Joining a Bosnian-Serbian spat over the status of provinces in both countries, Zeljko Komsic, a candidate for the Croat seat in the tripartite Bosnian Presidency, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was afraid Komsic might win at the October election.
When he spoke about the Croat candidate, Vucic referred to Zeljko Komsic as the likely winner thanks to votes from Bosniaks. Komsic already won the post twice thanks to Bosniak votes and Croat parties in the country considered him an illegitimate representative of the Croat people in Bosnia.
“I want to remind Mr. Vucic that if I win, it will be thanks to votes of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and not because of some ethnic majority and by putting labels on people’s foreheads,” Komsic fired back in a statement.
He wondered why Vucic was bothered by his eventual victory, hinting that the Serbian President would actually like to see Komsic’s rival Dragan Covic, the incumbent Croat member of the Bosnian Presidency, get the post again.
Covic is seen b many as a Croat nationalist who sometimes flirts with symbols of NDH, the Independent State of Croatia, a World War II fascist puppet state of Germany and Italy.
“So why are you so worried by my eventual victory, Mr. Vucic? I’m not the one who glorifies the Ustasha’s NDH as your friend Dragan,” Komsic said.
“During the last war, my party did not put together lists of Serbs from Mostar who should be expelled. That was done by the party of your favourite, Dragan,” Komsic said adding that it is not his party that is preventing Serbs from being equal citizens in Croat-dominated parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but Covic’s, “whose victory you don’t fear.”
“Does this mean Mr. Vucic that you would rather see someone glorifying ustashas, someone known for expelling Serbs and someone who even today does not regard Serbs as equals,” Komsic asked.
In his statement Komsic also mentioned the Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, referring to the calls for secessions made by the current President of Republika Srpska (RS), the Serb semi-autonomous region of Bosnia.
Komsic said these calls are made out of Dodik’s fear for his own position in fact represent “political suicide.”
“I’d like to ask him, who will respond to his calls? Nobody will,” Komsic said, noting that when a few years ago Dodik decided to boycott the state of Bosnia and called for all Serbs in state institutions to abandon their positions, none of the Serb judges and prosecutors at the state court responded.
“They are not crazy to do this because Dodik is not offering them any alternatives. Those are serious people, not naive,” the leader of the Democratic Front (DF) said.
He added that he can’t wait to see Dodik’s people pull out of state institutions but they won’t do it because they enjoy the salaries and benefits of their positions in the capital of Sarajevo.
“So pull out finally,” Komsic called on Dodik’s supporters. “Stop threatening us with depriving yourself of salaries and an easy life,” he concluded.
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