In recent days, high political tension has been on the agenda again in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bosnian intelligentsia and society continue to show their intense reactions with protest demonstrations and statements. So what’s going on in Bosnia and Herzegovina?
The High Representative Office of the modern colonial governor, which is the subject of most of our articles and defined as the peace-building device in Bosnia and Herzegovina, established the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a one-sided and non-judgmental decision. This decision was a blow to direct democracy and the participation of the people in the administration.
In fact, we have tried to convey the direct democracy-destroying effect of the presence of the High Representative Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its decisions in previous articles. That’s why I don’t want to tire you out by making the same explanations again.
The Office of the High Representative has already acquired a political character as a result of the statements made by the last High Representative Christian Schmidt and past High Representatives since 2004. Therefore, it continues to lose the trust of the public and the international community. Moreover, it is obvious that the US, Pan-Germanic and Russian schools are in conflict within the office administration and the High Representatives in office take decisions in line with the direction of these schools.
Today’s High Representative, Christian Schmidt, continues to make defensive decisions for Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the pressure of his own ethnic identity. The most controversial was the change of the Election Law on October 2, 2022, on election night, to equal four Bosnian votes to one Croatian vote.
We’ve discussed this a lot. If we wish, we can criticize the Office of the High Representative without stopping, in every article we write. Because the democratizing effect is obvious, and we have discussed these effects and results in previous articles. Just like the thief wit in Nasreddin Hodja’s joke, are Bosnians not guilty at all who claim that their democratic rights have been usurped today?
High Representative Christian Schmidt established the Federation government, which is an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a unilateral decision that cannot be prosecuted by any judicial authority. Legally, Schmidt had to wait for the political parties to form a government before taking the decision, and he did. However, Bosniak politicians, who are no longer captives of their political interests and ambitions, continue to deceive the people who have been waiting for real democracy since the war that ended in 1995, unfortunately. Yes, we have always criticized office management until this article. Choosing this easy method, finding and cursing the dictator, is the way Bosniak politicians of Bosnia and Herzegovina most desire.
”High Representative Christian Schmidt established the Federation government, which is an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a unilateral decision that cannot be prosecuted by any judicial authority.”
Pursuant to Annex 10 to the Dayton Peace Agreement, the main tasks of the Office of the High Representative include:
- Collaborating with NGOs for the implementation of peace and carry out the coordination process,
- In the course of HR’s own initiative, the incidents that occur in the maintenance of civil order contribute to the solution of the difficulties and contribute to the national / international organizations attend meetings,
- Regularly UN, EU, USA, to provide information by presenting reports to Russia and other party countries and organizations,
- Concerning civil peace practices for the enforcement of the civil provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement have the authority to interpret,
- National/international civil committees for the implementation of the civil provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement has the authority to create.
But Bosniak politicians perhaps deserve more than the criticism leveled at the Office of the High Representative. Yes, Bosnia and Herzegovina has an inoperative system and a structure that does not meet the definition of a state.
Unfortunately, this situation allows Bosnian politicians to take part in the political scene and to spend the funds received from the EU and the World Bank in the name of public reforms.
Moreover, Bosnian political representatives, who have almost disappeared from being atomized, continue to maintain their presence in the political mechanism by pouring financial resources to businessmen who support themselves thanks to this dysfunction. So who would want the Office of the High Representative to be abolished?
The Office of the High Representative is instrumentalized by Bosniak political parties to create an opium effect on the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina today. Existing contradictions are already embodying this instrumentalization process.
For instance, the election budget was created with the absolutist decision taken by the High Representative Office after the efforts of Bosnian Croat politicians who blocked the election budget negotiations that had to be formed for the election to take place before the election.
After this decision, office management, which was interpreted very positively for Bosnian politicians and as a protector of democracy, was interpreted by Bosnian Croats as threatening or even destroying their existence. Moreover, it was High Representative Christian Schmidt, who is now interpreted as the biggest ally for the Bosnian Croats, who made this decision. Therefore, Croatian politicians gained political profit over the dictator perception of the High Representative Office and strengthened its position.
”Moreover, it was High Representative Christian Schmidt, who is now interpreted as the biggest ally for the Bosnian Croats, who made this decision.”
What about now? The roles are reversed. The decisions taken by the High Representative Office for the change in the Election Law and the establishment of the federation government were met with reaction by the Bosnian community and certain political parties, and the Bosnians declared the office administration dictator. Protests against the Office of the High Representative also continue. However, the fact that the situation is taken for granted by the public and that the political parties need the presence of the Office of the High Representative strengthens the vicious circle.
The fact that small-scale demonstrations have been held by the people since the summer of 2022, despite the ignoring of democracy and their fundamental civic right to vote, actually reveals the disbelief of the people towards the ideal of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnian political parties. Can you imagine the extent of the mass reaction from the people if a similar problem were within the borders of Turkey?
Despite this energy of the Turkish society, which has a sociology that gathers supporters from other cities by buses at the slightest political party rally, the situation is deplorable when we look at Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even in a decision in which their sovereignty was ignored, only a Sarajevo-centered reaction developed.
Bosnian political parties, on the other hand, are quite happy with this situation. Because, as we have said, the main goal is not the construction of a functional Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the preservation of the presence in the political mechanism. Nermin Nikšić, who took part in the demonstrations in front of the Office of the High Representative to amend the Election Law and declared the Office of the High Representative a dictator, became the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the absolutist decision of the same office administration. Moreover, Nikšić is the chairman of the Social Democratic Party, one of the most important political parties in the country!
However, he is quite happy to be the Prime Minister of the Federation with a decision that disregards democracy. Nikšić, who interprets himself and his party as a true democrat, could have rejected this anti-democratic decision of the Office of the High Representative and taken up the defense of democracy. But do you really think Nikšić’s and other Bosniak political parties’ main aim is to protect democracy or to continue to take part in the political mechanism? Therefore, it seems quite logical for the process to cause artificial crises in the negotiations for the establishment of the government in order to end the process like this.
The Democratic Action Party, which is the largest political representative of the Bosnians in the country according to the vote rates, could not achieve the necessary success in the negotiations during the formation of the government, as it thought to protect its own political intelligentsia and its own bourgeoisie within the party and was excluded from the government. But what does it matter? Currently, the Democratic Action Party aims to strengthen its own legitimacy by focusing on the illegitimacy of the established government.
”As a final word, we can say this: Bosnian politicians need their own dictator. Even if there is no dictator, he searches, finds and appoints his dictator.”
In short, the basic principles of the Bosnian society’s right to vote, democracy and sovereignty are not in the interests of Bosnian politicians. Knowing this, the people periodically take action in front of the US Embassy and ask for the help of another country.
In discussing whether to restart a war in Bosnia and Herzegovina today, we miss an important point.
When viewed from this perspective, of course, the Bosniak political parties will be the most opposed to the outbreak of war. Or he will settle for war on one condition: If a new colonial governor/dictator continues to work in Bosnia and Herzegovina!
As a final word, we can say this: Bosnian politicians need their own dictator. Even if there is no dictator, he searches, finds and appoints his dictator.
Münzevî Kalem 