Tadić: Dodik is dangerous, but he has his twins among Bosniaks

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Former Serbian President Boris Tadić assessed that member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik is escalating his rhetoric in an extremely dangerous manner.

Speaking to journalists in the capital of Azerbaijan, where he is participating in the 8th Baku Global Forum, he said he is not sure that Dodik's behavior has gotten out of control, but rather believes there is a strategy behind it, reports Fena's correspondent from Baku.

“The perception of Dodik's policy in BiH is unequivocal. Dodik says things he has the formal-legal right to say. On the other hand, Dodik is escalating his rhetoric in an extremely dangerous way. I don't remember him doing anything like that during my term. It may be that Dodik is escalating his rhetoric, and Vučić is calming him down. Whether that is true or a theater, judge for yourselves. But I consider it an unacceptable policy, a very dangerous policy, and I think there is no reason for such escalations. I would conduct policy quite differently, especially in the Balkans, which has already erupted once with tragic consequences. Surely we have learned one lesson,” Tadić said.

However, he believes that among Bosniak politicians, Dodik has his twins, people who do not understand that their policies and reactions provoke Dodik's reactions. For example, when Bosniak politicians say they would immediately recognize Kosovo's independence, they do not understand that this is a step towards the independence of Republika Srpska and gives Dodik justification for his reactions, Tadić assesses.

He also stated that Dodik ties his political survival to the survival of Republika Srpska, and “that is a catastrophe for the RS.”

“From the standpoint of political technique and methodology, that is completely unacceptable and stifles any communication within the RS, but I see that this is a constant throughout the Western Balkans, as well as in Hungary, Poland, Turkey, that it is a disease that has taken over the world,” Tadić said.

Answering the question of how sincere the policy of official Serbia towards BiH is, he says that he himself faced such a question, which means there is a basic distrust, which is normal given the work.

“On the other hand, if we constantly approach each other with distrust, we will never be able to overcome the problem. If you ask me how sincere Vučić's policy is towards BiH, I do not believe it is sincere even towards Serbia. That is my attitude towards today's politics in Serbia. It is completely opposite to everything I did. I was fully for reconciliation and solving problems. But when I held that position, I faced enormous distrust in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, enormous prejudices that needed to be broken down, and that is the biggest problem any policy faces,” Tadić says.

He states that there are legitimate representatives of the Serbian people and Republika Srpska in BiH. The President of Serbia, whoever that may be, has an obligation, not just a personal desire, to communicate and cooperate with representatives of Republika Srpska.

“Every Bosniak and Croatian policy in BiH must be aware of that. Somewhere there we must find a framework for cooperation: removing prejudices and stereotypes from the agenda of our relations and finding practical solutions. And at the same time, through practice, confirm that we sincerely believe in something and want it. I don't know what Vučić has done in practical terms in relations between Serbia and BiH, whether there have been any concrete solutions that solved problems,” he said.

He says that the attempt to change the political code in the Balkans, which began in 2004 with Ivo Josipović and Sulejman Tihić, was very quickly sunk and “we returned to our old ways.”

“That is a tragedy for me. The goal of such a policy is to maintain constant tensions and count on that part of the electorate that will want to support such a policy, which, unfortunately, is a relative majority of voters in all our countries,” Tadić concluded.