Presidency Chairman: Why is Croatia upset about what I say if I'm irrelevant?

Komsic said told UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adam Dieng, that some individuals in Croatia are denying the crimes committed against Serbs, Jews and Roma in Croatia during WWII. However, Croatia’s news agency reported that he said that Croatia as a state is denying them.

Based on this misreporting, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said that Komsic’s unfounded anti-Croatian rhetoric confirmed that he was not only an illegitimate representative of Bosnian Croats but also an irrelevant interlocutor in international relations.

Grabar-Kitarovic was referring to allegations by Bosnian Croat politicians, who say Komsic was not elected by Croats to represent them in the tripartite Presidency, but by the numerically superior Bosniaks.

"Zeljko Komsic, the Presidency member imposed on Croats, is the personification of the outvoting of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Grabar-Kitarovic said.

“I can not go by whether what I am saying might suit someone or not. They have put words that I have not said or even thought into my mouth,” Komsic told N1.

Referring to Grabar-Kitarovic’s comments about him, Komsic asked “if it is like that - then why are they reacting to irrelevant people and statements? What were such strong reactions for?” 

“We couldn’t act up some fake political correctness because of which we should, as a state, be closing our eyes. I never mentioned any state by name, it is interesting how they recognised themselves in it,” he said.

The Presidency Chairman said his main priority is protecting the dignity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatia’s support for Bosnia’s path is nothing more than word of mouth, he said.

“It would be good if they stuck to the standards of the EU. People who serve certain offices did not even think about commenting on the internal affairs of Hungary, Italy or Slovenia, and those are their neighbouring countries.But they give themselves the right to comment on Bosnia’s internal issues,” he said, arguing that Croatia has “double standards.”

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic is behaving more wisely, he said, referring to a meeting between Vucic and political representatives from Bosnia’s Serb-dominated semi-autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) entity.

Komsic said that the meeting showed that Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik “cannot dictate everything to the government in Belgrade.”

“He (Dodik) is with his actions, by pulling in Serbia, raising the bar for Vucic and I think Vucic understands that,” Komsic said.

The Presidency Chairman said that “we are having meetings with Vucic, but with the Republic of Croatia, we cannot achieve that level (of cooperation).”

Komsic said he met with the Croatian President at a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

“It was decent. There was no criticism,” he said.

“These are not issues that are resolved at that level. We all try to be decent,” he added.