Kolinda Grabar Kitarović: The Lack of Yogurt in the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Written by Sead Omeragić

Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia, of all the world statesmen she has met, only to German Chancellor Angela Merkel did she not speak about the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The German Chancellor understands everything and regularly asks Grabar Kitarović, as well as Aleksandar Vučić, to take care of the stability of BiH.

Out of about a hundred texts and interviews available on the internet, the President of Croatia only in one did not mention Bosnia and Herzegovina. In her appearances during her stay in New York, at several meetings with foreign statesmen, she mentioned the Election Law of BiH. Just as exactly a year ago, Dragan Čović spoke from the podium of the UN General Assembly about changes to the Election Law of BiH, to the general astonishment of all present.

About the meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, she said: "It was a very productive meeting. I respect the fact that he has 128 meetings these days, so we agreed to continue the dialogue. We share concern about the situation in Southeast Europe, a series of processes opening up in the coming period, starting with the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the fact that the Election Law of BiH has not been amended."

On the same day, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York about the parliamentary elections in BiH in October, agreeing that representatives of the three constituent peoples must be elected according to the Dayton Agreement and relevant rulings of the Constitutional Court of BiH.

To Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in New York on September 25, she stated priorities: ... "There are the upcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 7 and the situation afterwards, and what we can do together to help Bosnia and Herzegovina on the path to prosperity and the European Union and NATO." So she is a kind of diplomatic representative of Herceg-Bosnia, and incidentally the President of Croatia.

Thus, Grabar Kitarović does not stop using her diplomatic travels for propaganda against BiH. What began with crimes and could not bring a solution should today be completed with diplomatic pressures and lies. During her visit to the USA, on September 24, she attended the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the National Federation of Croatian Americans. And she sang Thompson's hit "Lijepa li si". She went on stage, took the microphone in her hands and sang a song dedicated to Herceg-Bosnia, whose military and political leadership was convicted before the international court for the worst crimes against Bosniaks in BiH.

For years, Grabar Kitarović has been treating BiH, undermining its credibility, in almost every meeting she has with any world statesman.

After all, when she became the new President of Croatia on January 15, 2015, Grabar Kitarović stated that she would support the solutions and proposals put forward by legitimate Croatian representatives in BiH, including the request for the formation of a third entity.

On January 17, 2015, she gave a statement confirming her absolute interference in the seizure of BiH's sovereignty: "The President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, said during the visit that Croatia is a true friend of BiH who only wants good for BiH in its internal affairs, but also in other foreign policy priorities." So, everything is paved with good intentions. To make everything clearer and with "great-state goals," she then said "that Croatia geographically embraces BiH."

On December 7, 2016, she was the harshest in her statements, after the NATO security forum held in the Canadian city of Halifax. Then she gave an interview to Defense News, in which she emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina is an unstable country, that it is "not fully politically emancipated," and that it is the biggest threat to Croatia. Grabar Kitarović said that among her priorities in her work will be advocating that 'finally BiH becomes a politically emancipated state, which will strongly move towards membership in the EU and NATO. "But, for that, strong internal reforms are needed"... It is about pushing for a third entity, which, as we know, was sentenced before an international court.

"Croatia has an obligation to take care of that (the Croatian people), based on its Constitution and as a signatory and guarantor of the Dayton Agreement. Croats are a constituent people in that state and no one will reduce them to a minority." What kind of signatory and guarantor of the Dayton Agreement Croatia is was confirmed by the verdict of the six before the International Court in The Hague, where Croatia was also convicted for aggression against the neighboring sovereign state of BiH. So, there are no guarantees in Dayton, and the signature of Croatia and Serbia in the USA was an act of surrender and disciplining of those two aggressor states against BiH.

In one interview, on April 30, 2015, journalists asked: Can the new approach of the European Union towards Bosnia and Herzegovina succeed, which now puts economic and social reforms first, while constitutional issues, issues of equality of citizens and peoples would be left for later?

Grabar Kitarović answers: "That is a question I constantly warn all my interlocutors about, both in the EU and in NATO, as well as colleagues from other countries, especially the USA... Croatia supports the European initiative, supports the efforts of Mrs. Federica Mogherini, however, we also have a strong interest in protecting the rights and position of the Croatian people, who must finally become equal on the entire territory of BiH and participate equally in institutional, economic and every other form of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina." In the RS, there are not even 4,000 Croats, so any talk about equality on the entire territory of BiH does not apply there.

Then on March 17, 2017: 'Croatia expects the urgent adoption of a new Election Law, the urgent adoption of a new Statute of the City of Mostar and timely action by the international community,' she addressed the gathering in Neum... Mostar, which is a victim of an almost racist concept of the HDZ, Grabar Kitarović treats as a city of endangered Croats, in which there are still many institutional things to resolve in BiH (September 11, 2015).

"The existence and position of Croats are of exceptional importance for the very existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina... BiH is also a state of the Croatian people, Croats cannot and must not be reduced to the level of a minority, just as the rights of Croats must not be minimized... In BiH, not only should economic and social issues be addressed, but the most serious approach must be taken to solving political issues, such as the urgent change of the election law," said Grabar Kitarović on June 16, 2018, for Rijeka's Novi list.

At the time of the great football successes of the Croatian national team, she gave an interview to the Russian Kommersant on August 5, 2018: "For us, it is important that Russia continues to support the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we continue to work together to stabilize this country, which has almost a thousand kilometers of common border with Croatia. Croats are one of the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and if they separate, the country will fall apart, and this could lead to destabilization of the entire region," said Kitarović. So, finally, in these hints from the President of Croatia, we have also discovered some dark and dangerous desires of our neighbors.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR    [email protected]

Sead Omeragić is a journalist and columnist on the website of the Patria news agency. He began his journalism career in the 1980s. He worked for several print and electronic media. He is the author of several books, the most notable of which is "The Agreed War" published in 1998.