Bosnia’s District of Brcko was “the biggest success” after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, former Presidency member of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ejup Ganic, told N1, adding that while it did make the state nonfunctional, this must not be an excuse for the lack of improvements in the society.
“The Dayton Peace Agreement was made in haste and no one made any simulations on how it will function,” Ganic said, adding that it was primarily meant to enable the return of the society to their previous places of residence.
Commenting on the internal structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina which consists of two entities, the Bosniak and Croat dominated Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) entity and the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity, along with the District of Brcko in the North of the country, not dominated by any of the three constituent peoples, Ganic said that the District is, in fact, a third entity.
“It (the Brcko District) is still an American territory. They say that the Brcko District is the only success after the Dayton. Brcko is the main obstacle to those dreaming of secession because it is still under the US patronage,” he told N1. “I think this is the best solution for the Brcko District.”
Ganic also touched upon the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue and the possibility of drawing of new borders in the Balkans, saying that the Kosovo issue is an emotional issue for Serbia.
“Serbia worked so much on the narrative that the first Serbian state was born in Kosovo so that the people now expect Kosovo to remain part of Serbia. Serbia was present on Kosovo for over 100 years and in that time, it failed to create a multi-ethnic society,” Ganic stressed. “I was in Kosovo and I never met a Serbian citizen speaking Albanian language. In the US, if one wants to win the election in the South, they must speak Spanish.”
He added that it is absolutely impossible to make a mono-ethnic state in the Balkans. What Belgrade should insist on, during the negotiations with Kosovo, is the protection of rights of Serbs living in Kosovo, not the exchange of territory, he pointed out.
