Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and leader of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Bakir Izetbegović said today that the war in the Balkans is a finished process, unless the leaders from Serbia decide otherwise.
"I think that the war in the Balkans is over, unless the Serbian leaders decide otherwise, because it was never our turn," Izetbegović said at a press conference in Sarajevo.
He stated that he is in contact with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
"Could the leader of the SDA, whether his last name is Izetbegović or not, be on good terms with all of them - you don't push for justice, the truth, let them use your enormous resources, build bridges wherever you want and transfer the competences from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Belgrade and then you would were good. You surrender the interests of your own people and everyone would pat you on the back," said Izetbegović.
He said that the past year in BiH was marked by a return to the past and the completion of the work of the Hague Tribunal, which ended with the sentencing of Ratko Mladić and the former high officials of Herceg-Bosnia, which, as he assessed, put a stamp on the ethnic cleansing and terrible crimes committed in BiH .
"The judgments were passed against individuals, and they were an opportunity to remove the mortgage from the people and enable the process of reconciliation, but Serbian and Croatian politicians did not use this chance and, without compassion for the victims, turned to denying the judgments," said Izetbegović.
He assessed that the president of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik worked the most against the interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina this year, adding that Dodik "is a master of spin, who controls the media and the banking sector, and that he lives very well."
"The reasons for Dodik's years-long incitement policy are transparent. Dodik continued to undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement, continued to violate laws and decisions on BiH's entry into NATO, to prohibit Bosniak children from learning their language, to launch statements about Bosniak returnees... Dodik ended up on the State Department's blacklist, and will end up in the BiH courts because of statements about returnees and Alija Izetbegović's involvement," Izetbegović said.
Speaking about Dodik's meetings with the president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of BiH, Dragan Čović, Izetbegović assessed that unenforceable things were agreed upon, and that Bosniaks could not be excluded from the agreement.
He said that this year the SDA resolutely opposed terrorism and extremism, devoted itself to strengthening the impartial judiciary and defending the territorial integrity and sovereignty of BiH.
Izetbegović expressed hope that the European Commission's Questionnaire will be submitted in January, after which BiH's candidate status for membership in the European Union should follow.
Asked with whom the SDA will form the government after the elections in October next year, the leader of that party said that "the government is formed with the winners and that after the elections it will be seen who will be with the SDA and who will not".
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