Belgrade started first again

Bakir Izetbegović was unwilling to meet with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić as long as Naser Orić remains in custody in Switzerland.

Local analysts and critics gave him a good scolding, with the message that problems can only be solved through dialogue.

His colleague Mladen Ivanić is on the same wavelength, believing that no individual should be a reason for damaging relations between two countries, and that he would gladly welcome Nikolić in Sarajevo.

Had Izetbegović, by any chance, taken a walk with Nikolić through Baščaršija on Tuesday, June 16, while lawyer Vasvija Vidović fears that Naser Orić could be extradited to Serbia, it is guaranteed that the local public would have crucified him. The headlines would have been „Nikolić in Sarajevo, Orić in prison“. Let's be clear, it's not that he has overexerted himself on this case either, in terms of taking preventive measures to prevent further arrests of Bosnian patriots after Ganić and Divjak, but at least in the end he said no. 

If Nikolić is so well-intentioned towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, why, when this visit was arranged a month or two ago, did he not send some word that there was a diffuse warrant out for Orić?

It's not as if the President of Serbia doesn't know what the local prosecutor's office is doing, which regularly prosecutes cases of war crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After all, it is in the service of Serbian politicians.

And Serbia, lest we forget, is the country that „did not participate in the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina“, so it remains unclear why Belgrade is persecuting Bosnian patriots.

Since Ivanić cares so much about good neighbourly relations, he should act as the head of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and protect the rights of Naser Orić, not as the wartime commander of Srebrenica, but as a citizen and national of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Then the same Ivanić, if he truly wants to work on reconciliation, would have instructed his Crnadak, the head of Bosnian diplomacy, to send a protest note to Switzerland because several citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the mayor of Srebrenica, Ćamil Duraković, were arrested and mistreated.   

Of course, it never crossed his mind, because now he is side by side with Dodik, fighting to lobby the Russians to veto the resolution on Srebrenica.

So, Mladen Ivanić, doesn't the adoption of the resolution on Srebrenica lead to reconciliation?

Only by acknowledging the truth and what the entire world has confirmed, but which Serbia and the RS persistently deny, can we talk about building good neighbourly relations, coexistence, and reconciliation. 

And finally, a question for Ivanić again: Hasn't the arrest of Orić based on a warrant from Belgrade already damaged good neighbourly relations? Who started first then?