ROUND TABLE

Since we still have time, I would like to broach one more issue, namely, Serbs outside Serbia, particularly the question of Bosnia and the ethnic cleansing the Serbs carried out there. This ethnic cleansing was accomplished in exactly the same manner as proclaimed in 1902 by Nikola Stojanovic, a Serb from Bosnia-Herzegovina. At that time, in a political pamphlet, he declared war till extermination to the Croats. And this is exactly what the Chetniks and Greater Serbians did in those parts of Croatia which they occupied in the aggression of 1991 and 1992 and which they continue to do in Bosnia. Croats, Muslims and other peoples have been expelled, imprisoned and slaughtered.

During 1995, however, the Serbs began to lose on all fronts in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. And then their violent ethnic cleansing backfired on them. Now many people are wondering why the Serbs are fleeing en masse and leaving the regions in which they lived, despite calls for them to stay on the territory liberated by the Croatian Army, the Croatian Defence Council and the B-H Army. The answer is simple. The Serbs cannot remain with people whose relatives they have massacred and tortured, whose houses they have looted, and whose churches and mosques they have destroyed.

The Serbs have always been religiously and nationally exclusive, and particularly possessive. Since 1878 until today, they have often attempted to claim other people’s territories, calling them Serbian lands even when they had never been under Serbian authority or had a Serb majority.

After facing defeat in 1995, the Serbs, for the first time in history, began to move towards the east; their movements had always been directed westward as the Vlach stockmen when they advanced together with the Ottoman Turks. From 1918 until 1995, the Serbs in both Yugoslavias spread their authority towards the west and now they have begun their flight to their motherland - Serbia. The narrow corridor by Brcko, which until now has been used for the movement of Serbian troops towards Banjaluka, Knin, Petrinja, has become a one-way route - going east towards Drina and Serbia.

To the west of the corridor remain the area of Banjaluka and its surrounds which is now, after the ethnic cleansing of the Muslims-Bosniacs and the Croats and the settlement of the Serbs from Croatia (i.e. from krajina), almost completely settled by Serbs. Since Croatian and Bosnian Serbs feel safe only next to the River Drina, close to the Serbian state, there have been suggestions of their resettlement to eastern Bosnia. In this case, Banjaluka would no longer have an absolute Serb majority and the Muslims and Croats could return to Banjaluka and its surrounds as well as to the Croatian Posavina region from Brcko to Derventa. In this way the problem of Croatian Posavina would be solved and the corridor by Brcko would become unnecessary. In this way the number of Serbs east of Bijelina and Brcko would be very small. Those that would remain would integrate as equal citizens in the Bosniac-Croatian Federation.

The negotiations regarding B-H, however, which are being led today in European circles and in the UN, commence from the concept of the division of B-H with 51% for the Federation and 49% for the Serbian entity. This proposal which dates back two years and which was backed by the Contact Group is not at all just. According to the proposal, the Serbs as aggressors with Milosevic and Karadzic at the head would be richly rewarded in Bosnia.

Maps of the division between these peoples according to which the Serbs would receive only 26% of B-H are also in circulation. This is realistic since according to the population census of 1991 Serbs made up 31.2% of the entire population. We must add here that this census is not completely reliable as the Serbs registered the dead and the same people twice. If these ideas were to become reality, namely, that the Serbs receive 26% of the territory and this mostly along the border towards Serbia and Montenegro, then this would indeed be realistic and practical. Of course, this is under the presupposition that Bosnian Serbs could not engage in a confederative relation with Serbia because Serbia carried out the aggression and occupied a part of Bosnia and should therefore not be allowed to annex what it has occupied.

On the other hand, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina would enter into a confederative relationship. Taking into consideration the geopolitical position, the economy, communication routes, etc., these two countries could not live one without the other. Within B-H there would be a federation of Bosniacs and Croats. In this way a state similar to Switzerland would be created where all three peoples would live mixed but each would have their own majority region: the Serbs towards the east, along the Drina, on the border with Serbia and Montenegro, the Croats to the west and north along the Sava, Una and the Croatian border, and the Bosniacs-Muslims in central Bosnia, along the River Bosna.

In this way the issue of relations between the Croats and the Serbs would be solved for a long-term period as they would be divided by the area settled with Bosniacs (apart from the border along the Danube River and Srijem). If this issue could be solved in this way, if Bosnia-Herzegovina were to remain a sovereign state of three constitutive peoples then the division of Bosnia would not be the cause of new conflicts as occurred in 1878, 1914 and 1991/92.

All peoples, particularly the Croats and Bosniac-Muslims have had enough of a war which has lasted 4 years just as World War II lasted from 1941 to 1945. In both wars, looking at them as a whole, these two peoples had the highest losses. Therefore they do not want to enter another war in twenty years time and nor do they want new generations to live to see mass executions, prison camps and genocidal cleansing such as the ones experienced from 1991 till today.

If we do not wish this to happen then we must solve the Bosnian problem once and for all so that the causes of future conflicts and new wars do not remain hidden. This is something we may discuss as well as other issues.

Ante Beljo: Dr. Branko Franolic, a linguist from London is our following speaker. At one time, he was a lecturer at York University but is now in retirement.

Dr. Branko Franolic