Izetbegović responds to Čović: OHR intervention will be necessary if HDZ moves to block Mostar

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović reacted to the letter of HDZ BiH leader Dragan Čović sent to the OHR, EU Delegation and US Embassy in which he states that the SDA is leading an anti-Croatian hysteria in Mostar. 

Izetbegović responded to Čović also with a letter:

"Mostar is a city whose beauty we are proud of, but also a city of difficult past, strong emotions, intertwined identities and destinies, a meeting place of religions, cultures, ideologies. It is a city of Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs, but also a city of those who are simply citizens. All of the mentioned must feel comfortable and free in the Mostar of the future, all of them together should manage the capital of Herzegovina.

The image of three doctors, a Croat, a Serb and a Bosniak, who together went to visit a sick colleague from the City Council, and brought her a document on the assumption of the councilor's mandate to sign, for some may be pathetic, but it is actually an image of what Mostar should be, and what is possible to achieve in this city – to jointly treat the inherited condition, with the best intention, and with the readiness of Mostar residents to extend a hand and help each other.

In line with this way of thinking is the proposal to divide the mayoral mandate among the candidates of the three winning blocs – the Coalition for Mostar, the BH Bloc and the HDZ, so that each of them leads the City for 15 months. Unfortunately, this proposal was rejected by the HDZ, and the president of this party sent a letter to the OHR and OSCE requesting an intervention that would prevent the agreement.

Dragan Čović's letter is rife with unfounded and offensive claims and theses. The offer to share power in Mostar, with all participating, including of course the Croats, he characterized as 'anti-Croatian hysteria', as 'an attempt to establish a mono-ethnic government', as 'unreasonable action' that 'leads to discord and divisions'. The president of HDZ BiH also claimed that the proposal for a voluntary division of the mandate leads to 'jeopardizing the electoral process', 'illegal action against Croats', 'violation of the law, general ethical and political principles'.

For the previous twelve years, the mayor of Mostar was a cadre of HDZ BiH, Mostar was called the 'Croatian capital city', and this undeniably violated laws, general ethical and political principles, but we refrained from harsh, and perhaps justified qualifications such as 'establishment of a mono-ethnic government', 'unreasonable action' or 'illegal action against other peoples', qualifications that Čović used.

The process of electing the mayor of Mostar should be completed on Monday, February 15, and Dr. Zlatko Guzin or Dr. Mario Kordić will be elected, of course all in accordance with the Law and the Statute. There is nothing illegal, unreasonable, unethical, directed against Croats or anyone else, in the possible decision of whoever is elected to assume the full mandate, or to step down after 15 months in favor of the second or third candidate. Quite the opposite, it is a reasonable, ethical, selfless and responsible decision.

Jeopardizing the electoral process and illegal action that Čović speaks of can only occur by his will, that is, by the realization of the veiled threat contained in his letter to the OHR and OSCE that 'further blockades and complete dysfunctionality of the city administration' will follow.

If this really happens, if after the blockade of forming the Government of the Federation of BiH, the blockade of forming the Government of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, the blockade of filling the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH, the HDZ also moves to block the implementation of election results in Mostar, with the aim of keeping the mayor of this city a cadre of the HDZ, then the intervention of the OHR and OSCE will indeed be necessary. It is time for representatives of the international community to act, to stop tolerating unconstitutional and illegal blockades.

And when it comes to Mostar, it is time for those forces that are for harmony and reconciliation, for progress, those forces that want to build, not to destroy bridges, to prevail. And to choose such a mayor for the people of Mostar", stated Izetbegović.