LOCAL PRESS
Belgrade, Pristina: The deal on the horizon, just needs to be sign (Danas)
The Prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic probably reach an agreement on all issues and sign the “Brussels 2” agreement on Monday, writes Danas daily.
Pristina based portal Koha.net, citing sources close to the negotiations in Brussels, says that Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic have agreed on all the issues. Danas writes that, at the next meeting, the conditions for the signing of, so-called, “Brussels two” agreement, on the normalization of relations, would be created, its implementation would follow the stages and themes in the upcoming period. “Belgrade has to come before the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who arrives to Serbia on July 8, with the agreement if it expects to open its first negotiating chapters with the EU. If Belgrade should insists and obstruct the agreement with Kosovo, German Chancellor’s messages will not be pleasant and Serbia could be removed from the agenda of talks on the continuation of the European integration “, learns Danas daily from the diplomatic sources close to the negotiating team. As stated by the interlocutors of Danas, a large degree of agreement between the two prime ministers was reached as early as Tuesday, the evidenced of that can be found in the behavior and a relaxed demeanor by the Pristina officials after meeting in Brussels, but also in a vague statement made by the Serbian Prime Minister stating that they cannot talk about the deals that were made.
“I’m hoping for progress, because it is a matter of an important issue, but I cannot say that we are close to an agreement,” said Vucic. Danas‘s sources say it can be expected that prime ministers agrees on the most important topics, the formation of the Community of Serb municipalities, to formulate an action plan for its establishment with clear activities, deadlines and commitments that the two sides should meet. According to the daily, Kosovo will have to amend the legislation and change the laws in order to enable the forming of the Community of Serb municipalities.
From the diplomatic circles it can be heard that no one believes that the Serbian prime minister could risk the trust of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is coming to Belgrade to support regional cooperation and the results achieved in the past three years, especially in the normalization of relations with Kosovo. The experienced diplomats say that Angela Merkel expects the decision of the situation related to Kosovo, at least when it comes to the first Brussels Agreement. The interlocutors of Danas daily say that the statements made by the Prime Minister of Serbia indicate that Serbia is ready for the next step and for the reaching of the agreement with Kosovo. After talks in Brussels, Vucic has stated that the first chapters of the accession of Serbia to the EU will be open until the end of the year regardless of the fact that Belgrade and Pristina has not reached a concrete agreement on four key issues in Brussels on Tuesday. The Prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, Isa Mustafa and Aleksandar Vucic had agreed on all the issues that were discussed in Brussels on Tuesday, writes Pristina based portal Koha.net, citing sources close to the negotiations. Officially, the two prime ministers said that no agreement was reached on any of the issues that were discussed for eight hours, but that they are coming closer with their positions on the issues.
Sources of Koha.net close to the meeting was informed that the parties were “one hundred per cent able to agree on all the issues” – Association / Community of Serbian municipalities, the Telecommunications Act, the Energy Planning and the bridge over the Ibar River, and that on Monday and the two prime ministers are going to sign the agreements on Monday.
“The parties have agreed one hundred percent of all the issues that were discussed at yesterday’s meeting. On Monday the next meeting will be held at which the agreements will be signed,” told the source of Koha.net. The same source said that all the agreements are favorable to Kosovo.
“I can guarantee that the issues, on which the agreement was reached yesterday, will be signed on Monday, in favor of Kosovo. I cannot provide details,” the source said. Prime Minister Mustafa said that the views of the two sides on all issues discussed “got very close”, but noted that the working groups will continue to work until it comes to the finalizing of the agreement.
FM denies reports “agreements have been reached” in talks (B92, Tanjug)
Ivica Dacic has described as untrue the claims “in the Pristina press” that “everything has already been agreed on” during the Kosovo talks round this week. The Serbian foreign minister spoke on Thursday to stress that the reports “show that the Pristina side is not serious and responsible” because there was “agreement not to come out with any information yet.”
“These claims are not true and the talks continue,” he said. After the talks on Tuesday mediated by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, it was agreed to continue the dialogue next week, “but Pristina has the manner of giving information about something being a done deal, and in their interest, imposing the status issue before the essential one, and without asking whether something can function,” Dacic remarked during his joint news conference in Belgrade with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotsias. As an example, he said that Edita Tahiri, a minister in government in Pristina in charge of the talks, “gave a statement right after the round had finished about genocide over the Albanian people,” and described this as also being “not serious and not responsible.”
“Well why do you even talk to us? That shows a lack of seriousness and responsibility. If you want to say something, there’s a place for that – the meeting,” said Dacic. He added that Tahiri had been invited to speak about the issue of energy, “but then started talking about Serbia losing Kosovo in 1999.” “Mogherini interrupted her and Tahiri was effectively thrown out of the meeting,” said the foreign minister, stressing that “the Pristina side has no interest in how the energy system in Kosovo might function – only in who will own it.” “We are constructive and we wish to make our contribution. But we do not allow anyone to address us by raising their voice or finger, like some are trying to,” he stated, adding that the Serbian side “will adhere to what Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has stressed,” and that is, “constructive dialogue above all else.”
European parliament decides against passing Srebrenica resolution (Tanjug)
The rapporteur for Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) has said that the European parliament (EP) “decided for now” to mark the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre only with a debate.
Passing a resolution at this time would not be helpful for B&H and the region, said Cristian Dan Preda. “We felt it was important to mark this extremely sad 20th anniversary in the parliament, to remember the victims, pay respects to their families and to make sure something like this never happens again,” he said. “We did not request a resolution because we did not think it would be helpful in the present context in the country and also at the regional level,” said Preda.
“Almost everyone we spoke to agree with this in B&H as well,” the EP rapporteur added in an interview for the EWB website. The initiator of the resolution on Srebrenica in the EP was Croatian MEP Ivan Jakovcic from the ALDE group, while delegates discussed the possibility of passing it as a document, or as part of EP President Martin Schulz‘s speech during a plenary session. Jankovcic said in the past it did not matter in which manner his proposal would be adopted. Last week Preda traveled to B&H, where he had a series of meetings with political representatives and participated in a conference dubbed “Why Europe” organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He says that at the beginning of his current mandate in the EP the EPP group agreed to seek two rapporteur positions, for Serbia and for B&H. Preda believes that B&H faces many challenges on its path towards the EU and that one of the most important ones is the fight against corruption.
When asked what he considered to be particularly important for the further integration of the whole region of the Western Balkans into the EU, he said: “I see two major issues here and they are actually linked. In order to advance the integration of the whole region we need good neighborly relations and reconciliation. How to move forward towards Europe if old wounds are still unhealed and tensions persist? Of course, it is not an easy task and it is a process that takes time, but reconciliation has been, as you know, from the very beginning at the heart of the European integration.” “From this perspective, the recent initiatives of the European Commission on the connectivity agenda for the Western Balkans are to be welcomed,” the Romanian MEP concluded in his interview with EWB.
REGIONAL PRESS
Amer Jerlagic: Negotiations on new coalition activated (N1 TV)
Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SB&H) President Amer Jerlagic has said “negotiations with the SDA and HDZ on new coalition are activated”. Jerlagic confirmed he had separate talks with the HDZ and SDA leaders Dragan Covic and Bakir Izetbegovic in the recent days. “There was no official invitation, because Izetbegovic thinks it is not right moment to initiate the official negotiations”, Jerlagic told N1 TV. He added SB&H is responsible party which wants to address problems in B&H. Jerlagic said this party will have certain conditions for joining the coalition, and will propose program for economic development. Ruling coalition in Federation of B&H lost majority in Parliament recently, when Democratic Front decided to act as opposition.
“Political leaders must fight radicalism especially among their own” (Fena)
Chairing the Council of Europe is a great responsibility for Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and a task that B&H will approach with the utmost dedication and do the best it can, said Mladen Ivanic, Chair of the B&H Presidency, in today’s address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, speaking as the head of the state that has taken over the chairmanship of the organization, Fena‘s correspondent in Strasbourg reports. Discussing how he sees the situation in B&H, he said that it isn’t ideal, that there is much that should be done. However, when compared to what it was 20 years ago, it is much, much better. He believes that the story of B&H is “a kind of success,” that it is now a country that, despite many differences, more or less looks like a normal country.
He stressed that the new approach in the B&H Presidency is to no longer emphasize differences, but rather compromise, and the international community has changed its approach to B&H.
The EU’s new approach assumes first the implementation of economic reforms, and before approaching membership sensitive issues such as the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the Sejdic-Finci case. In the coming weeks, Ivanic expects agreement on a reform agenda, and the plan is that by 2017 B&H submits an application for membership in the EU. This will not be possible, inter alia, without implementing the Sejdic-Finci decision, and the chairman hopes that there will be sufficient motivation among political leaders to resolve the issue by then. Ivanic considered the situation in the region positive. Croatia is a member of the European Union, and Serbia is on a good path. “Good relations with neighbors are one of the most important conditions for stability in a region,” the chairman said. Speaking of the problem of terrorism and radicalism, Ivanic said that political leaders must be strongly against radicalization especially in their own people, and do everything in this sense to facilitate the fight against terrorism. Responding to a delegate’s question on marking the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, Ivanic said that he was in Srebrenica to pay respects to the victims 10 years ago as foreign minister, when it was much more difficult.
Noting that because of the arrest of Naser Oric it is still not certain whether there will be a commemoration, he said that if one goes to Srebrenica to pay respects to the innocent victims, then it would be an event that would unite us. But if it is politicized, Ivanic believes we will get a “mechanism of division,” in which he would not participate.
No money from IMF, B&H must cut spending (Dnevni Avaz)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) can no longer count on the money from the International Monetary Fund and “will have to find alternative” and will be forced to reduce spending, Federation of B&H Finance Minister Jelka Milicevic has said. IMF mission ended yesterday its visit to B&H, after which it becomes apparent that the last tranches of the existing arrangement will not be paid, and the new arrangement will obviously not be concluded soon. “It is clear now that we will have to solve big problems without IMF. The budget rebalance will go towards reducing costs, i.e. transfers and capital transfers”, Milicevic told Dnevni Avaz daily. She said authorities will be forced to conduct reforms and cuts. Milicevic claims that pensioners, war veterans and users of disability benefits will be protected, but that “other categories will have to bear the consequences”.
Initiative to form “cross-border region of Sandzak” (Vijesti)
A Montenegrin daily is reporting that “initiators of a petition to set up a cross-border region of Sandzak” will address Serbian and Montenegrin governments. Sandzak was a historical region in the present-day territories of Serbia and Montenegro. In Serbia, the name “Sandzak” is used informally for the southwestern Raska District. The newspaper Vijesti writes that Zaim Celebic, who is among those who launched the petition, told Rozaje Free Press Online that “several thousand citizens” signed it. “Bearing in mind there was no active campaign preceding, there is exceptional interest in Sandzak for the project of a cross-border region of Sandzak modeled after European regions,” he said, and added it would “contribute to creating a favorable business environment through mixed industry zones and joint projects.” According to Celebic – this would “create conditions for direct applications toward EU funds.” He claims the idea of a “cross-border Sandzak region” is based on European standards, and adds: “The position of the EU is indisputable, which sets cross-border cooperation as a primary task for all members and candidates. Indisputable also is the support from Brussels, and at the same time the expectation of the European administration that, without its intervention, we will carry such projects on our shoulders. In the coming days we will make a formal offer to key addresses in Belgrade and Podgorica and emphasize that we are looking for help for the project.” The daily said that “the alleged cross-border region” would include Serbian and Montenegrin municipalities of Novi Pazar, Tutin, Nova Varos, Priboj, Sjenica, Rozaje, Prijepolje, Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje, Berane, and Plav.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
The Price of Sustained “No Deals” in Kosovo… what is at stake from EU’s reported lack of progress (NEOnline)
In Brussels, there is lack of business as usual. On Tuesday evening Federica Mogherini noted on the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Brussels that “progress in the negotiations has been made on all the issues that were discussed.” Statements by the negotiating parties contradict her assurances. The statement announced a mutual recognition on car insurance, which is not expected to make a big difference in Kosovska Mitrovica. The Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, said there was no deal on the status of Serbian municipalities (SZO) in the Kosovska Mitrovica region in the latest round of Belgrade-Pristina talks. He did note that “some progress” was observed, but did not specify what that entailed. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, is opposed to setting up of a community of Serb municipalities (ZSO) and instead proposed the setting up of “the community” as a Non-Governmental Organization. Belgrade envisions community based executive powers. If this is “some progress” one fails to see how the whole process is advancing as Mrs Mogherini is claiming. Most of the attention on the failure of the negotiations tends to focus on local autonomy and Northern Mitrovica. However, Belgrade’s economic leverage is significant, as the economic cost of “a no deal” is particularly burdensome for Pristina. When Mr. Vucic and Mr. Isa Mustafa specify that there is “no progress” on other pending issues, including energy and telecommunications, the cost is considerable. On communication, Belgrade’s veto prevents Kosovo from obtaining its own international telephone prefix. This has a price tag of € 65 million thus far, as it pays companies in Monaco and Slovenia for use of their country codes. Monaco Telecom (Vala) has been paid € 48 million for cellphone codes and €17 million is spent yearly on technical assistance, traffic costs, roaming, signalization, and top-up cards. Every time someone calls a Vala cellphone they use +377, the dialing code of Monaco; when using the IPKO network, they dial Slovenia’s +386 country code. For Kosovo to acquire its own country code, Serbia must consent to the International Telecommunications Union issuing a unique three digit country code for Kosovo. Telekom Srbije has limited coverage in Kosovo and only in Serbian-majority areas and enclaves.
On water and infrastructure, the biggest issue surrounds lake Gazivode. Water from this artificial lake is crucial for the production of 80% of the base electricity used Kosovo. The water is also economically vital for the supply of the city of Pristina, farming, and mining. The lake was developed in the 1970s with a loan secured by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The issue of the cost to develop it and the ownership of the plant is being contested. Kosovo wants full sovereignty, but Belgrade does not concede. Foreign investment in the region in any sector is unlikely to gain ground without access to a credible water supply.
After Kosovo Emerged From War, Foreign Extremists Radicalized Youth (Ari Shapiro)
Earlier this year, we visited England, France and Germany to explore the tensions within these countries over their Muslim minorities. Many governments in Western Europe are especially concerned about radicalization – disillusioned young men and women going to join the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Now, on the other side of Europe, the tiny new nation of Kosovo also has a problem with radicalization. NPR’s Ari Shapiro just returned from Kosovo, and he’s on the line now to talk about his reporting. Hey there, Ari.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Hi, Audie.
CORNISH: Now, unlike the countries I mentioned earlier, the majority of people in Kosovo identify as Muslims, right? But how big a role does religion actually play in public life there?
SHAPIRO: Well, before I left for Kosovo, I spoke with Akan Ismaili, who is Kosovo’s ambassador to the United States, and he describes this as a country that is Muslim in name, but far less so in practice. Here’s what he said.
AKAN ISMAILI: When the foreign journalists and foreign workers would come to Kosovo, you know, the media would start describing it as a kind of an Islam-light just by what they were seeing. By a couple of years later, they were describing it as an Islam-zero because you would not see it in a sense that it’s there.
SHAPIRO: And Audie, I can tell you from first-hand experience that this is true. I was in Kosovo last week during Ramadan, and the cafes in the capital Pristina were full during the day. People were eating and drinking. And I asked restaurant owners if business had dipped at all because of people fasting for Ramadan. They said nope, not at all.
CORNISH: So if the country’s so secular, how has radicalization come to be seen as a problem?
SHAPIRO: First, we don’t entirely know the scale of the problem. The numbers seem to be in the hundreds rather than the thousands. But that’s enough to raise a lot of concern in a country with a population under 2 million. Just now, you heard the ambassador talk about all the foreigners in the country. Well, what happened was when Kosovo emerged from war in the 1990s, a lot of international groups poured in to help rebuild. When I was in Pristina, I talked with a man named Ahmet Sadriu. He’s a leader in Kosovo’s Muslim community. And he told me that groups from Saudi Arabia came in to build schools and dormitories where people were essentially brainwashed. They were radicalized.
AHMET SADRIU: (Through interpreter) There were Islamic organizations which we didn’t really approve of what they did. And we asked them to, like, sort of, like, respect the rules around here. But they said we are just here, and we have no problems.
SHAPIRO: He told me these Saudi groups targeted young people in Kosovo with fundamentalist theology. For some context here, youth unemployment is above 50 percent in the country. People in Kosovo are not allowed to travel to other parts of Europe without a visa, so a lot of young people feel trapped. And that makes them easy targets for indoctrination, as you can hear in this video.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAPIRO: A young man from Kosovo who went to join ISIS speaks directly to the people of the Balkans in this video.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking Albanian).
SHAPIRO: “Black days are coming,” he says. “You will fear to walk in the streets.” I wanted to find this young man’s family, so we drove far outside of the capital city, high up into the mountains. It was so remote, so poor, it was hard to fathom that this is 21st century Europe.
We’ve just arrived in this tiny village of Bukovik, and every building looks half ruined and crumbled. The road is rutted. It’s made of dirt. There are a few chickens but no sign of people. The mosque is the only building that looks new.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Foreign language spoken).
SHAPIRO: Finally, we meet a 12-year-old girl. She knows the family of the ISIS fighter in the video, and she says, like so many others, they have abandoned this village. They’ve moved to the foot of the mountain to try to find jobs in the slightly larger town of Gjilan.
In Gjilan, too, mosque is the fanciest building in town. This place feels totally different from the capital, Pristina. Men here have long beards. The women wear headscarves. Eventually, we do find the father of the man in the ISIS YouTube video. In fact, we find a few families like his, people whose relatives have gone to Iraq and Syria. All of them refuse to speak with us. So I reached Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi. He’s the government’s man in charge of fighting radicalization, and he connects this problem to larger challenges that face any new country emerging from war.
PETRIT SELIMI: Transition’s very tough. To become from zero to hero, it’s not an easy process. A lot of people feel that a new country has born but they don’t have the new opportunities in life.
CORNISH: And Ari, this is a different picture from what we found in Western Europe. What does the government in Kosovo see as a solution?
SHAPIRO: When I asked officials that question, they told me they can’t do this on their own. They need Kosovo to become a member of some international organizations. Here’s Deputy Foreign Minister Petrit Selimi.
SELIMI: We’re not part of U.N. We’re not part of Interpol. We’re not part of UNESCO. We’re not part of FIFA World Cup in soccer.
SHAPIRO: Well, that might be a good thing at this point, but go one (laughter).
SELIMI: Yeah, well, you know, we’re not part of the Eurovision song contest, which, also, you may say is a good thing.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
SELIMI: But these are platforms of public cultures in which people become proud of their societies and their countries.
SHAPIRO: He argues that if this small new country becomes more of a part of the global community, then people from Kosovo won’t have as much reason to look for belonging elsewhere in a group like ISIS.
CORNISH: That’s NPR’s Ari Shapiro. He’s just returned from a reporting trip in the Balkans. Ari, thanks so much.
SHAPIRO: Good to talk to you, Audie.
Islamic State: IS targets vulnerable Bosnia for recruitment and attack (The Guardian, By Julian Borger)
Islamic State has expanded its efforts to recruit fighters in Bosnia and incite terrorist attacks there, taking advantage of the world’s highest youth unemployment rate and chronic political paralysis.
The initiative, though small in scale, is causing alarm in western capitals, where diplomats fear that the mix of economic malaise and ethnic tensions represents fertile terrain for extremism, and that Europe could come to regret the failure to confront Bosnia’s profound structural problems in the two decades since the war. Isis produced a new recruitment video this month, targeting the Balkans region and Bosnia and Herzegovina in particular. The 20-minute film, entitled Honour is in Jihad, features several Bosnian Isis fighters exhorting their fellow countrymen to join the battle in Syria or carry out opportunistic attacks on perceived enemies of Islam at home. “If you can, put explosives under the cars, in their houses, all over them. If you can, take poison and put it in their drink or food. Make them die, make them die of poisoning, kill them wherever you are. In Bosnia, in Serbia, in Sandzak (region in south-west Serbia). You can do it,” one of the Bosnians, identified by a pseudonym, Salahuddin al-Bosni, implores the audience in Bosnian. Returning foreign fighters pose a direct threat not only to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the region. A newly published report on jihadism found: “Returning foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq – battle-hardened, skilled in handling arms and explosives, and ideologically radicalized – pose a direct threat not only to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of the region and beyond.”
The report, The Lure of the Syrian War: The Foreign Fighters’ Bosnian Contingent found that in 2013 and 2014, 156 Bosnian men and 36 women travelled to Syria, taking with them 25 children. Out of that number, 48 men and three women had returned by January of this year. The authors, Sarajevo University associate political science professor Vlado Azinovic and Islamic theologian and columnist Muhamed Jusic, found that Bosnia was ill-equipped to deal with the potential threat. It is a weak state, split by a 1995 peace agreement into two entities, a federation of Muslims (known as Bosniaks) and Croats, and a Serb republic. Furthermore the federation is divided into 10 cantons. Twenty-two police agencies operate in the country with overlapping jurisdictions and roles. “Generally, there is a lack of coordination between local law-enforcement agencies on [foreign fighter-] related issues,” the report says, noting there is no single database on foreign fighters, and the existing data is “mostly scattered, often incomplete or disorganized”. “This results in significant gaps in understanding and monitoring of the phenomenon,” it notes, adding that government “lacks a discernible strategy” to confront the looming problem. “We are not doing anything. We are just observing,” Azinovic said. Kristina Jozic, a spokeswoman for the Bosnian state investigation and protection agency (Sipa), responsible for internal security, said it would analyze the Isis video with a view to identifying Bosnians involved in criminal offences. The return of individuals participating in the armed conflict in Syria, fighting with Isis, is undoubtedly a security challenge and a threat, the extent of which is hard to determine at this time,” Jozic said. “Sipa constantly checks allegations of terrorist activities, whether it be on trips to foreign battlefields, financing, recruitment or other terror-related activities … and will take the necessary action.” According to diplomatic sources, the Sarajevo government is preparing a new counter-terrorism strategy, with greater emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation of returned fighters, and presented a draft to General John Allen, the US special envoy for countering Isis, when he visited Sarajevo on 8 June.
Salafist communities operating outside the official mosques have sprung up in three districts, Gornja Maoca, Osve and Dubnica, and “pop-up” radical mosques, often funded from the Gulf, have appeared in Sarajevo, Zenica and Tuzla. After three years of observing Bosnian jihadist, the authors place them in two broad categories: veterans who fought alongside mujahedeen volunteers from the Arab world in the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict, and young Bosnian men “driven mostly by adrenaline and a quest for self-validation, self-respect, group belonging, and purpose”. Almost a third of the Bosnian Isis recruits had criminal records. Chronic deadlock between the rival entities has contributed to economic stagnation and a 63% unemployment rate among young Bosnians, the highest official rate in the world. Bosnian society, which the report says “is gradually losing the ability to manage itself”, is becoming a factor in the flow of Isis recruits. Like most Isis videos, Honour is in Jihad supplies slickly edited, emotive images married to a seductive narrative. It paints an idyllic picture of insurgent life in Syria, with Bosnian, Kosovan and Albanian fighters walking off to battle like a smiling band of brothers while enjoying time with their families on their days off, complete with complimentary cars. Isis has produced a stream of similar videos aimed at recruits from France, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and several other countries, each one tailored to local culture and history. With the use of computer graphics, the film portrays the sweep of Balkan history as a prolonged expropriation of inherently “Muslim lands”, first by “crusaders”, then atheistic communists, and finally nationalists. The current Bosniak political leadership are painted as collaborators with the enemies of Islam “preparing you like sheep for the next genocide”.
With a dramatic skewing of history, the film credits the mujahedeen brigade with “repelling the Serbs” in the Bosnian war, although in reality it had a limited impact on a small section of the frontline. Meanwhile it depicts the large-scale US-led air campaign against the Bosnian Serb military as incidental and somehow designed to prevent the rise of the Muslim faithful.
“The massacres will be repeated if Muslims don’t return to your religion,” an elderly jihadi, Abu Safiyah al-Bosni, declares in the film. He is believed to be a Muslim from Sandzak rcalled Abid Podbicanin, and was reported killed in Syria in March. Salahuddin al-Bosni, who issued the calls for murder earlier in the video and is thought to be a Bosnian called Ines Midzic, apparently died in battle at about the same time. The Bosnian authorities believe another two participants in the film are also dead; another is seriously wounded. Western government officials believe that the roughly 50 jihadis who have come back to Bosnia so far represent a manageable load for the Bosnian intelligence and security agencies, despite their many divisions and flaws. But they also worry that the scale of the problem could escalate dramatically given the parlous conditions of Bosnia’s economy and society. In the only potential terrorist incident to cause casualties in Bosnia this year, a 24-year-old Bosniak man from the area around the Serb-run town of Zvornik, drove to its police station on April 27 and opened fire, killing one officer and injuring two others before being shot dead himself. The gunman, Nerdin Ibric, was found to have been a friend of a local man who had returned from Syria, but the extent to which he had come under jihadi influence is unclear. Official reports said Ibric shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he launched his attack, but other accounts said he hurled curses at his targets. It also turned out that Ibrić’s father was among 750 Muslim men rounded up by Serb police and paramilitaries in June 1992, at the start of the war, and killed.
The nationalist Serb authorities reacted as if the shooting had been a major offensive. “This is the worst terrorist attack that could happen in the Serb Republic,” Dragan Lukac, the region’s interior minister, told local television, adding that it “could be the start of much worse events in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The Serb leadership used the shooting as a pretext for arresting large numbers of Bosniaks on their territory, and claimed it justified the creation of a new Serb special police squad. Western diplomats argued it was a reason for better coordination among the existing 22 police forces rather than for creating a new one.
Far-right surges in Croatia as EU disappointment spreads (AP, By Dusan Stojanovic and Darko Bandic)
This Friday, June 12, 2015, a big Nazi Swastika symbol is implanted on a grass pitch at a European soccer championship qualification game between Croatia and Italy, in Split, Croatia. Fans were excluded from the stadium Poljud as a result of racist chanting in their meeting with Norway and further questions will be put to the Croatian Football Federation as a swastika had somehow been visibly carved into the playing surface prior to kick-off.
ZAGREB, Croatia — It was one of the biggest nights in Croatia’s sporting calendar: a European Championship soccer qualifying match with Italy. Seconds after kick-off in a game beamed around the world, a gigantic swastika materialized on the pitch under the shocked gaze of European soccer officials. The swastika, sprayed by an unknown vandal with a chemical that became visible only when floodlights went on to start the game, has become the most potent symbol of a rise in ultra-nationalist sentiment that appears to be bleeding into the mainstream population in the European Union’s newest member state. But it’s not the only one. In the mixed ethnic towns of eastern Croatia, road signs in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet have been destroyed and Serbian Orthodox churches have been vandalized with a “U” symbol representing the Nazi-linked World War II Ustasha regime. On weekends, Ustasha chants echo at sports venues and rock concerts. The appearance of such symbols is perhaps unsurprising for a country that during World War II which sent tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies to death camps. But the Balkan state’s current leaders have called for change after the global outcry prompted by the swastika on the field.
“This act has inflicted immeasurable damage on the reputation of Croatian citizens and their homeland all over the world,” said Croatia’s new conservative president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. “Therefore, we must finally put a stop to such things.” The rise of the right in Croatia has been fueled by deep economic hardship and growing public anger over the inability of the left-leaning government to deal with it, even after the country entered the EU two years ago, fueling dreams of sudden riches that have not materialized. Minorities, especially Serbs, have complained of fears for their safety since Grabar-Kitarovic was elected president in December. The Anti-Serb graffiti has evoked memories of the bloodshed that engulfed the region during the 1990s Balkans wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia. At an event last month in southern Austria, Croatian ultranationalist Ivica Safaric proudly brandished the “U” Ustasha symbol on a medallion around his neck. His companions in black shirts raised their right arms high in a Nazi salute, shouting out a dreaded battle call “For the homeland — Ready!” used by wartime Croatian fascist troops. “I respect the Ustasha movement because it created the independent state of Croatia,” said Safaric, who fought for Croatia’s independence in the 1990s. The gathering in Bleiburg was a memorial to tens of thousands of pro-Nazi soldiers, their families, children and civilians killed by communist guerrillas at the end of the war in 1945. Commemorations for the Bleiburg massacre victims are held every year in May, but last month’s gathering was by far the largest ever, with an estimated 40,000 people participating. It happened as much of Europe marked the 70th anniversary of liberation from the Nazis, and the pro-Nazi imagery at Bleiburg was met by muted response from Croatia’s politicians. Grabar-Kitarovic endorsed the Bleiburg commemorations and honored the victims just days ahead of the main event, but did not go there when the crowds gathered. She also paid an informal visit to the site of an Ustasha-run death camp in Jasenovac, but did not attend official commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the camp’s liberation. In an illustration of the ideological divide in the country, Croatia’s embattled leftist Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic did participate in the official ceremonies at Jasenovac, where at least 80,000 people, mostly Serbs, were killed. He urged Croats to acknowledge what happened in the death camp as part of the Nazi genocidal machine. Analysts say the right-wing advance in Croatia — traditionally deeply split between left-wing and a conservative tradition — has surged to its highest point since the country gained independence from the former Serb-led Yugoslavia in the 1991-95 war. “Sadly, the extreme right is more visible than ever in the past 25 years in Croatia,” said historian Hrvoje Klasic. Minority Serbs, who fought against Croatia’s independence during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s, have been under increasing pressure by the nationalists. Croatian war veterans campaigning under the slogan “100 percent Croatia” implying an ethnically pure state — have demanded that Serbs stop using the Cyrillic alphabet in Croatia, although their right to do so is guaranteed by the country’s laws. Alarmed by the surge, thousands of gay activists and their liberal supporters marched in Croatia’s capital Zagreb last weekend under the slogan: “Louder and More Courageous: Antifascism Without Compromise.” “We chose the slogan because we don’t like where Croatia is heading,” said Marko Jurcic, one of the march organizers. “We don’t want a 100 percent pure Croatia, we want a diverse Croatia.” Most Croatian officials are downplaying the far-right surge, saying it is part of pre-election campaigning. “Croatian society is not better or worse than in the other EU countries,” said Parliament speaker Josip Leko. “We are in an election year and some themes are being opened by those who want to attract sympathizers.”
