Djuric: More than 30 attacks on Serbs in Kosovo in the past two weeks (RTS)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said that in the past two weeks there had been more than 30 attacks on Serbs and their property in Kosovo and Metohija and that none of the perpetrators had been found, let alone brought to justice. At a session of the Serbian Parliament’s Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, Djuric stressed that the incidents had become more frequent after the recent match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade, which was interrupted when a drone carrying the flag of the so-called Greater Albania appeared above the stadium. The extremists that attacked Serbs have remained unpunished, stressed Djuric. He said that the Serbian state authorities had investigated in all the incidents aimed against Albanian facilities in Serbia proper, which ensued after the incidents on the football field and that the perpetrators of those attacks had been found. He reiterated that Serbia’s stand was that safety should be provided for all the citizens in Kosovo and Metohija and added that the government in Pristina, also to include the Serb Ticket, should be formed as the fact that it has not been formed yet after the recent elections exerts a negative influence on the implementation of the Brussels agreement, the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities and the continuation of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. The Chair of the Serbian Parliament’s Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun and Djuric voiced regret that representatives of international missions in Kosovo and Metohija didn’t accept the invitation to take part in Belgrade in the work of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija. Drecun announced that one of the following sessions of this Committee will be held in Kosovo and Metohija, which is, as he put it, Djuric’s idea, voicing expectation that representatives of the international community – UNMIK, EULEX and KFOR, would then take part in the work. The Head of the Pec District Vinka Radosavljevic said that the situation in the region of Klina, Istok and the town of Pec is extremely difficult and that the Serbs who live there had announced they would inform Belgrade, Pristina and Brussels about this. According to her, the Serbs have decided to do this over constant and serious attacks and also because they consider that, if this doesn’t stop, they cannot survive on this territory any further.

Drecun: Displaying Kosovo symbols in Brussels is an insult for Serbs (Radio Serbia)

“The display of the symbols of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo at a commemorative gathering in Belgium marking the start of World War I is an immense insult for Serbia, its people and the sacrifice the Serbian people made in both world wars,” the Chair of the Serbian Parliament’s Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun told Radio Serbia. He explained that such a move of the organizer boosted greater Albania aspirations and led to destabilization in the region. That was the reason why Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic refused to participate in the gathering in Brussels although he was invited to.

Ashton: Owing to Nikolic, Balkans is a better place (Politika)

The outgoing EU High representative Catherine Ashton has stated in a letter to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic that owing to his political courage and diplomacy the Balkan region is a better place nowadays. Ashton underlined that her turn at the office was expiring and she highly appreciated the cooperation with the Serbian President over the years. In comment to the past five years, Ashton has pointed that she is especially proud of the accomplishments in the context of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, with the mediation of the EU. “I remember our talks in New York, in September 2012, when you expressed belief in the political dialogue at the highest level, with my mediation, and you were confident it was the best chance to make progress in the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. You were right,” Ashton stressed, adding that the EU will remain a close partner of the Serbian President in that and other endeavors.

Dacic and Chepurin discuss cooperation (Novosti)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic had constructive talks in Belgrade with Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin, and they exchanged opinions about the further improvement of cooperation between the two countries on the bilateral and multilateral plan. It has been communicated from Dacic’s cabinet that the collocutors agreed on the significance of the continual dialogue for maintaining the traditionally good bilateral relations of Serbia and Russia.

Turmoil in the SDS (Politika)

The Association “Creators of Republika Srpska” believes that the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) in the recent elections suffered a “crushing defeat” and that its leader Mladen Bosic primarilybears responsibility for it, as his “poor management” and pulling of some “hasty moves” made him the godfather of failure. Members of the Association, including former high-ranking politicians and members of the so-called first echelon of the SDS from the nineties, think that the current leadership of the SDS and Bosic inflicted “huge damage” on the whole party and that is why he “must resign”. Bosic denies accusations of “older” party colleagues, saying that “it is not true that the SDS was defeated in the elections”, and that attempts of “the destruction of the current leadership of the SDS” are in a motion. That is a joint collaboration of president of the association Momcilo Krajisnik, alongside with RS President and leader of SNSD Milorad Dodik. “Now I know what stands behind this whole story. For days, Dodik has been announcing the dismissal of the SDS leadership and it is you who is meant to be the initial trigger of this plan,” said Bosic in a letter to Krajisnik, Beta reports. He said that since he became the leader of the SDS he has been working on “strengthening the troubled party to regain strength”, and “for the mortgages from the times when the party rulers were those who are now members of association of the “Creators of RS”. “Dodik’s intention is to weaken political competition, particularly SDS, because he is aware that the difficult time is coming, as a consequence of bad politics from the previous mandates. Unfortunately, you have actively assisted him in this regard,” wrote Bosic in his letter. Member of the “Creators of RS” and political council of SDS Vojislav Maksimovic stated that Bosic made ​​a large number of unforgivable errors in steps, “and agrees with most of the members of the association that his greatest mistake is that he nominated Ognjen Tadic as president of RS”. “Instead of hiding from the responsibility, it would have been better if he came out on the line, faced Milorad Dodik and tried to beat him. This way he only managed to seal the political career of Ognjen Tadic, who after another election defeat has no future in politics,” said Maksimovic. For Tadic this was the third unsuccessful race for the highest office in the RS, he was also once defeated in the race for the Serb member of the B&H Presidency. Another failure of SDS, according to Maksimovic, is its nomination support to (PDP leader) Mladen Ivanic for the Serb member of the B&H Presidency, which, as he says, even from some earlier times has an epithet of being the “Western favorite and a man who has close ties with certain foreign agencies”. “Instead of getting rid of the ballast of PDP and nominating our own candidate who would win, we lost this post due to the shortsightedness of party leadership,” said Maksimovic.

REGIONAL PRESS

Covic: “Federalization of B&H is a necessity” (BHRT)

The newly elected Croat member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Presidency, Dragan Covic, said in an interview with BHRT that the federalization of B&H is necessary because the current situation is unsustainable. Covic says that it is no longer necessary for foreigners to come to B&H and warn us that B&H is currently non-functional, uncontrolled, and irrational.

Advocating federalization, according to Covic, does not mean breaking up B&H, as some understand. “We in the HDZ and HNS strongly advocate B&H, constantly remind that this is our homeland. But we want to edit it on a human scale and constituent peoples; we want to give it democracy, freedom for every individual who wants to live here. Of course, we want the European path of B&H where people will live, not leave.” Destroyers of B&H, according to Covic, are those who wished to destroy the Croats as a political nation. He also notes that they were the strongest in the past four years, for trying to play with the legitimate representatives of the Croat people. Explaining the proposal of the so-called Croatian constituency in the Federation, Covic said that this virtual project that has no boundaries and lasts only one day – is valid for 24 hours, as long as is takes to count the votes for the Presidency. Covic said that he doesn’t understand why anyone who loves B&H would have something against it. Each constituency is multiethnic, as this one would be – said Covic, among other things, in an interview with BHRT.

Remains of three victims exhumed from the mass graves in the Srebrenica area (Oslobodjenje)

At the Jasenova site in the municipality of Srebrenica, the exhumation of the victims of the last war was conducted, the remains of three victims have been exhumed so far, the spokeswoman for the B&H Missing Persons Institute Lejla Cengic confirmed. “For now we can confirm the discovery of a mass grave site, and there are already exhumed remains of three victims. There are complete mortal remains, and it is assumed that they are the victims who were killed in 1993 in this area,” explained Cengic. According to her, after the exhumation of remains, victims will be transported to the Commemorative Center in Tuzla, where they will carry out complete forensic-medical and criminal-technical treatment and take bone samples for DNA analysis to determine the identity of the exhumed victims. “For now it is assumed that these are Bosniak victims, exhumation by order of the Court shall be managed by the B&H Prosecutor’s Office. The exhumation is in progress, and the search of the site is done manually and mechanically,” said Cengic. It is expected that the exhumation will continued tomorrow. “For now we cannot say exactly how many victims we will find, but we expect at least four victims,” said Cengic.

Weapons from FB&H in the hands of Islamic state members (Glas Srpske)

Large quantities of arms and ammunition from B&H have ended up, via Turkey, in the hands of members of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS), the website Glas Srpske reports. The source of this daily who has close ties with the security structures in B&H, said that these weapons were bought in the Federation of B&H by Turkish companies that are linked to Hamas.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Increasing tension in Serbia’s Novi Pazar, Sandzak (Journal of Turkish Weekly News Analysis, by Hamdi Fırat Büyük, 27 October 2014)

Serbian state officials have expressed that the government is going to ease tensions in the predominately Muslim Bosniak Sandzak Region amid recent events.
In recent days, some have claimed that several of Sandzak’s Muslim Bosniaks have joined the Islamic State (IS) in its war in Syria and Iraq and also established an army in Sandzak that is prepared to fight against Serbians and the ultranationalist Chetniks.
Sandzak is a majority Muslim populated region which was created by the Ottoman Empire as a special administrative division (called the Sandzak of Novi Pazar) in order to separate Serbia and Montenegro and to bridge the Ottoman Empire with Bosnia’s Muslims. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire Sandzak was divided between Montenegro and Serbia.
In September, the Islamic Community in Serbia held a parade in Sandzak’s largest city, Novi Pazar, marking the 70th anniversary of the execution of 2,000 Muslim Bosniaks during World War II. In the parade, young men in green uniforms and traditional Muslim fezzes marched through the city with some politicians and historians believing that the uniforms were very similar to those worn by pro-Nazi Muslim Bosniaks during the war.
During Nazi occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in WWII, the Muslim Bosniak community was bestowed with special privileges by Nazi officials. In some regions of the kingdom, Muslim Bosniaks served as patrols wearing green uniforms and red fezzes at the behest of Nazis.
Due to this history, Serbia’s Chetniks have now reacted by announcing that they are ready to march in Novi Pazar in response to the parade held by Muslim Bosniaks in Novi Pazar. These statements have increased tensions in this region where the fragile state of stability has been experienced since the collapse of Yugoslavia.
Sulejman Ugljanin, who is the leader of the largest Muslim Bosniak party, the Party of Democratic Action of Sandzak, and a former minister of the Serbian government, told SETimes that Muslim Bosniaks are being threatened by the government, when what they need is dialogue between Serbia’s communities.
Prime Minister Vucic said that he does not underestimate the nationalist passions in Sandzak, stating, “The government will solve the problems of Muslim Bosniaks together with partners and friends in the region”.
In spite of Vucic’s statements, most people in Sandzak are not hopeful that a solution will be reached in the short term and claim that the government will do nothing for the region and its stability. During the Bosnian and Kosovar Wars, all of Sandzak’s Muslim communities, including Bosniaks, Albanians, Turks and Goranis, were accused of conspiring with Serbia’s enemies.
While the tension in Sandzak has never truly ended, a tranquillity has existed in the region since the beginning of Serbia’s integration into the West. Recent events, however, threaten stability in the region and have forced the government’s hand in implementing better and sustainable policies for Sandzak.

IMF praises Serbia’s spending cuts, plans loan talks for November (Reuters, 28 October 2014)

BELGRADE: The International Monetary Fund welcomed on Monday Serbia’s move to reduce spending to stabilise its finances and announced its team will visit Belgrade next month to start talks on a new loan agreement.

The Serbian parliament approved on Sunday a revised 2014 budget, introducing cuts to pensions and public sector wages from the beginning of November.

The government said these measures were needed to help secure an IMF deal, which in turn is seen as crucial to enable a reduction in borrowing costs and to reassure investors worried over the size of Serbia’s deficit and debt pile. “We welcome the authorities’ renewed commitment to pursue the urgently needed fiscal and structural reforms,” the IMF representative for Serbia, Daehaeng Kim, said in a statement.

Kim said an IMF team, led by Zuzana Murgasova, will visit Belgrade between Nov. 4-20 to discuss a new IMF-backed programme.

The Washington-based IMF suspended its last loan deal with Serbia in February 2012 when the European Union candidate country fell behind with spending promises and debt pledges.

Earlier on Monday, Serbia’s Fiscal Council, a government-appointed advisory body, warned that recent pension and wage cuts would not avert a debt squeeze and urged the government to end subsidises to unprofitable state companies.

Nationalists win Bosnia vote, face tough talks on power-sharing (Reuters, by Daria Sito-Sucic, 27 October 2014)

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Nationalists with opposing views of Bosnia’s future secured the most votes in this month’s general election, but none will be able to rule alone, raising the prospect of lengthy power-sharing talks and new delays in long-overdue reforms.

More lost time could further destabilise Bosnia’s fragile economy, which slowed further this year after devastating floods in May and badly needs fresh money from the International Monetary Fund to cover its growing budget gaps.

The election commission confirmed on Monday that SNSD party of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, the SDA of Bosniak leader Bakir Izetbegovic and the Croat HDZ have won the most votes for the national, regional and local representatives in the ethnically divided country.

But Bosnia’s complex political system, based on ethnic and regional quotas, means they cannot form governments alone or band together to form a stable national government. Each needs support from more moderate parties, which have yet to decide whether to join forces with any of them or remain in opposition.

Analysts said there was little chance for a stable government that would move the Balkan country towards the European Union and revive its economy.

Dodik narrowly won the race for president of the autonomous Serb Republic on repeated calls for its secession from Bosnia. Izetbegovic had advocated a strong, unified state, and HDZ leader Dragan Covic has called for the creation of a Croat entity within Bosnia.

Now they pledge to move forward with reforms they had blocked for years.

“Theoretically, they could” form new governments, said Kurt Bassuener, senior associate at the Democratization Policy Council, a think-tank. “But I see no evidence in the past behaviour or judging by their interests that they would initiate meaningful reform.”

The three nationalist blocks have largely dominated governments in Bosnia for the past eight years, dragging the country backwards, halting reforms and creating huge networks of political patronage using public-sector jobs.

The Dayton peace accords, which ended Bosnia’s 1992-95 war and divided the country into two autonomous regions, created an unwieldy system of ethnic power-sharing that has proven ineffective in peace, leaving Bosnia at the bottom of the Western Balkan hopefuls to join the European Union.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Larry King)

Bosnia Declares 2014 ‘Year of Missing Persons’ (BIRN, by Denis Dzidic, 28 October 2014)

Bosnia and Herzegovina has belatedly declared 2014 the Year of Missing Persons, vowing to intensify the search for the remaining 8,000 people still unaccounted for after the 1990s conflict.

Bosnia’s Council of Ministers promised to invest “maximum effort in the process to solve the issue of missing persons” as it announced the awareness-raising move on Monday.

The decision was welcomed by the Regional Coordination Board of Missing Persons Associations from the Former Yugoslavia, which proposed the idea, even though it came so late in the year.

“We hope this can give the impetus to speed up the search for missing persons. We will not rest with this declaration, but we will ask for concrete results. We will ask the authorities what they mean to do for the year of missing persons,”said the board’s president, Ljiljana Alvir.

“Some may ask what the purpose of declaring something in October is, but we think every day is important,” she added.

She said that the decision, at the very least, will acknowledge to those who are still searching for their loved ones that “the legacy of those missing is perhaps the worst legacy of the horrible wars we have suffered”. 

Alvir noted that this was the second important declaration on missing persons from the country this year, after the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia signed a landmark declaration in August aimed at speeding up the search for the missing.

The Bosnian Institute for Missing Persons said meanwhile that it hopes that the initiative will help those who have information hidden wartime graves to find the strength to contact the authorities. 

“Raising the awareness of the public through this declaration can only help speed up the pace of searching for missing persons in the future,” said the institute’s spokesperson, Lejla Cengic.

“We are still looking for some 8,000 missing persons and we are in the most difficult state, where reliable information does not come easily. We hope that the declaration will help us get much more information to find the remaining missing persons,” she said.

She added that in the first ten months of 2014, the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute had only discovered around 150 missing people – the lowest number since the end of the war for a ten-month period.