ZAGREB, March 1 (Hina) - Bosnian Croats have undoubtedly been put in an unequal position by the one-sided and wrong decision of the international community on modes of election for Bosnia's upper house, the House of Peoples, a
Croatian parliamentary official said on Thursday. Zdravko Tomac, parliament's deputy speaker and chairman of its foreign affairs committee, said the announced radicalisation of the Croat policy in Bosnia would, however, be a disastrous step, yielding an effect opposite of the one desired. Tomac was speaking to reporters in the wake of a letter he sent the president of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Adrian Severin. He said Croatia's incumbent authorities and he himself had pointed since the very beginning the international community decision was unsustainable, which he said was contrary to both the Dayton peace accords and Bosni
ZAGREB, March 1 (Hina) - Bosnian Croats have undoubtedly been put in
an unequal position by the one-sided and wrong decision of the
international community on modes of election for Bosnia's upper
house, the House of Peoples, a Croatian parliamentary official said
on Thursday.
Zdravko Tomac, parliament's deputy speaker and chairman of its
foreign affairs committee, said the announced radicalisation of
the Croat policy in Bosnia would, however, be a disastrous step,
yielding an effect opposite of the one desired.
Tomac was speaking to reporters in the wake of a letter he sent the
president of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Adrian Severin.
He said Croatia's incumbent authorities and he himself had pointed
since the very beginning the international community decision was
unsustainable, which he said was contrary to both the Dayton peace
accords and Bosnia's Constitution, as well as to the likelihood of
political turmoil.
Tomac sent the letter to Severin after being requested to do so at an
OSCE Permanent Council session held in Vienna on Feb. 22-23. Tomac
had briefed the session about Croatia's objections and said the
mode of election for the Bosnian upper house caused a crisis and put
Croats in an unequal position.
The letter elaborates on Croatia's stances and urges Severin to
find a way to put the matter on the agenda so that the current crisis
could be overcome through discussions in the institutions of the
system.
The letter warns the international community there is no stable
Bosnia and Herzegovina, or the wider region either, without full
equality for Bosnia's three constituent peoples, that the Dayton
accords may be changed only with their consent and according to
procedure, and that it is imperative to correct errors made with
decisions which are contrary to the above.
Commenting on yesterday's announcement by Bosnian Croat
representatives that they would leave all bodies of authority and
form parallel institutions, Tomac said he would sent the same
letter to Bosnian Croats as well. He warned that entering a wider
conflict by creating parallel institutions could reduce Croats in
Bosnia to the status of national minority.
Croats in Bosnia must realise returning to the concept of the failed
Croat Republic Herzeg Bosna would be a catastrophe because that
self-proclaimed republic was a "big failure and one of the chief
causes of their current dramatic position," said Tomac.
"I see a way out of this situation in action through institutions of
the system, in an effort to change the wrong international
community policy as soon as possible, and in Croatia's active
policy in institutions of the international community," he said.
Even though there are people in Croatia who oppose any engagement in
the Bosnian Croat issue, who fail to understand what is going on and
for whom "every demand for national equality equals nationalism,"
Tomac is confident that not only the ruling six-party coalition but
the opposition as well will reach full consensus on the current
concept.
(hina) ha sb