in the Central Bosnian Canton, where HDZ has had a dominant political influence for years? One thing is certain: Bakir Izetbegović and Dragan Čović did not discuss discrimination against returnees and other citizens in the Republika Srpska entity, nor about the political partnership that HDZ BiH has been maintaining for years with Milorad Dodik and policies that represent a serious threat to the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” NiP states.
They specifically pointed out that Čović is the one talking about such conversations, while “Izetbegović is loudly silent.”
“It has never happened that the public learned from Čović about any meeting with anyone from the Troika. We have always been transparently accountable to the public, never agreeing to secret agreements. The question arises as to why Izetbegović is silent about this, and what else are Izetbegović and Čović silent about? Therefore, it is completely legitimate to conclude that for Bakir Izetbegović, the relaxation of relations means new political concessions to Dragan Čović for the sake of returning the SDA to power, while for Dragan Čović it implies the achievement of political goals that he failed to impose on the current majority,” they said in the statement.
Finally, NiP sent a message to the SDA’s political partners.
“Is Bakir Izetbegović negotiating behind closed doors on behalf of the Democratic Front? Citizens have the right to know whether Željko Komšić is at all aware of the content of these hidden conversations and whether he supports the political trade that is once again conducted in the dark,” the People and Justice party said in a statement.
