LOCAL PRESS

 

Gratitude for votes in UNESCO (Novosti)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic organized last night a thanksgiving dinner for the ambassadors of the countries that didn’t support Kosovo’s UNESCO membership. He thanked the diplomats for the support to Serbia’s stands. The dinner was attended by some 20 ambassadors and charges d’affairs accredited in Serbia and Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic also attended the dinner. Nikolic had met earlier in the day with the outgoing Iraqi Ambassador to Serbia Falah Abdulhasan Abdulsad, who conveyed the stand of his country on non-recognizing the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and Metohija. Abdulsad pointed out that Serbia, with its treatment of migrants, many of whom arrived from Iraq, gave a lecture to other countries in regard to respect of human rights.

 

Pristina pushing airspace control issue through the back door (Novosti)

The authorities in Pristina are preparing a new trap. They will try to include the issue of airspace control above Kosovo and Metohija in the dialogue with Belgrade. Novosti has learned that this plan is in the background of the media speculations in the southern Serbian province, according to which Serbia had allegedly submitted an official request to the EU to assume control and monitoring of airspace services in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, once the deadline expires to Hungary. Serbia applied in 2013 for airspace control over Kosovo, as well as Albania, Macedonia, Italy and Austria, but the NATO council entrusted this job to the Hungarian company “Hungarocontrol”. This is a private company that performs the same job in Hungary. It has a five-year contract, with the possibility of extending it, and controls flights in the upper and middle layers. Pristina is in charge of the airport access, while KFOR monitors and approves flights of military aircraft. During the negotiations in 2013, NATO presented the possibility for Albania, Serbia and Macedonia to control jointly the airspace above Kosovo, whereby each state would receive one part of the Kosovo sky. Pristina rejected this proposal, because it didn’t want Serbia to control flights above the province. Otherwise, Kosovo and Metohija has remained within in the administrative limits of the Belgrade air traffic control region, the so-called FIR Belgrade.  There are only two large area air traffic control centers in the former Yugoslav region – Belgrade and Zagreb.

 

Why are Kosovo Serbs massively joining SNS? (Politika)

Mass membership of 2.500 residents of Ibarski Kolasin in the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is a matter of principle for the Zubin Potok Mayor Stevan Vulovic, a former Socialist of Serbia (SPS) member, and for Marko Jaksic from the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) it is a farce. Crossing over of the remains of Dinkic’s Regionalists, members of New Serbia (NS), SPS and Serbian Radical Party (SRS) to Aleksandar Vucic’s party is not unexpected for Rada Trajkovic from the NGO “The Kosovo Serb European Movement”. She says that, from Slobodan Milosevic, the practice has been for the Kosovo Serbs to join ruling parties in large numbers. Vulovic justifies his taking the SNS party card exclusively with Vucic’s battle for Kosovo and Metohija. Jaksic, who had the biggest stronghold precisely in Ibarski Kolasin before Vucic took power, says that mass membership in the SNS is a lie, which people do not believe in. “They are more likely to believe me when I say that 12.000 Kolasin residents joined the DSS than member of the SNS Presidency Marko Djuric when he announced the number of 2.500 young people. Let him say who are these young people, when everybody knows that villages in the Zubin Potok municipality are deserted or have only one or two elderly households,” says Jaksic. Some also dispute the data on the number of new members considering the number of Zubin Potok inhabitants. After 3.000 residents of Strpce joined the SNS in September, Zubin Potok became the second Kosovo municipality where public collective joining of the SNS was held. The Development Strategy of the Zubin Potok municipality estimates that there are around 15.000 inhabitants. Albanian sources, like the Kosovo Statistics Agency, presents the estimate of around 6.500 inhabitants. According to Goran Bogdanovic, member of the Social-Democratic Party (SDS) and former minister for Kosovo and Metohija, there are not even 2.500 voters, so it “turns out that all residents with the right to vote joined the SNS”. Jaksic also doubts the number of newly admitted members. “It is known that the electorate at the Kosovo elections had slightly over 4.000 adults. According to Djuric, it turns out there are as many Kolasinac residents as there are Chinese,” explains Jaksic. Bogdanovic says that there are also other parties in Zubin Potok that are strong, like the DSS. He says that the SNS is this way artificially creating an illusion that it has absolute support of the Kosovo Serbs. Still, the Serbs in Kosovo, he says, are dissatisfied how the Serbian government treats them, especially with the Brussels agreements. “Therefore, the SNS is seeking legitimacy for its policy towards Kosovo. According to the information I have, they will continue with these farces in Pomoravlje, perhaps around Gnjilane, Ranilug or Klokot,” says Bogdanovic. For Rada Trajkovic, the events in Zubin Potok and Strpce is compromising for the SNS and the Serb population in Kosovo and Metohija. This way, the public is depicted with the unity of the Serbs though the unity of party membership, and not through constructive discussions based on various opinions. “On the other hand, do we, the Kosovo Serbs, need to become a corrupt mass without visions and ideas, linked to the one who finances us? And to be transferred to the Kosovo system, prepared for assimilation,” wonders Trajkovic.

 

Elma trained for a suicide terrorist attack (Politika)

Serbian citizen Elma Gusinac (21) is characterized by a high degree of religious fanaticism and she is prepared for a suicide terrorist attack, it is assessed in the report of the Serbian Interior Ministry that was forwarded to security services in B&H, Politika has learned. Her husband was active in the fighting in Syria and Iraq on the side of the Islamic State and had been apprehended in the past. The Serbian security services had information that Elma Gusinac was supposed to visit her brother in Novi Pazar, and that she also planned to travel with her husband to the Near East. The Bosnian media published yesterday that the Serbian citizen will be deported from B&H. We didn’t manage to find out whether proceedings will be initiated against her in Serbia following the deportation. Elma adopted the beliefs of radical Islam after she married Enes M. and her departure for B&H. Apart from her husband, Tefik Mujovic, who is being tried for terrorism before the Belgrade Special Court, has had much influence on her. According to the information by security services, Mujovic is presently in a prison in Turkey. He is charged in absentia, together with five people charged with being linked to the Islamic State. They are attributed with recruiting and training for carrying out terrorist acts, as well as financing terrorism. Mujovic is accused of posting on Facebook contents that glorify the Islamic State, propagate its moves, calls for fight, violence, murders, and suicide operations in the Raska region, Belgrade and Rome. Among other things, Mujovic is charged with welcoming and accepting in Istanbul people travelling to Syria, financing and organizing their transfer from Turkey to terrorist training camps in northern Syria. Politika’s sources from security services note that she had allegedly smuggled with a group arms from Novi Pazar to southern or northern Mitrovica, which was then transferred to the south. Certain unofficial information of the Kosovo police and EULEX point that the weapons from Novi Pazar were delivered to the main bus station in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, or to the barricade that is within reach of the Eastern bridge in the northern part of the town. However, these suspicions have not been confirmed nor was she tried for this.

 

Miscevic: More chapters expected to be opened next year (Tanjug)

The Head of the Serbian negotiating team Tanja Miscevic underlined on Thursday that the first chapters to be opened in a few weeks are Chapters 32 and 35, and that next to follow are Chapters 23 and 24. Our goal next year is to have as many chapters as possible opened, she said at the presentation of the EC annual report on progress at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Miscevic noted that after the screening process, Serbia now expects the opening of the first chapters in the coming weeks. According to her, the annual report was not a surprise, which is very important. She says that recommendations are important since they point to the most important issues that need to be done as a priority in the following period. She points out that even Chapters 34 and 35 will have impact on the economy.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Decision of B&H Constitutional Court – non-recognition of RS’s legality (Srna)

The decision of the B&H Constitutional Court to declare the RS Day, January 9, unconstitutional, was made by the votes of foreign and Bosniak judges and it is an expression of non-recognition of the legality and legitimacy of RS and Dayton solutions for B&H, says legal expert Mile Dmicic. Dmicic told Srna that this decision is primarily political, and not legally-based. He said that the decision cannot be implemented since it negates the creation of RS and does not respect its highest general legal act, which on the basis of the highest international, regional and domestic acts established the highest standards of human rights and freedoms for all constituent peoples and citizens in the whole territory of the RS. “On the basis of the Declaration regarding the request for assessment of the constitutionality of the Law on Holidays, the RS parliament will have to take a stance on actions of RS representatives in B&H bodies, and then to undertake legal and political measures to protect RS and its citizens and provide for preservation of the constitutional order in line with the Dayton solutions,” Dmicic said. The B&H Constitutional Court confirmed that the RS Law on Holidays is not in line with the B&H Constitution and ordered the RS parliament to harmonize it with the Constitution six months after the decision is forwarded to it. The RS parliament has adopted a Declaration which says that Republic Day will not be abolished even in case the B&H Constitutional Court rules that this state holiday is unconstitutional.

 

Decision of B&H Constitutional Court does not contribute to improving relations (Srna)

The RS Minister of Justice Anton Kasipovic told Srna that neither the appeal of the B&H member of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic to the B&H Constitutional Court nor the decision which declared the RS Day unconstitutional, contribute to the improving of relations in B&H. “This is worrying and this speaks of returning the overall relations in B&H to the time every well-intentioned person would like that it is behind us,” Kasipovic said. He feels that remotely impartial and legally-based analyses could have led to a completely different decision of the Constitutional Court. “First of all, this is an obviously political decision, and I say this because I had access to preparations of a group of experts who know very well the RS Constitution and who presented arguments in the case of the appeal filed by Izetbegovic,” Kasipovic said.

 

Dodik: January 9 remains RS day (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik said that January 9 remains the RS Day and that this date cannot be abolished by any court in B&H, including the B&H Constitutional Court, or anyone in Sarajevo. Dodik told Srna that it is impossible to abolish the RS Day since there is only one date when the RS was formed, and this is January 9. The RS President said that the decision of the B&H Constitutional Court, which declared the RS Law on Holidays unconstitutional, is unacceptable. “This decision is unacceptable and is one of bad and unlawful decisions the B&H Constitutional Court made against the RS, decisions made by two Bosniak Muslims and three foreigners who undermined any autonomous and political will in the RS,” Dodik said. He said that the same happened this time as well, when the Constitutional Court, using a mechanism of outvoting, abolished the RS Day, which is impossible to do. “The B&H Constitutional Court is more a political than a legal body. It proved it by a number of decisions, such as the one on a coat of arms, the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office and many others, including the decision on the constitutionality of peoples. The B&H Constitutional Court is not a constitutional court, but a place where a political system is created and where political decisions are made, outside the Constitution and law,” said the RS President. Dodik said that some ten years ago, the Venice Commission ruled that the RS Constitution is in line with the highest European standards. “We now hear them speaking something completely different. The RS will have an answer to this issue, and I support the decision of the RS parliament and its conclusion,” Dodik said. He reiterated that January 9 remains the RS Day and that no court in B&H, including the Constitutional Court, or anyone in Sarajevo can abolish this date. “We will celebrate January 9 as the RS Day. We in RS finally must become aware of what is this about. The Constitutional Court acted at the request of Bakir Izetbegovic,” the RS President said. Dodik explained that this decision was made at the moment when some are trying to impose November 25 as a holiday of the whole of B&H. “The RS parliament was united and its response will be the same as when it made a decision on this initiative,” Dodik said. He said that the RS cannot trust the bodies such as the B&H Constitutional Court which is trying to impose its decisions contrary to the will of the RS. “There is not a country in the world where decisions of a constitutional court are declared inviolable and if you do not implement these decisions you are committing a crime. Something like that exists only here. They probably count on it, but I don’t know how they can sue the RS Parliament, which, I am certain, will reject the decision,” Dodik said. The B&H Constitutional Court confirmed that the RS Law on Holidays is not in line with the B&H Constitution and ordered the RS Parliament to harmonize it with the Constitution six months after the decision is forwarded to it. Upon the request of the Bosniak member of the B&H Presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, to assess the constitutionality of the RS Law on Holidays, the B&H Constitutional Court has ruled that Article 3b) of this Law is not in line with the B&H Constitution regarding the international convention on abolition of all forms of racial discrimination and the Protocol 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The RS parliament has adopted a Declaration which says that Republic Day will not be abolished even in case the B&H Constitutional Court rules that this state holiday is unconstitutional.

 

After the Action of SIPA Elma Djusinac banished from B&H for a period of 5 years (Klix.ba)

The Service for Foreigners’ Affairs imposed a measure of deportation and ban on entering the territory of B&H for a period of 5 years for Elma Djusinac (21) from Kosovska Mitrovica, who was arrested in Kalesija due to the suspected connections to terrorism. Department for Foreigners’ Affairs stated that the measures were taken because of violations of the Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens and Asylum. It was also stated that the Department took this person from State Investigation and Protection Agency of B&H (SIPA) two days ago. Djusinac was under the supervision of the Immigration Service Center.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo Opposition Urges All Albanians to Join Rally (BIRN, by Erjone Popova, Ivana Dervishi and Fatjona Mejdini, 27 November 2015)

The opposition in Kosovo is arranging free transport for supporters from Albania to join a major anti-government rally in Pristina against the agreements with Serbia and Montenegro

As Kosovo braces for a major rally on Saturday against controversial deals with Serbia and Montenegro, the opposition Vetevendosje [Self-Determination] party has held a meeting in Tirana to appeal to Albanians to join them. Three opposition parties in Kosovo, Vetevendosje, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and Nisma have announced the rally in Zahir Pajaziti Square in Pristina on November 28. The main topics of the protest are the government's EU-led agreements on the formation of an autonomous Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo and a border demarcation deal with Montenegro. November 28 is a highly symbolic date in the calendar of all Albanians in the Balkans. It marks the date in 1912 when Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire. “This is not a celebration of 103 years of independence... but a manifestation that should remind us of the reasons for the Declaration of Independence, which was to push forward statehood,” Elvis Hoxha, from Vetevendosje, said. Hoxha told BIRN that operations in Tirana to bring supporters from Albania to join the rally Kosovo were underway. Both he and Frasher Krasniqi, the spokesperson for Vetevendosje in Kosovo, confirmed that free transport was being made available in Kosovo and Albania for anyone who wanted to join the rally. Several sporting fan groups in Kosovo told BIRN that they will join the rally, including Plisat from Pristina and Shqiponjat from Gjakova [Djakovica]. Both clubs have a history of violence but Albert Kastrati, from Plisat, widely known in Kosovo for his nickname “Tiger”, pledged to remain peaceful. “We will be in the square on November 28, but if there is going to be violence we will just leave,” Krasniqi said. Other fan groups from Kosovo told BIRN that they will not participate, saying they prefer sports to politics. Fans of Albania’s national football team, the Tifozat Kuq e Zi (Red and Black Fans), known for their nationalism, have not yet decided on their participation. Kosovo police have arrested dozens of opposition activists following a series of violent protests in recent weeks. On Monday the police urged citizens to keep away from public gatherings after a Security Council Meeting in Kosovo cited “real risks associated with terrorism”. The three opposition parties have blocked the work of the Kosovo parliament since early October, demanding that the government scrap its recent agreement with Serbia, which the EU strongly supports, however.

 

US and NATO Praise Montenegro's Progress (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 27 November 2015)

US and NATO officials welcomed Montenegro’s security reforms ahead of a key meeting next week, when alliance foreign ministers will decide on whether to invite it to join the club. US Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he strongly supported Montenegro's membership of NATO, adding that the doors of the alliance were open. Attending the Brod-Brijuni summit in Zagreb, Croatia, Biden said that Balkan NATO members Croatia and Slovenia had both shown what was possible through reform and reconciliation. "Anchoring the Balkans in NATO and EU... from our perspective seems to be the best way to promote stability, security and prosperity," he said. "Accession pushes countries to make tough but necessary reforms," he added. In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also discussed Montenegro’s potential membership in talks with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Igor Luksic and Defence Minister, Milica Pejanovic-Djurisic on Wednesday. Stoltenberg also welcomed Montenegro's progress on reforms. Montenegro's government said NATO member states had praised its strong commitment and the political will it had shown in the process of NATO accession. "The meeting also commended Montenegro’s visible progress in increasing public support, which came as a result of intense campaigns," the government said. Montenegro on Wednesday completed the fifth cycle of the Membership Action Plan, MAP, the process regarded as a final step before joining the Alliance. The NATO Secretary General, who led the ambassadors of the North Atlantic Council on a visit to Montenegro in October, said that joining the Euro-Atlantic family would be a “win-win” for Montenegro and for NATO. “Countries which joined the Alliance have been able to strengthen their democracy, boost their security and make their citizens safer,” he said. While the government of Milo Djukanovic sees NATO membership as a strategic priority, opinions about NATO remain divided in the country of about 620,000 people.

Many in the large Serbian community are still angry about NATO’s bombing campaign against Serbia in the 1990s, which forced Serbia to withdraw from its then province of Kosovo.

A recent poll suggested Montenegrins remain almost equally divided between supporters and opponents of NATO integration.

 

From Brussels to Sarajevo: Why Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina Are Home to Islamic terrorists (Huffington Post, by By Matt Olchawa, 25 November 2015)

Before he blew himself up in his home outside of Sarajevo, Enes Omeragic killed two soldiers of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) army and opened fire on a bus near the Rajlovac military base. The Bosnian prosecutors and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) labeled this as an act of terrorism and ISIS-related materials were found in Omeragic's apartment. His neighbors said that he had become an adherent of the ultra conservative Salafi Muslim movement. This assault, which took place on November 19, 2015 is just one in a series of terrorist attacks carried out by Islamic radicals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In June 2010, Haris Causevic, who had ties to Wahhabi groups in BiH, placed an explosive at a police station in the city of Bugojno. The attack killed one officer and injured several others. Causevic was sentenced to 45 years in prison. A 15-year sentence was given to Mevludin Jasarevic, who fired his Kalashnikov rifle at the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo and wounded a Bosnian police officer during the 30-minute onslaught that took place in October 2011. Then, in April 2015, a gunman attacked a police station in Zvornik shouting "Allahu akbar" killing one police officer and wounding two others. He was shot dead by police officers. For years, Bosnia and Herzegovina was singled out as a failed state and a ticking time bomb for terrorist attacks. Now, following the November 13th attacks in Paris, Belgium is in the spotlight. The mastermind behind the Paris attacks was 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national. The Charlie Hebdo attacks also had a Belgian link as well as and the failed attack on a high-speed train travelling from Brussels to Paris in August 2015. It's not any neighborhood in Sarajevo that is making front-page news; instead, it is the notorious Molenbeek district of Brussels that played a staging ground for several terrorist attacks, including the 2014 barbaric attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels where four people were killed. The district's bad reputation is well deserved because it has served as a safe house where Islamic extremists could acquire access to weapons and plan their attacks without having to worry about neighbors calling the cops. No wonder that the orchestrators of the 2004 attacks in Madrid had also lived in Molenbeek. Today, experts are pointing out the failures of Belgium, which have made it an ideal breading ground for terrorists. But while the eyes of the world are on Belgium, we shouldn't lose sight of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is striking how Bosnia and Herzegovina, the multiethnic entity that was born from the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the Balkan wars, and the 1995 Dayton peace accords, resembles Belgium. In his assessment on the 20th anniversary of the peace agreement, Carl Bildt, co-chair of the Dayton Peace Conference and high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 1995 to June 1997, commented that, "The constitutional settlement for Bosnia, agreed in Dayton, ended up somewhere between Belgium, with its complicated structure of Flemish, Walloon, and even some German 'entities', and Cyprus..." Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of several autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (consisting of 10 federal units), Republika Srpska, and the Brčko District. Belgium has a federal government based in Brussels while the country is divided along 3 language communities (Flemish, French, and German-speaking) and 3 regions (Flemish and Walloon - both subdivided into five provinces - and the Brussels-Capital Region). Both countries have weak central governments and are beset by irreconcilable tensions between different ethnic and linguistic groups. Unemployment in BiH is at 43.9 percent (just 1.2% lower than the Gaza Strip) making it one of the highest in the world. The infamous Molenbeek municipality has unemployment around 30 percent and it has been reported that in 2013 the Belgian government's labor oversight committee noted that unemployment among Belgians of North African origin was twice the number than that of white Belgians. Whether Belgian authorities have done a poor job in integrating the Muslim communities or whether there exists a culture of denial, which chooses to see social and economic exclusion as the source of radical Islam in Belgium, is another, broad topic, but commentators have even gone as far as to call Belgium a failed state. That label may be a bit farfetched, but Belgium is certainly dysfunctional - a characteristic that it shares with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fact that both countries, with intricate federal state structures, have multiple, overlapping security and police agencies, hampers their ability to act effectively against terrorist threats. 22 police agencies operate in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Brussels alone has 6 police forces. This makes intelligence sharing, monitoring of radical groups, and coordinating all the more difficult. In fact, as pointed out by Dominika Ćosić, an expert on the Balkans living in Brussels, the Belgian police often complained that they are underequipped and expressed fears for their own safety in the predominantly Muslim neighborhoods of Brussels and Antwerp. And although both Belgium and BiH may claim successful preemptive strikes against terrorists, but both have reason to worry because hundreds of Bosnian and Belgian nationals have joined ISIS and are returning to Europe. In 2014, the authorities in BiH had organized a police operation codenamed "Damascus," which ended in the arrest of 11 individuals suspected of terrorist activities and links to the Wahhabi movement. One of those apprehended was Hussein Bilal Bosnic, who between 2013-2014 was a member of the Salafi Movement that operated outside of the official Islamic institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The court in BiH charged Hussein Bosnic with propagating Islamic radicalism and inciting others to join terrorist organizations and ISIS - through his public speeches and social networks such as Youtube. Bosnic was given a sentence of seven years in prison. Belgian police had also carried out similar counter-terrorist operations. In a clear reference to the Charlie Hebdo attack, Belgian authorities claimed that a "second potential Paris has been averted" when, in January 2015, police killed two gunmen and wounded another in a raid by counter-terrorist units in the town of Verviers. It was known that the gunmen had returned to Belgium from Syria. It is estimated that 520 ISIS militants are from Belgium, making it the greatest contributor to foreign ISIS fighters of any Western country. But BiH is also fertile soil for ISIS terrorist recruits. Estimates show that anywhere from 300-340 fighters in Iraq and Syria come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which means that proportionally to its population (per one million inhabitants), BiH has 92 fighters, as compared to Belgium's 46. Consequently, ISIS' propaganda machine has also shifted its attention to the Balkans where it has targeted potential candidates. In April 2015, ISIS produced a twenty-minute video entitled "Honor is in Jihad" aimed at attracting volunteers from BiH to come fight in Syria or urging them to carry out terrorist attacks in the Balkans. The notion that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a nesting ground for potential terrorists is well based on several important factors, both historic and current. Between 1992-1995, thousands of mujahideen travelled to the Balkans to fight alongside the Bosniaks. One of those foreign fighters - who even attained Bosnian citizenship in 1995 - was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - the "principal architect" of the 9/11 attacks in New York. Furthermore, two out of the five terrorists that hijacked the American Airlines flight that crashed into the Pentagon had also fought in Bosnia. Osama Bin Laden himself received a Bosnian passport in Vienna in 1993. After the violence in the Balkans subsided, many of the mujahideen settled down in BiH and the country became their safe haven and training ground. The president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, recently pointed out that according to the Dayton Agreement, all mujahideen were to be expelled from Bosnia, but added, "Of course this was not done, and of course they stayed, and all the crimes of terrorism, which later occurred - from Germany, Madrid, Washington, London, Paris - had a relationship and starting point from Bosnia." It is estimated that currently the mujahideen make up half of the BiH nationals that are fighting in Syria and Iraq. The report entitled "The Lure of the Syrian War: The Foreign Fighters' Bosnian Contingent" notes that there are two groups of BiH citizens that travel to fight in Syria: The first group includes the mujahedeen who see "the war in Syria and Iraq as continuation of the jihad they felt was ended prematurely in 1995 with the Dayton Peace Accord" while the second group generally includes young converts to Islam who desire "adrenaline and a quest for self-validation, self-respect, group belonging, and purpose." The reports add that one-third of the fighters have criminal records. Most of those going to join ISIS have travelled via Istanbul, but many were barred from leaving BiH in the first place. During the visit of Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to BiH in May 2015, Mladen Ivanic, then-chairman of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that the fight against terrorism is in the common interest of both countries and that thanks to the cooperation with Turkish security agencies, close to 100 citizens of BiH were turned back because of suspicion that they were headed for terrorism-prone areas. Some in Sarajevo argue that the level of potential terrorist threats in BiH is no different than in other European countries. Other experts in Bosnia disagree and point out that number of potential terrorists ranges from 3,000-5,000. In his commentary for Republika Srpska Press, Predrag Ceranic, an expert on security, stated that authorities address terrorism when it strikes but their efforts are short-lived. He points to cracks in BiH's security architecture and warns, "Be sure that the Islamic state has a plan for the Balkans, that their operatives do not sleep, and that they will take advantage of the migrant crisis to deploy men to wait for a suitable time." In 2003, Bosnia and Herzegovina was identified by the European Union as a potential candidate for EU membership. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between BiH and the EU entered into force on June 1, 2015. It is ironic that Brussels, the capital of the European Union and the headquarters of those EU institutions that have set out a strict legislative and economic reform agenda for Bosnia and Herzegovina, is also home to terrorists and radical Islam. Unfortunately, we can expect more trouble originating from both Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This article was co-authored with Marta Ochyra. Marta is a PhD candidate at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her research focuses on the United States' policy toward Bosnia and Herzegovina and terrorism in the Balkans. Between 2008-2014, she lived in Brussels and served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland. She currently resides in Chicago.