Bosnia and Herzegovina should not be mentioned in any context when potential border changes between Serbia and Kosovo are discussed, Bosniak candidate for the tripartite Presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, said on Thursday.

Dzaferovic, who is currently the Vice Chairman of the State House of Representatives, spoke about the ongoing negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina over their territorial dispute. An option that is being considered is a territorial swap and the redrawing of the border between them which would include Kosovo giving up areas in its north where municipalities with a Serb majority are located.

Numerous international and local analysts pointed out that such a deal may have consequences in Bosnia as well, as the country is composed out of two semi-autonomous entities, one of which, Republika Srpska (RS), is Serb-dominated.

“Nobody will be changing Bosnia’s borders, they cannot be changed. Those who advocate the redrawing of borders directly jeopardize peace and stability, and they need to be aware of the consequences and responsible,” he said.

Those who push forward the ideas of ‘greater states’ and their followers have “tried this in the 1990’s” and have ended up with rulings against them by the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for joint criminal enterprises and on the “garbage dump of history,” Dzaferovic said, referring to wartime aspirations by nationalists in neighbouring Serbia and Croatia who tried to expand their state territory across parts of Bosnia.

“Everyone who tries to mess with Bosnia will end up like that. Everyone should know that,” he said.

Dzaferovic called upon Serbia and Kosovo to solve the issues between them in a constructive dialogue and that nobody is to mention Bosnia at all within it.

“I believe our messages are clear, as are the messages from the countries that have with their signatures stood behind Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Dayton Peace Agreement,” he said.