After Serbs vote in disputed referendum, tension rises in Bosnia
Despite the decision by the Bosnia and Herzegovina's state-level constitutional court on the temporary prohibition of the referendum and calls by the U.S. and EU to postpone the referendum, Serbs in Bosnia voted Sunday to keep celebrating the "Day of the Republika Srpska" statehood on Jan. 9.
The Sept. 25 referendum, conducted on by Milorad Dodik, the nationalist leader of the Serb-run entity Republika Srpska (RS), has provoked the most heated debate between Bosniak and Serb officials since 1995 and could be the most defiant challenge to date of the constitutional order created by the Dayton Treaty, an agreement that brought a formal end to Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.
Preliminary results from the banned referendum on Sunday showed that 99.81 percent of voters were in favor of the statehood holiday on Jan. 9 after rejecting a ruling by the constitutional court that the holiday is illegal for discriminating against non-Serbs, but Dodik pressed ahead regardless.
After the illegal held referendum, all eyes were fixed on the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina which issued an expected summon on Monday to nationalist leader of the Serb-run entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, on whose initiation the banned referendum was conducted. Prosecutor's office had to respond due to the fact that contempt of the decision of the constitutional court is a criminal act. Dodik previously said he will not respond to the prosecutor's invitations. However, he will be obligated to appear before the prosecutor once he receives the invitation, or else the court will be ordered to detain him.
Speaking to Daily Sabah on the initial results of the referendum, professor of political sciences at the International University of Sarajevo Muhidin Mulalić said that according to some estimates, 56 percent of voters supported the referendum on the day of the RS entity, which points to the fact that the citizens are divided on the referendum issue, or they have realized that the issue is not of high importance. "Ultimately, the referendum only served the upcoming election purposes as well as for warming up the ethno-national feelings. Milorad Dodik, with his statements, is trying to win voters who are likely to be deceived again in the RS. He has no other choice than to use ethno-national themes, putting himself in the position of patron of the existence of the RS entity, since he cannot talk about social and economic issues as well as on diplomatic issues because he led himself into self-isolation. I think that the political campaign of the RS entity will further be directed to ethno-national issues. Attempts by Milorad Dodik to impose these issues in the election campaign and to get sparring partners who will react to the separatist topics in the same way as him will continue", he added.
The Republika Srpska was urged by western officials to cancel the referendum that created tensions inside Bosnia because of its connection to the entity's secessionist ambitions saying that it challenges the rule of law and the Dayton Treaty. The EU's high representative for Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, commenting on Sunday held illegal referendum, said that the RS has taken the wrong way and that the referendum is worthless. The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo said that acting contrary to the decision of the constitutional court is clearly a violation of the rule of law and that they expect the competent institutions to resolve the issue in accordance with the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Sept. 25 referendum was openly supported by Russia, a traditional Serb supporter, seeing it as an act of democracy. In the statement made by the U.S. Department of State yesterday, saying that the disputed referendum held on Sunday in the Republika Srpska is illegal, it has been indicated that calling a referendum violated the constitutional court's decision and that the United States are concerned that this referendum is only a test that could eventually lead to attempts of declaration of independence of the RS from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Jan. 9, a date tied to the brutal 1990s war, which has emotional resonance for Bosnian Muslims, stimulated memories of trauma and bloodshed. Alija Izetbegović, the first Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, rejected the plan to divide the country along ethnic lines in April 1992. The war was started by the Serb leadership including Radovan Karadžić, then-leader of the Bosnian Serbs, and Ratko Mladić, then-commander of the Bosnian Serb army, backed by the Yugoslav National Army, or simply JNA, which was led by then-Serbia and Montenegro. The deliberate and systematic campaign was carried out by Serbian forces to destroy the family structure, the lives and spirit of non-Serbian, and particularly Muslim people who lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The war was the worst decimation in Europe since the World War II, which resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and turned half of the country's population into refugees.
The Sept. 25 referendum, conducted on by Milorad Dodik, the nationalist leader of the Serb-run entity Republika Srpska (RS), has provoked the most heated debate between Bosniak and Serb officials since 1995 and could be the most defiant challenge to date of the constitutional order created by the Dayton Treaty, an agreement that brought a formal end to Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.
Preliminary results from the banned referendum on Sunday showed that 99.81 percent of voters were in favor of the statehood holiday on Jan. 9 after rejecting a ruling by the constitutional court that the holiday is illegal for discriminating against non-Serbs, but Dodik pressed ahead regardless.
After the illegal held referendum, all eyes were fixed on the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina which issued an expected summon on Monday to nationalist leader of the Serb-run entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, on whose initiation the banned referendum was conducted. Prosecutor's office had to respond due to the fact that contempt of the decision of the constitutional court is a criminal act. Dodik previously said he will not respond to the prosecutor's invitations. However, he will be obligated to appear before the prosecutor once he receives the invitation, or else the court will be ordered to detain him.
Speaking to Daily Sabah on the initial results of the referendum, professor of political sciences at the International University of Sarajevo Muhidin Mulalić said that according to some estimates, 56 percent of voters supported the referendum on the day of the RS entity, which points to the fact that the citizens are divided on the referendum issue, or they have realized that the issue is not of high importance. "Ultimately, the referendum only served the upcoming election purposes as well as for warming up the ethno-national feelings. Milorad Dodik, with his statements, is trying to win voters who are likely to be deceived again in the RS. He has no other choice than to use ethno-national themes, putting himself in the position of patron of the existence of the RS entity, since he cannot talk about social and economic issues as well as on diplomatic issues because he led himself into self-isolation. I think that the political campaign of the RS entity will further be directed to ethno-national issues. Attempts by Milorad Dodik to impose these issues in the election campaign and to get sparring partners who will react to the separatist topics in the same way as him will continue", he added.
The Republika Srpska was urged by western officials to cancel the referendum that created tensions inside Bosnia because of its connection to the entity's secessionist ambitions saying that it challenges the rule of law and the Dayton Treaty. The EU's high representative for Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, commenting on Sunday held illegal referendum, said that the RS has taken the wrong way and that the referendum is worthless. The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo said that acting contrary to the decision of the constitutional court is clearly a violation of the rule of law and that they expect the competent institutions to resolve the issue in accordance with the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Sept. 25 referendum was openly supported by Russia, a traditional Serb supporter, seeing it as an act of democracy. In the statement made by the U.S. Department of State yesterday, saying that the disputed referendum held on Sunday in the Republika Srpska is illegal, it has been indicated that calling a referendum violated the constitutional court's decision and that the United States are concerned that this referendum is only a test that could eventually lead to attempts of declaration of independence of the RS from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Jan. 9, a date tied to the brutal 1990s war, which has emotional resonance for Bosnian Muslims, stimulated memories of trauma and bloodshed. Alija Izetbegović, the first Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, rejected the plan to divide the country along ethnic lines in April 1992. The war was started by the Serb leadership including Radovan Karadžić, then-leader of the Bosnian Serbs, and Ratko Mladić, then-commander of the Bosnian Serb army, backed by the Yugoslav National Army, or simply JNA, which was led by then-Serbia and Montenegro. The deliberate and systematic campaign was carried out by Serbian forces to destroy the family structure, the lives and spirit of non-Serbian, and particularly Muslim people who lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The war was the worst decimation in Europe since the World War II, which resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and turned half of the country's population into refugees.