Vijesti.ba: Professor Zecevic, what do you think about the statement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on possibility of new military conflicts on the Balkans if Germany closes its border to Austria for refugees?
Zecevic: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is great politician and her statement cannot be viewed as a statement of any European politician. The statement of currently the most important politician of Europe is most probably the result of detailed assessments of the intelligence services in Germany and it should be considered in the light of the events that are happening in our region. We have been all witnesses of situations when a reckless statement of some politicians is sufficient for the media to make a flammable atmosphere in the region and encourage citizens to respond with inappropriate comments and reactions.
Simply stated, the message is primarily addressed to politicians in the region to be very careful with their behavior and statements they make.
Vijesti.ba: Do you think that there is any reason why closing of the German border to Austria might encourage new military conflicts in the Balkans?
ZECEVIC: I believe that there are serious reasons for concern, because closing of one of these two borders might cause a domino reaction of the countries on the refugee’s route of movement.
Closing of borders in the region will lead to the accumulation of refugees, most probably quick reaction of politicians, involvement of media, reactions of the citizens, most likely incidents at matches and conflicts with refugees who are really not familiar with our political, economic and ethnic relationships.
Hypothetically speaking, if Austria closes its borders, then Croatia will close its border with Serbia. At the same time, Serbia must close the border with Macedonia, Romania and Bulgaria. In all that chaos, refugees will most probably try to cross the border with Kosovo, then Montenegro and B&H. Because of the very long border with B&H, Croatia would have to to hire a great human and technical capacities in order to prevent the refugees from crossing the border with B&H. In this scenario, in B&H would arise situations that objectively can be very conflicting and including the possibility of armed conflicts. Later development of the situation is not really desirable to predict.
(Source: vijesti.ba)
