If Croatia would “show more respect for Bosnia,” relations between the two countries could improve, Bosniak leader Bakir Izetbegovic told N1 on Sunday, speaking of the tense relations between the neighbours.
Izetbegovic is a former member of the tripartite Presidency and the leader of the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), the main Bosniak party in the country.
RELATED NEWS
“The relationship between the two countries could be better. Croatia could show more respect towards Bosnia and could listen to our voice more when it comes to, for example, the Peljesac Bridge,” he said, referring to a bridge Croatia is building across Bosnian waters.
Bosnia is cutting Croatia’s territory along the Adriatic coast and Zagreb is building a bridge that would connect its coast to a peninsula, detouring the little strip of Bosnian territory. However, Bosnia fears the bridge could cut off its small strip that is located at the bottom of the bay from the open sea and that large ships will not be able to pass underneath it.
“We have nothing against it, to the contrary, we are happy if Croatia can connect its territory, we just ask and expect that Bosnia’s right to the open sea is not taken away, we need to define the border and the access to it,” Izetbegovic said, insisting that the pillars of the bridge should be wider.
He said his party never wanted to stop the construction of the bride, but “fight for our rights.”
“A corridor can always be set, a treaty can always be signed, that is the only thing we ask from Croatia,” Izetbegovic said.
The Bosniak leader also commented on Croatia’s plan to dump nuclear waste in Trgovska Gora, close to Bosnia’s northern border.
“We fear that it will pollute groundwater and destroy chances for agriculture. Why would anyone dump such dangerous waste at the border with a neighbouring country?” he asked.
He also touched upon an alleged affair which local investigative outlet Zurnal published and which caused a diplomatic spat between Bosnia and Croatia. The outlet said that Croatian secret service agents tried to recruit Bosnians to transport arms into Muslim places of prayer in Bosnia in order to justify statements by Croatia’s President, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, who called Bosnia a “terrorist hub.”
Zurnal also published a number of interviews with the alleged victims of the operation – Bosnians who worked in Croatia but were deported. They said they are now banned from entering Croatia because they refused to cooperate.
But Bosnia’s Prosecutor’s Office decided not to investigate those named in the story, saying there are no grounds to do so.
Meanwhile, it initiated an investigation against Security Minister Dragan Mektic for abuse of power because he confirmed Zurnal’s allegations in statements to media.
Izetbegovic said he believes Mektic’s statements, but not because the Security Minister voiced them. Rather, because of “people who live in Croatia and who could lose their employment there because they testified that there were attempts to recruit them,” he said.
