Bosniak presidency member: Belgrade must admit Kosovo is independent state

Bosnian Croat Zeljko Komsic, who is a member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's presidency, says Belgrade should accept reality with Kosovo, and then things become easier.

In an interview for Deutsche Welle, Komsic says that “if you want to be realistic and pragmatic: Kosovo is an independent state. This is the situation. Only Belgrade is expected to accept that fact. Then things will get simpler”.

Just on the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, a new round of talks between Kosovo and Serbia began. Is Bosnia and Herzegovina preparing to recognise Kosovo?

Sup: It's not known, there's no consensus on state presidium. Mr. Dodik, the Serb member of the presidium, is totally opposed to recognising Kosovo. But if you want to be realistic and pragmatic: Kosovo is an independent state. This is the situation. Only Belgrade is expected to accept that fact. Then things will get easier.

How do you see the latest protests in Belgrade?

Sup: The corona pandemic is being used here for some kind of rebellion. It soon seemed that this had nothing to do with pandemic. Everything says, there's an organized political structure here that hides political intentions behind Corona's facade. The goal is to make a deal between Belgrade and Pristina impossible.

Who does this serve?

Sup: This is in the interest of extreme right and fascists in Serbia, as well as their supporters in Eastern Europe.

If Kosovo is recognised by Serbia, could Bosnia and Herzegovina lose its Serbian entity, Republika Srpska?

Sup: How will this be done? Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not comparable. Bosnia was established as a state on the basis of international Commission results. Bosnia was in the former Yugoslavia a federal republic with the right to self-rule, which in 1992 was put into existence by referendum. Kosovo had the status of an autonomous province (within Serbia). This is not comparable both by the constitution of then-Yugoslavia and by international law.

But Milorad Dodik, the Serb member in the Bosniak presidium and Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, have stated several times as possible the scenario of Republika Srpska's secession and its connection to Serbia...

Sup: They made war efforts in the 1992-1995. They should remember how this ended then. And what happened to Serbian politicians, who were then their ancestors in office and where they ended up. If I were Dodik and Vuchitch, I wouldn't play with fire.

How do you assess Serbian Prime Minister Brnabiq's statements in an interview with Deutsche Ellen, that there was no genocide in Srebrenica?

Sup: What Brnabyq says doesn't matter. It serves only domestic political goals in Serbia, perhaps in the region. It would be good to, at last, in these governing structures, especially in Serbia, whose state camera was participating in the genocide, come people, who have the capacity and human courage to say, “was genocide. ”

Why does Bosnia and Herzegovina not have a law against denying genocide?

Sup: Because of the political situation, we are not unfortunately able to adopt a law. My attitude is a civilian responsibility, condemned not only by the denial of genocide but also by the Holocaust. Representatives from the Human Rights Organization have repeatedly addressed the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina to issue such a law, because he has the competence for the so-called “Bonn Comission”, but without success.

What should be done so that all three members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's state-owned presidium are elected by all citizens, not each ethnic group?

Sup: That would be a concept, which I would like to see in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The pattern of constitutional peoples is past. He had the post in the former Yugoslavia. When this collapsed, it proved, that this concept was overstated, and it doesn't even respond to the current situation. It is instrumentalised to advance the collapse of Bosnia and Herzegovina.