The attendance of the leadership of the main Croat party in Bosnia at the celebration of the 27th anniversary of the creation of Republika Srpska sparked criticism from politicians in Bosnia and neighbouring Croatia.
Bosnian Serbs celebrated the anniversary of the establishment of the Serb-dominated semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity in Banja Luka and the leadership of Bosnia's Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) appeared at the ceremony.
When HDZ leader Dragan Covic entered the sports hall where the main ceremony took place, he was greeted with applause.
He and Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) which is the ruling party in the RS, have months ago announced that they would form a political alliance.
Covic is the former Croat member of Bosnia’s tripartite state Presidency, while Dodik became the Serb member of Presidency after the October 2018 General Election.
Apart from Covic, other top HDZ officials attended the ceremony which Bosnia’s Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional. Among them were HDZ Deputy President, Deputy Chair of the Council of Ministers and Finance Minister, Vjekoslav Bevanda, deputy leader of the HDZ, Davor Cordas, Vice-President of the RS, Josip Jerkovic, and Justice Minister Josip Grubesa.
“The attendance of Dragan Covic at the ceremony marking the unconstitutional so-called ‘Day of the RS’ once again shows that the HDZ and Covic have chosen Russia as their strategic partner and it finally makes it clear to Bosnian citizens and international officials that Milorad Dodik is not the only pro-Russian and anti-NATO actor within Bosnia and Herzegovina,” deputy leader of the Democratic Front (DF) political party, state parliamentarian and economy expert Dzenan Djonlagic said on Wednesday.
While Dodik has openly been saying he is opposed to Bosnia's NATO accession, Covic has been expressing support for the process in numerous statements he gave the media.
“The applause which Covic got from those gathered there represents an expression of gratitude to the HDZ’s obvious blocking of the NATO path of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Djonlagic said.
It is not surprising that the HDZ is supporting an SNSD candidate for the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers after the October 2018 General election who has already said that he will not support the decisions Bosnia made regarding its NATO path in the past, he said.
It is due time that all pro-Bosnian forces take a stance against the political intentions of the Dodik-Covic alliance, he added.
Covic's attendence at the event also drew criticism from neighbouring Croatia.
Former Croatian Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor, condemned the move. She said that, with his attendance Covic, enriched an “unconstitutional celebration” at which Slavko Lisica, a Serb who was convicted of war crimes in Croatia, was awarded as were in previous years “war criminals (Radovan) Karadzic and (Ratko) Mladic.”
“Nobody will name him (Covic) persona non grata because of this,” Kosor said, referring to Covic’s political rival, left-leaning DF leader Zeljko Komsic, who took over the Bosnian Croat Presidency seat.
HDZ officials have been complaining that Komsic is not a legitimate Croat representative, saying that mostly Bosniaks voted for him and that Covic won the election in all areas of Bosnia where there is a Bosnian Croat majority. Local officials in several of those areas across the country because of this declared Komsic persona non grata.
Former Croatian President Stipe Mesic said that Covic’s attendance at the ceremony is shameful, but also that it did not surprise him as the Bosnian Croat leader has long ago agreed with Dodik to break up Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Dodik has openly stated that he does not like Bosnia and that Republika Srpska, the Serb entity within the country, would be much better off seceding and joining neighbouring Serbia.
“Anyone who attends the celebration on that day is showing their own opinion of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Mesic told the Vijesti.ba news portal.
He said that while Dodik is openly an enemy of Bosnia, Covic has the same stance but has been holding back on expressing it.
“However, when he joins those who have the same opinion he does, which are those within Dodik’s party, he is completely honest. So, his honest policy is breaking up Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Mesic said.
Covic’s move also sparked many reactions on social media.
“Further evidence of the symbiotic relationship btw Serb & Croat nationalists in Bosnia: HDZ leader Dragan Covic attended today’s unconstitutional ceremonies in Banja Luka. Covic’s real face revealed,” political science professor Jasmin Mujanovic tweeted.The Constitutional Court banned the celebration of the Day of the RS in 2015.The reason stated was that the celebration falls on the same date as an Orthodox religious holiday, and celebrating it is, therefore, discriminating against the mostly Muslim Bosniaks and the mostly Catholic Croats.The Court gave the RS Government six months to find a new date for the celebration but the request has so far been ignored.
