Mesić: They say they respect a unified BiH, while at the same time supporting Dodik

(Patria) - If UN troops had stopped at the borders between Serbia and Croatia, and Serbia and BiH, there would have been no war.

Former Croatian President Stjepan Mesić stated this in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

When asked if, a quarter of a century after the first wars in the former Yugoslavia, it can now be said that the Balkans have stabilized and that there is no threat of a renewed explosion, Mesić believes that the Balkans are not in a phase where an explosion can be expected, but he points out that some issues remain unresolved to this day. 

“Because this experience of war that we had is a lesson to everyone that war is not worth it. However, there are some unresolved issues that must be resolved politically. For example, we have Milorad Dodik in Republika Srpska who does not recognize BiH. So, he was at the head of the BiH Presidency for a time, and he does not recognize BiH. However, this problem cannot be solved in Sarajevo. This problem can be solved in Belgrade and Zagreb. Croatia told the BiH Croats during my presidency, your homeland is Bosnia and Herzegovina, your capital is Sarajevo, shape your policy together with the other two peoples. In Belgrade, we receive a message saying how they respect and accept BiH. Official Belgrade says they respect a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at the same time they support the policy of Milorad Dodik, who does not recognize BiH and who actually personifies Republika Srpska in BiH”, Mesić told Deutsche Welle.

The former Croatian president assesses that all wars in Europe started because of borders, “and all aggressors lied and said they were actually defending their national minority in another country.”

“However, they were conquering someone else's territory. They were simply lying. And now the European Union is emerging with its millennial undertaking, which states: We will open our borders. Borders prevented people from living in their entire cultural corpus, because national minorities were on the other side of the border. In the EU, people will live in their entire cultural corpus. Therefore, borders will no longer be an obstacle. This means that such Europe excludes war as a political means”, said Mesić.

He recalled that as the last president of the Presidency of Yugoslavia, he proposed that if no one was satisfied with the Federation, new agreements should be made. This would mean, Mesić recalled, that the republics would first declare their independence, and then a confederal agreement would be signed for three to five years. 

“If things go well - we extend the confederal agreement, and as independent states, we continue our paths to Europe each on our own - meaning without war, without destruction, without deaths”, said Mesić, adding that “the main culprit, Slobodan Milošević, who was at the head of Serbia”, wanted an ethnically pure Greater Serbia, “and that is why he started the ethnic cleansing of the non-Serb population.” 

Mesić assesses that when “Milošević with his powerful army could not change the borders, no one can change them now either.”