Covic has deceived before: If Bakir accepts his proposal now, SDA has betrayed the Bosniaks of Mostar

Salko Sokolovic is a representative of the SDA in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament. He is a man who built his political reputation on honesty and principledness. Sokolovic was trusted according to the old saying that "he does not know how to betray". Today, his voice has been silenced at crucial moments of negotiations about the fate of the Bosniaks of Mostar and Herzegovina.   

The day after the negotiations on the status of Mostar were interrupted, all media fell silent. That same evening, two politicians from the SDA and HDZ spoke on FTV about the misunderstanding with betting shops as the only unresolved issue between these two parties.         

PATRIA: Mostar is the issue of all issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If someone wants to hand over Mostar to a single nation for management, they have created a third entity. And one for their own nation.

SOKOLOVIĆ: I have always said, and I will repeat now - Mostar is the key to the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Handing over Mostar to a single nation for management, regardless of the name of that nation, is a division of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar can and should be a city for all its citizens, Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats. I advocated for such a Mostar even when I was the president of the SDA Regional Committee for Herzegovina.

To achieve such an organization of the City of Mostar, it is necessary to seek a solution through political action based on the principles of the "Dayton Status of Mostar as a unified city with multiple municipalities". Unfortunately, Covic has been "pampered" too much, he has become institutionally too strong to give up the idea of a "Croatian Mostar". In support of this claim is the statement by Bakir Izetbegovic in Brussels, that the "Croatian question" in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be resolved in the first half of 2016 and that he is ready to agree to the constitutional reform of the Federation of BiH by reducing the number of cantons. The question arises: Has Mr. Izetbegovic announced the "division" of the Federation and the handover of Mostar to "Covic" for management with this statement?

PATRIA: We note the terrible emigration from the areas of Herzegovina and Mostar. The desperate economic situation. By losing Mostar, the Bosniaks of Herzegovina are left without the territory on which they have lived for more than half a millennium. What did not happen even after the worst horrors, today becomes a reality...   

SOKOLOVIĆ: From the areas of Herzegovina and Mostar, first, through killing and displacement by aggression and a joint criminal enterprise, and then through emigration due to the severe economic situation, a large number of the pre-war population, predominantly Bosniaks, disappeared.

In the post-war period, instead of correcting the consequences of the dominance achieved through ethnic cleansing, the situation continued to worsen, in which, unfortunately, the international community also participated. Examples of such behavior are the decisions of the High Representative regarding Stolac, and then Čapljina, as well as the active role of the OHR in attempting to legalize ethnic cleansing in Mostar by changing the Election Law of BiH and the Statute of the City of Mostar, by offering supposedly "compromise proposals" that do not respect the legal and legitimate demands of the Bosniaks of Mostar in any way.

On the other hand, we had and still have a policy that advocates for the transformation of Mostar into HDZ's "normal" city, which would mean the definitive realization of the goals of the joint criminal enterprise, the marginalization and disappearance of Bosniaks and Serbs in Herzegovina, and the de facto disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into three national entities.

One cannot fight against such a policy by dividing the city into two parts, but rather by advocating for a unified Mostar. A better economic situation, foreign investments, and new jobs would then be the daily reality of Mostar.

In short, to stop the emigration of Bosniaks from the Herzegovina region, Bakir Izetbegovic should not solve the "Croatian question" in BiH, but as a representative of Bosniaks in the BiH Presidency, he should solve the unbearable situation of Bosniaks in Herzegovina. 

PATRIA: Many people think that you are practically removed from political decision-making so that Mostar would not have defenders of its history and values. Old, well-informed individuals are being removed, and inexperienced and novice negotiators are being brought in. Does anyone from the SDA ask for your opinion, your stance, your possible proposed solutions for Mostar? How much are you involved in these negotiations?

SOKOLOVIĆ: You have correctly observed that I am practically removed from political decision-making. And not only me, but all well-informed individuals about the situation in Mostar and Herzegovina. People with enormous political, wartime, and post-war experience, from the 90s to today.

They neither invite me to meetings nor ask for my opinion. Therefore, I have not participated in the negotiations. Given that the SDA has a mission to protect the state of BiH, to care for Bosniaks and all its peoples and citizens, such behavior by the SDA leadership is unacceptable.

President Izetbegovic and a narrow circle of his like-minded associates in the Cantonal Committee and the top of the SDA will hardly find a quality solution for Mostar, which requires, above all, answers to a series of dilemmas: Who is legally responsible and legitimate in the new situation to propose and adopt election rules for the city of Mostar? Is it exclusively the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, as ordered by the Decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, or is there also responsibility of lower bodies such as the Parliament of FBiH or the City Council of Mostar? Has the solution for Mostar evolved from ethnic to territorial and civic?

In finding a solution, all well-intentioned connoisseurs of the situation in the city of Mostar should be "brought closer" to political decision-making. A pro-Mostar front should be formed, which with its strength will force the attention of international factors as well, in order to reach a quality - Bosnian-Herzegovinian solution as quickly as possible.

PATRIA: Are you aware of the progress of the negotiations so far? Is a fair agreement on the equality of citizens and nations, on equal individual and collective rights for all, possible?    

SOKOLOVIĆ: I am not aware of the progress of the negotiations so far. What I do know is that the decades-long mistreatment of Mostar and its citizens with an unresolved status, the promotion of lawlessness, disrespect for laws, the Constitution, and human and collective rights, must stop.

The City of Mostar, above all, must not be divided, because it would lose its international status obtained at Dayton. I remind you that a special Annex to the Dayton Peace Agreement speaks about the city of Mostar. In that Annex, the city of Mostar is defined as a whole and unified with the territory it had before 1991, and with a common city administration organized through six multi-ethnic municipalities.

Knowing this fact, it is easy to conclude that the Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, and citizens of Mostar need equality, not Croatian domination. The same equality that the HDZ advocates for all Croats in BiH where they are a minority. In this way, we would get a solution that would guarantee the equality of citizens and nations in the city of Mostar, and thus individual and collective rights for all.

PATRIA: Now they are talking about elections first, then a new Statute of the City. Where does so much trust come from to elect a Council and then a Mayor, and then to discuss the Statute in the new convocation? Why would the HDZ negotiate with you when they have everything in their hands?

SOKOLOVIĆ: Yes, that is the new idea now. But it doesn't mean it's a good one. Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, and Others should regulate their position through the Statute of the City of Mostar. The Statute and election rules must be adopted together - simultaneously. Whoever accepts the "one man, one vote" model has betrayed the Bosniaks of Mostar.

PATRIA: People always remember Barisa Colak's signature on the agreement that a Bosniak would be mayor instead of Ljubo Beslic? And here is Beslic in the same position to this day. Why does the SDA want to deceive the people of Mostar again? Why is no side thinking about a normal city, with equal and happy citizens?    

SOKOLOVIĆ: Yes, I remember Mr. Colak's signature, but I also remember his dismissal from the position of HDZ president. And then Dragan Covic came and everything turned in the opposite direction. With the late Sulejman Tihic, he agreed to the rotation of the mayor every four years, then he lied to him and the SDA, and the citizens of Mostar, and the international community. Today he proposes the solution "let's hold elections on October 2nd according to the one man, one vote model".

If the SDA accepts this proposal, then it has truly betrayed the Bosniaks of Mostar. Then the Bosniaks of Mostar will know what to do.

I am concerned by the realization that some foreign diplomats and people from the OHR are pressuring the SDA leadership to accept such a proposal. This would be the beginning of the end of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state in which human freedoms have always been cared for and in which national equality and sincere respect for the traditions of all peoples have been proven throughout history. My vote in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH for any perverse solution will never be given.