Zagreb meeting went well and sincere talk lasted for hours, Bosniak leader Bakir Izetbegovic said upon the return from Croatian capital where he and Bosnian Croat leader Dragan Covic met with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.
One of the problems discussed in the meeting was the status of Croat people, one of three major ethnic groups, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Izetbegovic confirmed, adding that this was, however, not the only issue the officials talked about.
“I also presented a series of facts about the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the status of Croats and Bosniaks, their relationship, the stalemate in implementation of election results and appointments in the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH (Bosniak-Croat shared semi-autonomous region), and I asked for the open issues between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to be finally solved,” said Izetbegovic, the leader of the main Bosniak party, SDA.
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The meeting came weeks after Bosnian Serb leader, also the Serb Presidency member, Milorad Dodik, visited Zagreb and met Croatia's top officials. The trip sparked reactions back in Bosnia, particularly by other two Presidency members, Bosniak Sefik Dzaferovic and Croat Zeljko Komsic, who said Dodik was not representing the Presidency but was on a private visit.
Only a day later, Dodik confirmed he was there to represent Serbs, not Bosnia.
Asked to comment on the statements that by travelling to Croatia as a party leader and meeting its officials he “legitimised” Dodik's trip to Zagreb and that he also “devalued” the state institutions, Izetbegovic replied that what he “cushioned” Dodik's visit and “made a balance.”
“This was in the first place the visit of the SDA leader to the HDZ leader (Croatian PM Plenkovic), which focused on the relations of the parties that to a great extent represent the Bosniaks and Croats and which to a great extent participate in the structure of government in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I cannot see anything devaluing, harmful here,” said Izetbegovic, announcing new meetings.
“It is important to communicate because being silent deteriorates relations,” he added.
