Professor Amir Kliko, acting director of the Institute for Research of Crimes against Humanity and International Law of the University of Sarajevo, recently published a book about the war events in central Bosnia during the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In an interview for "Dnevni avaz", he said that the main theme of the book is Croatia's relationship with Bosnia and Herzegovina and armed conflicts between the Croatian Defense Council and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The book deals with other consequences of war, such as, for example, humanitarian problems, hunger, refugees, crime, justice, propaganda, war crimes and international peace plans. According to the author, the importance of the book is multiple, because many important questions are opened and clear answers are offered based on reliable archival material.
High positions
In the book, you also write about the relationship between Croatian politics at the time and the conflict between the HVO and the ARBiH. Can we talk about Croatia's aggression against BiH during the war in central Bosnia?
- The state leadership of Croatia started that conflict. It is guided by the strategic interests of Croatia, which were designed by that leadership. It doesn't have to be elaborated on. Everything has been sufficiently proven both in the media and scientifically, as well as in court. In Croatia, this has long been clear to the majority. However, not all of Croatia accepted Franjo Tuđman's policy towards BiH and the Bosniaks. I am primarily thinking of politicians and church dignitaries. Very important people in Croatia opposed him, not only from the opposition parties but even from the top of the HDZ. People left high positions because of this opposition.
The Catholic Church in Croatia, headed by Cardinal Kuharić, was a fierce opponent of Tuđman's aggressive policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some senior HV leaders disagreed with Tuđman regarding the combat engagement of the HV in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We must never forget that there was also strong opposition to Tuđman's policy among the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fact that the first three presidents of the HDZ BiH, Perinović, Kljuić and Brkić, were dismissed is very important, because they refused to implement Tuđman's policy of dividing BiH. Ivan Markešić deserves a mention because of his courage to oppose him. Damjan Vlašić too. And many others.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosniaks have many friends in Croatia and the Croats, so they would look at that country only through their experience with Franjo Tuđman and the aggressive policy he implemented in our country. Can we talk about the aggression of the Republic of Croatia in central Bosnia? Absolutely yes, and not only in central Bosnia, but from Žepče to Stolac. As I said, this is a proven fact before the International Court in The Hague. In my book, I presented new Croatian documents that confirm this, and which have not been used in the literature so far.
How much did the war conflicts that you write about in your work affect the relations between Croats and Bosniaks in the historical context, what can be expected in the future?
- They influenced a lot. Especially in those areas where their consequences were more severe. For example, in Mostar, Stolac, Čapljina, Gornji Vakuf, Novi Travnik, Vitez, Busovača, Kiseljak, Žepč... We have witnessed, however, that in the years after the war, an enviable level of reconciliation and coexistence naturally occurred. But it is very unstable and some political adventure from Croatia is enough to collapse everything that people have created among themselves. See what the Croatian president is visiting in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Only places where war wounds are still open.
She doesn't visit Croats from Bihać, Jajak, Zenica, Sarajevo, Tuzla, as if they don't have problems that she could help them solve. I think it would be more important to encourage those Croats to stay in their homelands and for those who left them to return, to help them in this, than to harass and radicalize the women of Vitežana and Herzegovina if they are threatened by Bosniaks. How can a Croat in Herzegovina and Vitez be more endangered than a Croat in Zenica?
How do you see the relations between Bosniaks and Croats in that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, in general, the relations between these two peoples in the country?
- The relations between Bosniaks and Croats in their past were always good. Of course, one can find examples in some time that could not serve anyone's honor, but they are at the level of incidents and rare. The war events of 1992 - 1995 greatly damaged them, but not irreparably. If politics on both sides would allow these relations to arrange themselves, for people to establish them among themselves, I'm sure they would be good. I have personally seen this many times over the last quarter of a century. It is certain that now they are not what they should be. The culprit for this should not be specifically sought. The behavior of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović towards Bosniaks and BiH in recent years has undoubtedly caused great damage to the relations between the two nations. We should also not forget Andrej Plenković, who started playing with Croat-Bosniak relations before her.
Independent policy
Where do you see the solution for a truly honest and neighborly relationship between Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a relationship that would bring a better future to everyone?
- I only see him in Zagreb. The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina do not have a strong independent policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina and will probably never have one. Throughout the 20th century, they followed the policy imposed on them from Zagreb. What will be the government in Zagreb, such will be the relations of Croats towards Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosniaks. That's how it was in the past, that's how it is now. Not to mention examples. We all know them. Some we remember, like me in my book, and one we live right now. I am optimistic about good relations between Croats and Bosniaks in the future. Croatia is an advanced and democratic country, and the Croats are a civilized people, just like the Bosniaks. Two civilized nations with a long tradition of mutual coexistence cannot be in bad relations for long. Kolinda's political behavior is only one episode in Tuđman's series of worsening Croat-Bosniak relations in order to realize political goals.
Wrong wording
Why did an author only today, so many years after the war, decide to write about the conflict between Croats and Bosniaks in central Bosnia?
- Before I answer, I have to react to your formulation of the armed conflict in central Bosnia, which indicates its wrong character. It is not about any conflict between Croats and Bosniaks. Such a wording, seemingly harmless, is a spoof of Croatian propaganda in order to artificially give the appearance of a conflict between two peoples, which is nothing more than a civil war. The purpose of this is to remove responsibility from Croatia for the aggression committed against parts of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from the fall of 1992 to the spring of 1994. That wording crept into BiH. media, but also in scientific and public discourse.
Why did I decide to write about the conflict between the HVO and the ARBiH a quarter of a century after the war? For many reasons. One of them is that, according to some opinions, there should be a historical distance from the events to the time of their historiographical research. Some believe that it is about thirty years.
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