LOCAL PRESS

 

They criticize Vucic, while the state suffers (Politika, By Mirjana Cekerevac, 19 Aug 2014)
Why is it that the opposition, in their passion for battle against the government, forget the interests of the state and attack the Prime Minister, when there is no need, like for his attitude towards the Ukrainian crisis.
The Government and the state are not the same, everyone on the Serbian political scene agrees, but when the partisan struggles grow, the difference is easily forgotten, and party interest overcomes the state interest. This "forgetfulness" has been manifested over the years, and it is also topical today, when the opposition in the heat of battle against the authority of Aleksandar Vucic, forgets about the national interest, and attack Vucic when there is no space for it, such as for his attitude toward the Ukrainian crisis.
The Prime Minister has already for months been saying that the country is in a difficult situation because of the Ukrainian crisis and has persistently been repeating that Serbia is fully committed to membership in the European Union, there is no turning back from the European path, but he cannot impose sanctions on Russia, because it is against the national interest. Recently he admitted that there are indirect pressures from the EU and reiterated the aforementioned "mantra". Even the economists who do not belong to the fans of the character and work of Aleksandar Vucic are warning that Serbia should not impose sanctions against Russia. They argue that it is not easy to maintain neutrality, the pressure will increase and be stronger, but that Serbia must, in whatever way possible, maintain the current position, because anything else would mean economic suicide.
When everyone agrees that the country is in a terribly difficult situation, it would be logical that all those, whose words mean something, help as much as they can to protect the national interest. In Serbia, however, the logic is quite the opposite, and Zoran Zivkovic, leader of the New Party, said he would, with without any doubt, impose sanctions on Russia. Vladimir Todoric, international secretary of the Democratic Party, believes that reference to economic reasons for not introducing sanctions on Russia is dangerous and asks why the EU and the US tolerate Vucic’s opposition to joining in on the sanctions. What would his DS do if it were in the SNS’ shoes, he does not answer concretely. For Constantine Samofalov, from NDS, this is too complex a question. All the above mentioned would sharply criticize incompetent government even if citizens would be freezing this winter, which, as Vucic said, could be the result if Serbia imposes sanctions against Russia. Not to mention what would happen, if Russia would, as a countermeasure, ask us to pay everything we owe it immediately. To whom are we going to sell our agricultural products? Let the government think about it.
The fact that the political struggle does not take into account the national interest is evidenced by recently distorted interpretation of the Prime Minister's statements in Serbian Parliament that everyone has to pay for electricity. No discrimination and no blackmail was in Vucic’s reply to MP Saipem Kamberi (PDD), but our opposition, a day later, during a debate in Parliament, accused the Prime Minister that he has placed conditions upon a national minority, threatening them that they will not get books in their native language, if they do not pay for electricity." When they heard this, Kamberi and MPs from the Parliamentary minority group (PDD-SDA), formulated a protest letter to Parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic, criticizing her because she did not respond to the Prime Minister's "outburst of hatred and hostility" and his "discriminatory attitudes". What else could be construed from this, if there were no facts and the media to convey them, is not difficult to imagine, given the experience of our country.
If we look back a bit, we will recall how the Progressives, two years ago, as the opposition, promised that, as soon as they come to power, they will revise and cancel all agreements with Pristina. Borislav Stefanovic (DS), claimed that he only initialed agreements and that they are all in the interest of the state and the Serbs in the province of Kosovo-Metohija. The then President Boris Tadic claimed the same, accusing the opposition that it is only declaratory for the EU, because it violates Serbia's European path. Progressives, as part of the government, did not cancel "Borko’s agreements", on the contrary, they have signed the Brussels Agreement. Democrats supported it, although they claimed that, in signing up to the terms of the Brussels Agreement, the Progressive-led government practically recognized Kosovo. DS, which, according to its officials, will never recognize the province of Kosovo as a so-called state, explained its support to the Brussels Agreement with "the interest of our European path." Whoever understands the Kosovo issue, understood that the DS followed the lead of SNS.
Examples of classified government contracts are another story about the party and state interests. We can easily remember how officials from the Democratic Party have, not only refused to disclose the contract with "Fiat", but also blamed anyone who insisted on a full or partial disclosure, saying he/she threatens national interests and forces investors out of Serbia. Contracts with the UAE, which Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has agreed were everyday topics of Democrats and the opposition. Everyday that it was required to publish them, nobody believed Vucic’s word that they are good for the country. Vucic has finally announced agreements with the UAE, although, as he said, he is not sure if it is good for future investment. The opposition is still not satisfied, and "Fiat", oh, do not ask about it. By the way, we will never be able to even see the contract with "Fiat", the other party does not allow it, but it would be a good thing to see that as well.
The opposition’s job is to criticize the government, to monitor everything it does, point out any attempt of illegal acts, to seek answers from their representatives and responsibility for their acts or omissions. But one must always distinguish between the government and the state. When the national interest is above party interest, it is easier to defend it.

Ljajic: Sanctions of the West on Russia opportunity for greater Serbian exports (RTS, 19 August 2014)
Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal and External Trade Rasim Ljajic believes that the sanctions the United States and the EU have imposed against Russia due to the crisis in Ukraine represent a chance for Serbia to increase exports to Russia.
BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal and External Trade Rasim Ljajic believes that the sanctions the US and the EU have imposed against Russia due to the crisis in Ukraine offer a chance for Serbia to increase exports from the current 172 million to about 300 million by the end of the year.

Ljajic, a guest last night on RTS, also said it would be better to calm political tensions between the East and West and for the mutual war of sanctions to be resolved in a peaceful manner.
In 1911, Serbia exported about 40,000 tons of plumbs, and last year only about 10,000 tons, although it the world's second largest producer of plums, he recalled, explaining that our present problem is the quantity and quality of food we have to ensure so that we could became significant exporters in the world.

On the question of whether consumers in Serbia will face harm, since, in addition to “Deleze”, Croatian” Agrokor” will start operating in Serbian markets, Ljajic said he does not expect cartelization of the two trade suppliers and raising of food prices, adding that bigger competition may have an impact on food manufacturers to bring prices down.
When it comes to the arrival of Ikea to Serbia, the Minister said that the company has already bought three sites for the construction of its distribution centers and is now in the phase of obtaining a license, but could not specify when it will start working in our country.
Commenting on the state of tourism in Serbia, he said that this year there was a drop in overnight stays of domestic tourists due to flooding, but the income from tourism so far is greater by 13 percent than in the same period last year, and a higher number of foreign tourists was also recorded.
Ljajic expected the revenue from tourism by the end of the year to be about 1.3 billion dollars.
Chepurin: Serbia must be ready to seize export opportunity (Tanjug, 18 August 2014)
The possibilities for Serbian-Russian economic cooperation are great at this moment and Serbia must be ready to seize that opportunity, Russian Ambassador Alexander Chepurin said in Uzice.
In the wake of the embargo on European goods, Serbian agriculture has a great opportunity on the Russian market, which offers great possibilities, he said.
Tourism is a great potential, too, as is the construction industry - in Russia, Serbs are known as good construction workers and are already present in the Sochi and Moscow areas, and they will soon be in the Kremlin as well, Chepurin said late Monday after a meeting with Uzice city officials.
The Russian ambassador, who was in Uzice to attend the opening ceremony of an international children's folklore festival, spoke to Uzice Mayor Tihomir Petkovic and city officials about possibilities for investments in agriculture, the Ponikve airport and boosting the economic ties between the Russian Federation and the Zlatibor District.

Kosovo Albanian who committed gruesome crimes "is dead" (Tanjug, 19 August 2014)
Kurdish television KNNC has reported that Kosovo Albanian Islamic extremist Lavdrim Muhaxheri, who joined the Islamic State fighters, has been killed
His body was shown during the broadcast.
According to the Kurdish outlet, Muhaxheri died of wounds sustained in clashes with Kurdish defense forces, Albanian language media in Pristina have said.
The 24-year-old from the town of Kacanik in Kosovo first "joined the Jihad" in Syria and committed brutal crimes there. In late July he posted photos on Facebook showing him holding a Syrian teenager, preparing to decapitate him with a knife, and then holding the severed head in his hands, posing in front of the camera.
In an interview published by the Tirana daily Dita on August 2, he stated that he "did nothing more than what Kosovo Albanian members of the paramilitary KLA did during the 1998-1999 war (in Kosovo)."
The media in Pristina at the time reported that the extremist justified the execution of the 19-year-old Syrian by saying that "such a penalty is prescribed in the Koran," and that the victim was "a spy."
Previously, Muhaxheri, described as the best-known Kosovo Albanian member of the Islamic State organization, was in the media in June when he published a photograph of himself "burning the Kosovo passport."
According to the media in Kosovo, Muhaxheri called himself the leader of Albanian fighters who joined the extremist group. Before joining Islamic extremists in the Middle East, he worked for American KFOR forces in Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, and for NATO in Afghanistan.
During the Ramadan of 2013 he participated in the activities of the Islamic Community of Kosovo, which is "confirmed by several photos," said the reports.
Last year he was allegedly elected commander of the Kosovo Albanians belonging to "a breakaway wing of rebels against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad - but not the one that seeks democracy in Syria, but the one that sees Syria as a country to be ruled by the Sharia law and groups close to Al-Qaeda."
However, another Kosovo Albanian who returned to Kosovo from the war in Syria told the Albanian language daily Express that Muhaxheri was not a commander, but "only provided guarantees for Kosovo Albanians who joined the jihadists."
The local media in Pristina also said on August 15 that an international arrest warrant would be issued against him, and that Interpol "accepted the demand of Kosovo authorities to be involved in the search system."
The Basic Court in the town of Urosevac in Kosovo has charged Muhaxheri on suspicion of that he committed terrorist activities and organized a group to wage war in Syria and Iraq.
According to the Pristina media, in the last few years, more than 200 Kosovo Albanians "went to Jihad," to fight on the side of radical Islamic groups.

Heraldist: Dzudzevic’s claim regarding the surname not relevant (Vecernje Novosti, 17 August 2014)
Ottoman citizens of the Muslim religion did not have surnames and the surnames with suffix –ic were not imposed on Muslims by any government, but are in the nature of Slavic languages
Heraldist Nemanja Todorovic Štiplija from Masaryk University in the Czech Republic states that the claim of Serbian Bosniak politician Esad Dzudzevic, on the origin of surnames, is not relevant, as Ottoman citizens of the Muslim religion did not, in general, have a last name.
In a written review of the change of surname of the President of the Bosniak National Council, Esad Dzudzevic to simply Dzudzo, Todorovic Štiplija states in an email delivered to the media, that family names with suffixes "vic" and "ic" represent belonging to, primarily, a family in the Slavic languages.
"Last names with suffixes -vic and -ic, together with suffixes -ov, -ev, -ovic, -ski, even -in, -ak, -ek, -ik have occured much earlier. The claim made by Mr. Dzudzevic that these suffixes were imposed by any government is not valid, they are more in the nature of Slavic languages, and they themselves have not been imposed as such" states the heraldist.
On the other hand, since suffixes of this type represent belonging to, primarily, a family in the Slavic languages, - i.e. to a father, they can be seen among Bosniaks much earlier, Todorovic said.
He states that heraldry as an auxiliary historical discipline, is closely related to genealogy (Greek word for race, tribe, heritage - logos word, speech). It is a discipline covering the origins, relationships, and roots of names and surnames, a science that studies the origins of the family.
Dzudzevic previously announced that he has officially changed his name to Dzudzo and with the rejection of the additional "vic" in the surname he calims to have corrected an injustice done to his ancestors.
Todorovic believes that Dzudzevic’s assertion that suffixes "vic" and "ic" were imposed since 1912 are incorrect.
"Firstly there was nothing to be imposed upon, as the Ottoman citizens of Muslim religion did not have surnames. Muslims in the Ottoman Empire were themselves adding titles to their names, such as pasha, Hodza, beg, hanuma, Effendi, and the like - these titles defined their formal or informal status within the Ottoman society, their profession, or something else. It was similar with religious and military titles, but real surnames Ottoman citizens did not have " Todorovic points out.
He recalls that the Turkish nationals after Ataturk’s reforms, which began 1921-24, according the law on surnames of the Turkish Republic, which was adopted very late in 1934, had to use a surname.
"Until then, only Christian and Jewish inhabitants of the newly-founded Republic of Turkey had surnames, whereas Muslims have not had them at all," Todorovic Stiplija said.
REGIONAL PRESS

 

Some Bosnian towns have more voters than residents (Nezavisne Novine, 18 August 2014)

Bosnia-Herzegovina (B&H) will go to the general election on October 12 "with a paradox" - because some towns, apparently, have more voters than residents.

In several other towns, "almost all residents will have the right to vote," according to calculations cited by media reports.

According to the Central Election Commission (CIK) of B&H, in the municipality of Kozarska Dubica 23,696 citizens were eligible to vote in the last election, while preliminary data from the population census conducted in 2013 showes that the municipality has 23,074 inhabitants.

Similarly, in Krupa-on-Una, where, according to the CIK, there are 1,799 eligible voters, the census showed the total population to be only 1,687.

Experts and civil group representatives agree that "something is wrong" with the census or the voter list - but they differ in their opinion on which set of data is accurate.

The Serb Republic (RS) Bureau of Statistics, which participated in the implementation of the last census, claim that only they have the right to carry out official surveys that provide data on the actual number of people, and that the census results are the only data that "can absolutely be trusted," the daily Nezavisne Novine writes.

But Bosniak Vehid Šehic, from a coalition dubbed, "Under the Magnifying Glass," which brings together seven NGOs, says that "it is clear that in this case the census failed," and claims that the data it provided is incorrect.

According to him, only the central voter list is valid for elections, while "a discrepancy in the figures cannot affect the regularity of electoral process."

Šehic further pointed out that "one of the most important things that should be done concerning the general election is preventing electoral engineering - people registering in a municipality during elections, and afterwards returning to their actual place of residence."

The newspaper noted that RS Interior Minister Radislav Jovicic recently said "all legal options would be used in order to perform checks and prevent fictitious registration."

When the Constitutional Court of Bosnia declared invalid a decision regulating residence brought by RS authorities, the minister said that "once again, ahead of elections, there are attempts to introduce electoral engineering," and that the Ministry of Interior (MUP) of the Serb entity "has the right to carry out checks in this segment."

Maksida Piric, a spokesperson for the Central Election Commission, said "passive registration of voters" has been ongoing since 2006, and that all those turning 18 and issued with an ID card in Bosnia are enrolled in the central voter register. According to her, it will be known by the end of August how many citizens are eligible to vote.

Wahhabis in Bosnia pose a constant international threat (Vecernje Novosti, by S. Misljenovic, 18 August 2014)

There are some 5,000 members of Al Qaeda in B&H

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) does not have a clear strategy for solving the problem of Bosniak Wahhabis and if it continues to grow for a year or two, Sarajevo will have an even greater problem with them. This is especially true in the Entity Federation (FB&H) which became the main training and staging ground of the Wahhabis in Europe. In favor of all this goes more and more often news from Syria where Wahhabis who were born and trained in B&H are getting killed, as well as the information that they continue to go to Syria to fight.

According to the news coming from various international intelligence circles, over 5,000 radical Islamists from the FB&H are members of Al Qaeda, according to "News" Dzevad Galijasevic, expert in the fight against terrorism says for “Novosti”.

- Latest news say that about 400 citizens of B&H went to Syria alone. It is proof that the Bosniak Wahhabis from B&H pose an international threat. B&H is increasingly targeted by the international community because of the Wahhabis, but the political representatives of the Bosniaks skillfully avoid a showdown with the Bosniak Wahhabis, and so, put B&H on the blacklist of dangerous international terrorist countries - highlights Galijasevic.

He further adds that the B&H Prosecutor's Office can be characterized as one of the main culprits for the flare-up of radical Islam in B&H and the rise of the Bosniak Wahhabi movement.

- The Prosecution of B&H has no clear position on terrorism for years. We in BiH had Mevlid Jasarevic (who fired from an automatic rifle at the US Embassy in Sarajevo) and blowing up of the police station in Bugojno by the Wahhabis, but essentially, nothing has changed nor has the attitude towards terrorism sharpened. This institution must conduct investigations and raise specific charges, and the end result should be a prison sentence for terrorists - Galijasevic said.

As an example that B&H has a big problem with the attitude towards the Bosniak Wahhabis and the people threatening the security of B&H, Galijasevic cites an example that in the immigration center in East Sarajevo, out of 20-person, of how many lives there, 11 represent a constant source of threat and none will be supervising them once they are released from the center.

IMMIGRATION CENTER

- A Syrian national, Abu Hamza, is in the Immigration Centre for the sixth year, and Zejad Khalaf al Hamadi Gertanija has been recently released. Gertani has been in the immigration center from 2009, and the release was ordered by the Constitutional Court of B&H after granting an appeal of this Iraqi, who had earlier lost the war citizenship of BiH. Immigration has already released security officer of the "El Mujahid" Ejmin Avad who lives in Zenica. These are the evidence of a bad attitude towards dangerous people - Galijasevic said.
 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Russia’s Agriculture Minister to Meet With Serbian Counterpart This Week (RIA Novosti, By Sergei Guneev, 18 August 2014)
Russia’s Agriculture Minister Nikolai Fyodorov will meet this week with his Serbian counterpart Snezana Bogosavljevic-Boskovic, the press service of the ministry told RIA Novosti.
The ministry has not yet specified the agenda of the meeting, though the parties may discuss non-admission of banned European goods’ re-export to Russia, as well as the possibility of increasing the supply of agricultural products from Serbia.
On August 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on economic measures to protect the country’s security. The decree went into effect on August 7 and banned for one year imports of agricultural and food products from the countries that had imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. The list includes meat, poultry and milk products as well as fruits and vegetables from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway.
On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Moscow was actively cooperating with colleagues in Belarus and Kazakhstan, as well as in Serbia and Switzerland to prevent the re-export of banned products.
Earlier, Belarusian Agriculture Minister Leonid Zayats met with the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) Sergei Dankvert and promised not to allow any re-export of banned products from the territory of Belarus.
A meeting with representatives of the Swiss government has not yet been scheduled, Russian Agriculture Ministry said.

Russia Food Ban Not Bad for All (Wall Street Daily,18 August 2014)
While the EU’s sanctions may be biting into Russia’s food trade market, hurting some EU firms in the process… one country has found a silver lining in the midst of it all.
Serbia is hoping to capitalize on Russia’s ban on importing food from the West, and if things turn out well, agriculture experts argue that the rewards should be great.
Milan Prostran, Serbian agriculture expert, says, “We have a chance that does not come along very often. Neighboring countries also implementing sanctions against Russia will see their exports suffer, but taking advantage of this chance, means heavy investment, better organization, and support from the state.”
Since Serbia and Russia have always had a strong relationship, the timing is perfect for making a profit.
Turning Grains Into Gains
Serbia isn’t throwing all of its eggs in one basket, either. It’s looking to the West, too, as it hopes to join the EU one day.
“The Russian situation won’t see benefits for Serbia in just a month or two, but for us, this is a chance to foster better competition from our companies in Russia, as well as Europe, and possibly open a path towards the European Union,” according to the Director of Serbia’s chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zeljko Sertic.
Making sure not to infringe on EU sanctions, Serbia has also vowed to keep a close eye on agricultural products sales from the EU to Russia.
“The chance to expand Russian exports could be a double-edged sword, as it might mean the closure of some economic channels with the EU,” adds Apple World Director, Dusan Milivojevic. “That would mean we couldn’t sell to them, and I think this situation is one that isn’t necessarily good news for all of us.”
The sanctions present an opportune moment almost too good for Serbian businesses to pass up. But they’ll have to walk the political and economic tightrope carefully if they want to take advantage.

Balkans once more divided by Erdoðan (Today’s Zaman, 18 August 2014)
The great interest in Turkey's first direct presidential election that is being seen internationally shows evidence of the country's regional strength and global importance, though few might expect considerable changes in the country's domestic and foreign policies.
It seems to me that even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan exaggerated by repeating five times the slogan “Yeni Türkiye” (A New Turkey) that he promised to Turks a night before the election if they vote for him -- unless he had in mind that it would be Erdoðan's Turkey.
It is not, however, my intention to talk to the Turkish media about that side of the election; they know it much better than I. I would only remark what I have already done in the Bosnian media -- that Prime Minister Erdoðan's final rallies reminded me of monolithic mass meetings from my Eastern European communist childhood.
In regard to reactions in the Balkans to his winning the presidential election, it is to be admitted that Erdoðan, willing or not, has once more contributed to internal divisions in regional countries with majority or considerable Muslim populations. I am not aware of reactions in other regions that have a common historical, religious and cultural link with Turkey, but I should first give a hint of the Balkan aspect of its Ottoman heritage that has two contradictory sides to its coin.
Islam is one of the major common denominators for relations between the modern Turkey and the three regions that make up, in Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoðlu's terms, its “strategic depth” -- the Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus, and the Balkans. That denominator became more and more vivid and influential after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in Turkey. Most Arabs are Muslims implicitly, “by birth,” and Islam didn't constitute an issue in their relations with Turkey until recently, when sectarian differences and tensions have appeared with the rise of political Islam, “Arab springs,” the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas in Palestine and so on. In the Caucasus and Central Asia, common ethnic and cultural ties with Turkey are stronger than religion, and Islam, more present in those people's lives in recent years, has become an additional impetus for their good relations with Turkey.
Unlike those two regions, in the Balkans the Ottoman heritage has two edges, both positive for Muslims and negative for non-Muslims. Most Orthodox Christians, as well as Catholics, consider Turks as the former occupiers of their lands and the cause of a good part of the local Slav peoples' conversion to Islam. The former factor was dominant in the 20th century's second half, during the secular communist system in all of the Balkans except Greece and the secular capitalist rule in Turkey. However, the latter also became influential from the Balkan wars in the 1990s and the rise of Islamism in Turkey in recent years.
I thought this short background necessary for the better understanding of reactions to Prime Minister Erdoðan's victory in the Balkans, and particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is divided by all means and seams.
Affiliation with Bosnia, Sarajevo and Prizren
Erdoðan, the new, directly elected president of Turkey, has in recent years included Bosnia, Sarajevo, Prizren and other places that belonged to the Ottoman Empire in the circle of his particular affiliation and Turkey's strategic interests. He, and especially Foreign Minister Davutoðlu, expressed extraordinary attraction toward Sarajevo and Bosnia in an emotional way that, in the wider region, has been interpreted as so-called neo-Ottomanism, and by Bosnian Serb leaders as interference in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Many Turks feel a similar affiliation with Sarajevo. I recall how my friends, including Dr. Ekmeleddin Ýhsanoðlu, the main opponent of Erdoðan in the presidential election, felt upon seeing the city for the first time. They had the impression that they had returned to the Ýstanbul of their childhood. However, when such things have been said by a prime minister and a foreign minister -- especially when they were from Turkey -- such expressions equaling Sarajevo, Skopje or Prizren with Turkish cities and other places of the Ottoman Empire have different weights and connotations.
The mildest reaction from Serbs was that Turkey had become partial toward Bosniaks and other Muslims in the region. They became more irritated and suspicious that there were some secret promises made by Turkey to Bosnian Muslims when the former Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric said that “Turkey is our mother,” and when the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic, told Erdoðan in Ankara in 2013, “You are also our president.”
To use the pronoun “our” is particularly suspicious in a multi-ethnic society like Bosnia. Mufti Ceric was speaking on behalf of pious Bosniaks and mostly on his own behalf. Izetbegovic, however, in his position should represent abroad Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serbs and Croats as well, and not say that the great majority of Bosniaks look to Erdoðan as “their” leader. President Abdullah Gül had to deny there was any Turkish “hidden agenda” regarding Bosnia. Last March, while Turkey's ruling AK Party was celebrating a successful local election victory, street celebrations were held in Sarajevo as well as in the Macedonian capital. It is no wonder that such an atmosphere further inflames nationalist extremism on all sides.
Thus, although the Turkish embassies in Belgrade and Sarajevo denied an alleged statement by Erdoðan that those who harm the Bosniaks will have 100 million Turks against them, the president of the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, immediately rushed to Belgrade to discuss with Serbian leaders the danger that all Serbs might face. Happily, Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic calmed his Bosnian brother. I suppose he told him that he hasn't heard any new Ottoman drums being beaten through the Balkans and that his country sees in Turkey a very important political and economic partner, as he has said a few times.
A similar scenario was repeated this August. During his victory speech after the March local elections, Prime Minister Erdoðan, speaking to the Balkan people directly on a huge screen, thanked everybody who was praying for his successful campaign, and the last AK Party pre-election rally in Konya was transmitted simultaneously to a rally of the mostly Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in Visoko, near the Bosnian capital. Izetbegovic, during the live video link at the campaign rally before the country's elections that will be held in October, again called Recep Tayyip Erdoðan “our leader.” He stressed enthusiastically that Erdoðan's victory (which happened the next day) will represent the victory of a billion Muslims in the world. This time, Dodik was calmer, calling Izetbegovic's expression of admiration for Erdoðan simply “a policy of servility.”
Gaining ‘pre-election momentum'
I agree with Vladimir Trapara, a researcher at the Institute of International Politics and Economics, who told Radio Belgrade that “the inflammatory statements of Turkish Prime Minister Erdoðan about the Bosniaks and the territory of the former Yugoslavia were primarily aimed at gaining some sort of pre-election momentum, so they should not cause much worry here.” It is also hoped that Izetbegovic's exaggerated statements were also used for the sake of his election campaign. However, his stressing of the Bosnian-Turkish Islamic connection was met with strong opposition by one of his opponents at the next elections. Emir Suljagic, the young presidential candidate who survived the calamity of the Srebrenica genocide, said, “Bakir's statement -- that Erdoðan carries the same flag that the first president of Bosnia, Alija Izetbegovic, carried at the time of the aggression towards Bosnia -- is, in the best case, shortsighted, and in the worst represents spitting on the three-year liberation struggle of all citizens of our country, regardless of their faith or ethnic affiliation.”
Such statements further divide not only Bosnia and Herzegovina along ethnic lines between Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, but among Bosniaks themselves as well. At the same time, some emotional statements made by Erdoðan in the last few years have created a special affiliation toward Turkey among Bosnian, Macedonian and Montenegrin Muslims and in the Serbian province of Sandzak that might be natural and positive, but they also ignite expectations that Turkey would, as a “reserve homeland,” solve all their problems and even come to defend them with arms in any future conflict. It was also a normal response to the Bosnian Serb and Croat nationalists who look to Serbia and Croatia as their natural “reserve homelands.” Serbia and Croatia do play such a role through various means. They both launched -- Serbia much more than Croatia, to be fair -- aggression against Bosnia, namely against Bosnian Muslims. However, Turkey's position is something else and very different. Such unrealistic expectations are not in the interest of the good-neighborly relations among Balkan countries inhabited by Muslims, or their relations with Turkey. Sacir Filandra, dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences at Sarajevo University, has said that Erdoðan's victory represents “a chance for Bosnia and Herzegovina in an economic sense, above all. … The presence of Turkey in Bosnia has been used so far more in a national dimension, and less in an economic one,” he said, adding, “However, one should have in mind that nobody, not even Turkey, can help Bosnia if we don't help ourselves.”
Bosnians do their best not to help themselves. Just to make this article's title more relative and not to say that Erdoðan is only dividing the Balkans, I shouldn't omit his very wise retort to Bakir Izetbegovic, when he replied to his in-advance congratulation on victory. “Turks love Bosnia and Herzegovina and their brother Bosniaks,” he said, adding, “And they pray for a united Bosnia and Herzegovina, the home of the Bosniak, Serb and Croat peoples.”

Bosnia’s Worst Enemy Is Their Own Government (VICE News, By Eric Fernandez, 19 August 2014)
Between 1992 and 1995, a bloody conflict engulfed Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH). About 100,000 thousand people were killed and tens of thousands were raped in the midst of merciless ethnic cleansing.
The war was brought to an end by the Dayton Accords, which, in an attempt to cool ethnic tensions, imposed a government that split power among Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks), Croats, and Serbs. That unwieldy system was meant to be a temporary fix; 20 years later, it still exists.
Today, BiH has an unemployment rate of 42 percent and a GDP that's among the lowest in Europe. And heading toward the October 2014 elections in the wake of nationwide protests and a natural disaster, Bosnians are expressing mounting frustration with the political state of their country.
"Everybody has failed terribly," a woman named Sumeja Tulic told us while we were in BiH filming our documentary After The Flood: War Remains in Bosnia. "People are fed up, each year. Every time we would have municipal elections, there's nobody favorable to vote for. This time, really, there's nobody favorable to vote for."
The Dayton Accords formed two separate government entities: the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which consists of Bosniaks and Croats, and the Republika Sprska, which consists predominantly of Serbs. Each has its own president and vice president, its own parliament, and a total of 145 municipalities. It's a political labyrinth that many citizens say they don't even understand — and that does a terrible job of running the country.
"The government system is extremely conducive to what you could call corruption, but really it's endemic to the system," said Robert Donia, a visiting professor at the University of Michigan and author of Sarajevo: A Biography. "There is a great deal of bureaucracy involved in starting a business, making it almost impossible. Pensions are so terribly low that they aren't able to support a single human being."
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In May of 2014, catastrophic floods pounded the country, destroying infrastructure, killing 60 people, and displacing hundreds of thousands more. Amid the devastation, remnants of the Bosnian War began to quite literally emerge; human remains from previously buried mass graves were unearthed as the water receded.
"It was immediately like salt on a wound — a wound that never fully healed," Salim Bradaric told us while we were in Jablanica. Bradaric found out through word of mouth that local investigators suspect his three brothers, who went missing during the war, may be identified in a mass grave that surfaced as a result of the flooding in Doboj.
Additionally, rain-induced landslides and subsequent floodwaters dislodged and relocated many of the 120,000 land mines that were left in the country at the end of the war.
"Currently as an expert team, not even we know where those mines can be or how far they travelled," said Nedzad Kukuruzovic, director of BiH's Mine Action Center. Kukuruzovic served as an Army officer during the war, often planting mines or instructing his soldiers to do so. Since end of the war, he has worked on the country's demining efforts.
Outraged Bosnians complained about the government's apparent inability to provide them with adequate relief services after the floods. But that provided a silver lining to the disaster — ethnic differences seemed to vanish.
"A lot changed," Bradaric told us. "Nobody was checking who was a Muslim, Croat, Serb. People just went to help."
The floods occurred weeks after anti-government protests, briefly dubbed the Balkan Spring, rocked the country and presaged the unity brought on by the disaster. Protests began in the northern town of Tuzla — sparked by the privatization of four factories — and morphed into a nationwide uprising demanding change in the clunky political structure. Government buildings were burned while riot police used tear gas to neutralize the protesters in the worst episode of civil unrest since the war.
"The principle difference between the 2014 protests and previous protests — like those that happened after the war — is that these were not ethnically colored," Sumeja Tulic, a Sarajevo activist who took part in the protests, told VICE News. "There was never the question of who is gathering and what ethnicity do they represent. The problems people experience in their daily life are very indiscriminate when it comes to ethnicity. Everybody is affected equally."
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And so no matter their ethnicity, many Bosnians are united in their dislike of the government. The question is, what can now be done?
"If you ask the Bosnians, they'll tell you the international community should step in and do something," Donia said. "If you ask the international community, they'll say it's up to the Bosnians."
While shooting the documentary, we spoke to Valentin Inzko, the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina who oversees much of the implementation of the Dayton Accords. He told us that Bosnians just need a functional governmental system in order to turn around their country's poor economic performance and thrive.
"Well, I think he's absolutely right," Donia said. "Although in some sense, it's his job to fix that."
 

 

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