"Bosnia wants faster normalization of relations"

BELGRADE Bosnia-Herzegovina wants a faster normalization of relations with Serbia but some “harsh words” always take the dialogue back to the beginning. This is according to Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic, who stated that such comments were slowing down the normalization of relations between the two countries. "Bosnia wants faster normalization of relations" He told Radio Belgrade that he was sorry that this was the case because he had good talks with both Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Prime Minister Ivica Dacic. “It (the meetings) went by a little unnoticed but I met with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in New York while we were waiting for (U.S. President) Barack Obama’s reception. Nikolic is an open and an honest man but I believe that intellectuals in Serbia and especially the president need to pay attention to statements when they talk about sensitive issues for the sake of the improvement of relations,” Izetbegovic stressed. He pointed to several statements about Srebrenica, Ratko Mladic and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s future made by Nikolic, assessing that they were “cold and insulting”. “They have taken us right back to the start, just like in those children’s board games. It is not late to fix things,” he said and added that he and Nikolic were planning on organizing a trilateral meeting in Turkey soon. Izetbegovic believes that it was wrong of the Serbian president not to visit Sarajevo while he was visiting Banja Luka, the administrative capital of the Republic of Srpska (RS). “Sarajevo is Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital. There is a wrong perception that the RS is an entity that belongs to Serbs. The RS, aside from its name, in everything else, in the constitutional definition is an entity that belongs to every citizen, primarily constitutive people, and then every citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The same goes for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital, Sarajevo, in which Serbs have strong historical roots and in which 350,000 Bosniaks and around 70,000 Serbs live. One should not avoid Sarajevo,” the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency member stressed. Commenting on Dacic’s statement that the two countries' relations should be “reset”, Izetbegovic said that “we cannot reset anything and sweep under the carpet, including people’s suffering, but we can be smarter, more responsible and more humane in our approach to the future”. He believes that Bosnia-Herzegovina could become a NATO member in the next several years and that it would be a solution for the situation in the country. Bakir Izetbegovic (Tanjug, file) Beta

"Bosnia wants faster normalization of relations"

He told Radio Belgrade that he was sorry that this was the case because he had good talks with both Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić and Prime Minister Ivica Dačić.

“It (the meetings) went by a little unnoticed but I met with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić in New York while we were waiting for (U.S. President) Barack Obama’s reception. Nikolić is an open and an honest man but I believe that intellectuals in Serbia and especially the president need to pay attention to statements when they talk about sensitive issues for the sake of the improvement of relations,” Izetbegović stressed.

He pointed to several statements about Srebrenica, Ratko Mladić and Bosnia-Herzegovina’s future made by Nikolić, assessing that they were “cold and insulting”.

“They have taken us right back to the start, just like in those children’s board games. It is not late to fix things,” he said and added that he and Nikolić were planning on organizing a trilateral meeting in Turkey soon.

Izetbegović believes that it was wrong of the Serbian president not to visit Sarajevo while he was visiting Banja Luka, the administrative capital of the Republic of Srpska (RS).

“Sarajevo is Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital. There is a wrong perception that the RS is an entity that belongs to Serbs. The RS, aside from its name, in everything else, in the constitutional definition is an entity that belongs to every citizen, primarily constitutive people, and then every citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The same goes for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital, Sarajevo, in which Serbs have strong historical roots and in which 350,000 Bosniaks and around 70,000 Serbs live. One should not avoid Sarajevo,” the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency member stressed.

Commenting on Dačić’s statement that the two countries' relations should be “reset”, Izetbegović said that “we cannot reset anything and sweep under the carpet, including people’s suffering, but we can be smarter, more responsible and more humane in our approach to the future”.

He believes that Bosnia-Herzegovina could become a NATO member in the next several years and that it would be a solution for the situation in the country.