Izetbegović: SDA is ready to break the fear of Croats that they are suppressed, but we do not agree to divisions

After today's meeting with the President of the Democratic Front, Željko Komšić, SDA Vice President Bakir Izetbegović said that the two of them were arranging details ahead of tomorrow's talks that the SDA delegation will have with the HDZ BiH delegation, and that they agreed there would be no discussion on the principles of division.

- SDA is ready to create mechanisms that will break the fear of Croats in BiH that they are suppressed. We will not yield to, say, demands for "two schools under one roof" or "two televisions under one roof." We will under no circumstances accept that. If the approach is either my way or the highway, then it will not go at all - Izetbegović explained.

- Mr. Čović complains that we worked without them, but he did a similar thing with the SNSD without us. So there should be no anger there; we need to do what is best for the citizens of BiH. We have some specific demands from HDZ that I will not list, but we also have specific demands regarding the position of Bosniaks in territories where Croats dominate, so those will also be topics alongside the agreement. Croats, as the smallest constituent people in BiH, have some justified complaints about discrimination against their representatives, and we will certainly work on that. I am confident that these issues will be resolved, as will the frustrations of others. We need to bring two concepts closer together. In our view, the concept is living together in BiH. I fear that some in HDZ see it as living side by side - says Izetbegović.

Asked whether the coalition between SDA and SDS is deceiving citizens, Izetbegović said it is not, because the rhetoric of SDS has changed, "which was evident not only from the negotiations but also during the election campaign and their appearances in the BiH Parliament."

If an agreement is reached with Čović, Izetbegović announced that the document "Programmatic Principles for the Operation of the Legislative and Executive Authorities in BiH in the Mandate Period 2014-2018," signed by SDA, DF, and the Alliance for Changes of the RS, will not change much, except that the demands of representatives of the Croatian people will be added.