The support of all NATO members is necessary in order for Croatian troops to participate in EUFOR’s mission in Bosnia, but this is highly unlikely, Alija Kozljak, the former military representative of BiH to NATO, told N1.
He explained that, although theoretically, it could be possible, it will not happen for several reasons.
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“Annex 1a explicitly excludes Croatia defining it as ‘foreign troops’ that were in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war. NATO can refer to this article. Therefore, NATO, the member states that make the decision will take into account all the arguments that bring peace and stability to BiH,” Kozljak explained.
What makes this possibility even less likely are the many controversial statements by Croatian officials regarding BiH which produce tensions, especially those coming from Croatian President, Zoran Milanovic, who said on several occasions that BiH should not be a NATO member. Meanwhile, Milanovic also strongly advocates for Croatia’s participation in the EUFOR mission.
Kozljak argued that “the hostile rhetoric of the president of the neighbouring state, Milanovic, further confirms that Croatian troops should not be deployed in BiH”.
Croatia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Gordan Grlic – Radman, recently sent a letter to NATO Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, warning him that the unity of NATO could be threatened if Croatia is not allowed to send its troops to participate in a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Any attempt to prevent Croatia from realizing these rights, obligations and responsibilities in this context represents a discriminatory practice, ignores the changing political and legal environment and violates the principle of equality of member states as a fundamental principle of the European Union,” he stressed in the letter.
This prompted BiH Presidency member, Zeljko Komsic, to also send a letter to Stoltenberg in which he pointed out that Croatia participated in the war in BiH, which was determined by the Hague Tribunal.
“That is why it is inappropriate for the NATO alliance to include forces in the EUFOR mission whose military and political leadership has been judged to be part of a joint criminal enterprise. The aim of this undertaking was to create ethnically cleansed parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the military and political administration of the neighbouring Republic of Croatia,” Komsic wrote, adding that “such political ambitions of the Republic of Croatia towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sovereign and independent state, exist even today.”
There are meanwhile still active investigations into crimes allegedly committed by the Croatian army against Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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