Grlić Radman's fabricated 'unitarism' in service of revising the war and Dayton!

Written by: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

The Dayton Peace Agreement of November 1995 was the result of a combination of factors: military developments on the ground, political and diplomatic pressure, primarily American, and tragic events such as the Srebrenica genocide, which finally mobilised the international community.

And of course, one must not forget that it came at a time when the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina had advanced so much that they had to stop it! Before that, we had an arms embargo, which deeply compromised the role of the international community.

Ah, now. The role of the Croatian Army, especially in operations "Storm" and "Maestral", is important. However, equating that role with a decisive one, as claimed by Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman, is not only historically inaccurate but also politically dangerous.

In a speech he delivered in Dayton, Grlić Radman stated that "Croatia turned the tide of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina" and that it "prevented a Srebrenica scenario in Bihać." Adding that "without Croatia, there would be no Dayton." Such claims, besides trivialising the victims and distorting the context, also represent a clear revision of Croatia's role in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The claim that Bihać was on the brink of genocide like Srebrenica, and that the Croatian Army saved it, is deeply wrong. Bihać, let us recall, was under siege for a full three years. It held out solely thanks to the 5th Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by General Atif Dudaković, who resisted the superior forces of the so-called Army of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (from Croatia) and the Army of Republika Srpska (from Bosnia and Herzegovina) under impossible conditions.

Operation "Storm" in August 1995 lifted the siege of Bihać after the city had already defended itself, and a month after the Srebrenica genocide. Therefore, there is no logical or chronological basis for the claim that the Croatian Army prevented a "second Srebrenica." On the contrary, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina prevented Bihać from becoming another Srebrenica.

Grlić Radman's speech does not stop at untruths about the war. He uses the moment of remembrance of peace and cooperation to, under the guise of balanced rhetoric, equate separatism with "hegemonic unitarism." This formulation is not new; it is often used by politicians from Republika Srpska and Croatia to accuse Bosniak political forces of alleged domination.

But the reality of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly shows the opposite: the state is highly decentralised, with two entities, a district, and a cumbersome apparatus of consensus, entity veto, and ethnic quotas. What "hegemonism" can we speak of in a system where a minority can block the decisions of the majority, and has been doing so for a long time, which is called apartheid!

These statements are not harmless. They obscure the fact that the only real threat to the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina is separatism, which openly advocates for the secession of one entity, with the support of external factors. Equating that threat with a non-existent "unitarism" is an act of political relativisation, and at a time when Bosnia and Herzegovina is trying to maintain a minimum of functionality.

If Croatia truly wants to be a constructive partner to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as it often declaratively claims, then the first step would be to resolve open bilateral issues, from borders, through succession, to the return of property. Also, it would honestly acknowledge the complexity of Bosnia and Herzegovina's struggle for survival, instead of trying to write a history in which it plays the main, almost salvific role.

But one thing is certain: without the resistance of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially the soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, no international aid would have had anyone to reach. And it did not arrive until it gained the strength to attack the aggressors! Then they stopped us; everything else is history, and we must not interpret it the way the aggressors tell it!