If Bosnia falls, there will be no Montenegro either. There is no time for mistakes anymore, says the writer Andrej Nikolaidis at today’s protest in front of the headquarters of the EU Delegation in Podgorica. This gathering has supported the initiative of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian diaspora on peaceful civic gatherings in Brussels and many other cities across Europe and the world in order to preserve and strengthen the civic and united Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Nikolaidis’s speech was handed over to the Head of the EU Delegation, Cristina Oana Popa.
“Two and a half decades after the end of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country is again in imminent danger of war. The goal of the war is the same again: the secession of parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its annexation to Serbia. The ideology that leads the country to conflict is the same again: Greater Serbian nationalism. Only the implementers are different: instead of Karadzic and Mladic, there is now the successor of their criminal project, Milorad Dodik. The inspirer and brain of the operation is the same again: official Belgrade”, Nikolaidis has said.
“What is the purpose of two and a half decades of engagement of our ‘Western allies’ in the Balkans if the region is on the brink of war again? What is the purpose of the Hague Tribunal if the crimes for which that tribunal tried will be repeated, in the name of the same great state goals? What is the purpose of the Hague Tribunal if the territorial goals for which the committed crimes dealt with by that court – were achieved?
Isn’t all this a clear sign of the catastrophically wrong policy of the West towards the Balkans, first of all towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, and today towards Montenegro as well?”, Nikolaidis wants to know.
“If there are those who ask themselves in self-sufficient political illiteracy ‘why is Podgorica dealing with Bosnia, when it has many of its own problems?’, here’s a reminder: no country and no man, is an island. So, don’t ask yourselves for whom the bell tolls: it always tolls for you. If Bosnia falls, there will be no Montenegro either. The destinies of these two countries are inseparably linked today.
There is no time for mistakes”, he stresses.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina is an internationally recognized state. It is no one’s prey. It cannot be divided and dissolved, no more than any other state whose territorial integrity is protected by international law. Today, it’s about Bosnia and Herzegovina, tomorrow it’s about Montenegro. No nationalism, no large-scale neighbor’s project has the right to parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor can such an idea be tolerated under the guise of ‘pragmatic politics’ and ‘calming tensions’ in the Balkans”, Nikolaidis points out.
“All responsibility for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina lies with the European Union and the United States, because they have all the mechanisms to ensure peace.
The fact that peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina is threatened again is scandalous and it severely accuses the EU and the USA.
The West’s policy towards nationalist policies that threaten the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus, peace in the Balkans, needs urgent and radical revision.
In the hope that they will understand this critical speech towards their policy in the Balkans in accordance with the rhetorical support they do not fail to give to critical speech of any kind, we are giving this text to the EU representatives in Montenegro”, Nikolaidis has concluded.
