Bakir Izetbegovic, Deputy Speaker of Bosnia’s House of Peoples and the leader of the main Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA), said he did not believe there would be a leader among the Serbs who would sign the independence of Kosovo but if that happens it might, according to him, “increase appetites” for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Speaking to local media in Sarajevo, Izetbegovic said this might lead to asking for compensation for the Serbs and Serbia. 

“There will be lot of fuss and talk, which will eventually calm down and nothing will happen. Because the Serb side and Serb forces committed crimes and ethnic cleansing both in Kosovo and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this side got too much in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Dayton Peace Agreement (a treaty that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war),” the Bosniak leader told Radiosarajevo.ba news portal.

“Anything more than that would lead to new conflicts and a scenario that nobody needs, especially not Bosnian Serbs. Genocide cannot and will not be rewarded with independence (of Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s Serb-dominated region), by no means,” he added.

According to him, Bosnian Serbs have a complex identity as they are fond of Serbia and Belgrade but, he added, they should not dislike Bosnia and Herzegovina or Sarajevo, the places they come from and their neighbours.