Komšić: Bosnia and Herzegovina will, sooner or later, be a civic state

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - I don't love Bosnia and Herzegovina the same as Croatia, but I love it more than Croatia, immeasurably more. Of course, Croatia is dear to me too, but it cannot be compared. I don't know how it could be, stated member of the Presidency of BiH Željko Komšić in an interview for Macedonian Kapital.

“In Croatia, I am only a tourist, visiting friends or on a business trip, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I am in my own home. We know that we all love our home the most. It is probably normal to love one's homeland the most,” said Komšić.

When asked what percentage of people in BiH, or Croats or Serbs, think like him, Komšić says he doesn't think in those terms, because people are not numbers, nor is life statistics.

“I know many Serbs and Croats who fought alongside me for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The values we represented and still represent are more important than percentages and statistics. It is the same today, and it will be so in the future, because Bosnia and Herzegovina will always be a state of all its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or religion,” he explained.

Explaining whether his ideology is neo-American or old Yugoslav, Komšić stated that if someone claims that the idea of a civic state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a state of equal individuals (citizens), is close to the American model, he can agree with that.

“Furthermore, the idea of a civic state of Bosnia and Herzegovina is fully complementary to the values on which the European Union is founded. These are simply Western European values. The Yugoslav model is something else. Despite the good qualities that model had, it was still based on ethnicity. It was precisely these ethnic contradictions that ultimately led to the collapse of Yugoslavia because Greater National ambitions could not be satisfied within Yugoslavia as a common state. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina will, sooner or later, be a civic state. We must work patiently and diligently on this. We all know that it cannot happen literally tomorrow, but all of us who love the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina must have this kind of awareness. We must never abandon the idea of a civic state, because that would mean betraying all those who gave their lives for BiH,” Komšić states.

He added that on a conceptual level, his political opponents are opponents of civilizational values.

Assessing the current security situation in the region, Komšić says it can be divided into two levels or two aspects.

“First, the security situation is created by countries belonging to our region of the Western Balkans or Southeast Europe, as well as the second aspect, where the geopolitical forces of great world powers clash, trying to produce their interests here. If we consider the security aspect in the region in which the Western Balkan countries participate, then it is again multidimensional, or more precisely, different countries, in their interaction, are creators of elements that can ensure the stability of the region, but also of other elements where points of potential instability arise. In this way, we here from Bosnia and Herzegovina consider the behavior of our neighbors, both western and eastern, where both have some insatiable need to interfere in the internal affairs of BiH, through their political proxies or allies, which does not create any prerequisites for the stability of the region that we all strive for,” said Komšić.

When asked if there is a future for multicultural states like BiH and Macedonia in the Balkans and in contemporary Europe, Komšić says that “the future of multicultural states like Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia is largely determined by NATO membership, which is a security umbrella for both countries, as well as integration into the European Union.”