News in English     | 29.02.2020. 16:10 |

Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrates 28 years of independence on March 1 (VIDEO)

FENA Alma Zukanović

SARAJEVO, February 29 (FENA) - On March 1, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be marking the 28th anniversary since its citizens decided at a referendum to become have an independent state.

Citizens answered one question "Are you in favor of a sovereign and independent Bosnia-Herzegovina, a state of equal citizens and nations of Muslims, Serbs, Croats and others who live in it?". Results showed they were, indeed, in favor.

The Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the most significant events in the history of the country, but it's not marked in the entire country equally even though decision-makers, including politicians, historians, reporters and professors, agree on two things - the holding of the referendum was inevitable and the independence of BiH was exclusively the decision of its citizens.

Historian Husnija Kamberović stressed the inevitability of the referendum, emphasizing that there was no alternative since, at the time, other nationalistic sentiment started to rise, such as the Serb, Croat and Slovene nationalism, who all denounced Yugoslavia and, thus, BiH had no other solution.

"BiH could have stayed in something that was only formally known as Yugoslavia, but was actually 'Greater Serbia' or it could seek independence - Kamberović told FENA, adding that BiH and its leaders were still trying to preserve Yugoslavia the best way they could.

Member of the war-time Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, academician Ejup Ganić, is of the strong opinion that the referendum had no alternative and that it was the only way to preserve the country and to survive. Even though many citizens do not celebrate March 1 - the Independence Day of BiH, he is of the attitude that they will realize in time why this date is so important for them and their country.

"If you lose your country, it takes 500 years to get it back and citizens of all nationalities made the decision on that day to vote for an independent and sovereign BiH. The referendum was a choice between either disappearing in the mists of time or preserving one's identity," Ganić told FENA.

He reminisced about his discussions with the former British Foreign Minister Lord Carrington, who was in charge of Yugoslavia, and the former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. They told him that the referendum is the only fate for BiH even though he felt a great responsibility on his shoulders on the day the referendum took place. Ganić was also worried about the war in neighbouring Croatia and militant groups that were deployed to battlefields.

The Vice President of the Parliament of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mariofil Ljubić, who signed the Decision to hold the Referendum, is of the opinion that the referendum was necessary and that all citizens had the right to voice their opinion on whether they would want to have an independent state without contemplating on the internal structure and organization of it.

Ljubić adds that the citizens of BiH were given an independent and sovereign country, but not the one that was fully functional because it is not what all its citizens had in mind.

He thinks that the Decision on the Referendum should have been signed earlier, since the Badinter Arbitration Committee stated in December 1991 that the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was dissolved which meant an end to state identity, but he stressed that the referendum did not decide on the events that took place after that.

"The referendum is not the reason for the events that took place later on because that would have happened sooner or later in some form or another. All but the referendum was disastrous because the citizens of BiH, as well as the Slovenes and Croats, had to have equal opportunity," Ljubić stressed.

Member of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirko Pejanović said that the the deicison to hold the referendum and its implementation that led to a sovereign and independent Republic of BiH represents a "historical shift".

"The referendum was a democratic expression of will of most citizens who wanted a sovereiogn and independent state and that is exactly what happend based on the results. That is how BiH entered the new international, European and world order and became subject to international law," Pejanović said.

Pejanović explained that by making such a decision, BiH set course for its future which entailed joining the EU and NATO.

However, Pejanović states that BiH was not lucky enough, historically speaking, to use its democratic rights in peace since a violent war erupted that destroyed Bosnia and Herzegovina after which the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed that enables sovreignity, integrity, independence and EU integration.

Member of the Parliament of the Republic of BiH, Miro Lazović, said that the independence referendum had to be held in 1992 since the international community condititioned it.

However, before adopting the decision to hold the referendum, Lazović said that the politicians tried to do everything they could in order to preserve what was left of former Yugoslavia, offering different projects that the Serb Democratic Party rejected.

"In such a situation, we were simply forced to make the decision on the referendum and that's what we did on January 25, 1992 at the dramatic and chaotic session of the Parliament of RBiH where I experienced inconvenience and threats," Lazović reminisced.

Talking about BiH today, he said that BiH was unnaturally divided into two entities and that it was faced with many problems that are the result of bad constitutional solutions of the Dayton Peace Agreement and that today's BiH is not the counry that people envisioned when asnwering the referendum question.

"The referendum question did not only preserve the framework of BiH, but also ensured that its contents are in line with it," Lazović concluded.

In numbers, 2,073,568 people voted in favor of the referendum which means that the total turnout of voters was 63.6 percent and almost all those who voted were in favor of independence. Only 0.3 percent of people or 6,037 people voted against.

The results of the referendum enabled the international recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state. Since then, March 1 is marked as the Independence Day of BiH.

In the fateful year of 1992, 76 countries of the world recognized BiH as an independent state. The first of those was Bulgaria even before the referendum on January 31, 1992. Since then, BiH established diplomatic relations with 180 countries of the world.

EU member states recognized BiH as an independent state on April 6, 1992 and the same was done by the United States of America a day later.

On May 22, 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a full member of the United Nations and it had its flag placed at the UN headquarters in New York. Not long after declaring independence, the four year agression against BiH was launched.

Watch http://fena.ba/video/4079

(FENA) L. N.

Vezane vijesti

Voter turnout for the referendum in Stari Grad Municipality until 3:00 p.m. was less than 10 percent

Everything ready for referendum on impeachment of Stari Grad Municipality Mayor, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić

Džaferović: BiH does not recognize separatist referendums in Ukraine

Promo

M:tel: Savršena kombinacija – Huawei telefon i pametni sat s popustom

M:tel: Stiglo nam je Proljeće!

Predstava 'Kako sam se nadala dobro se nisam udala' u BKC Sarajevo