No Man's Land

Article by Boris Kanev. Edited by Liam Geoghegan. Additional Research by Michelle Brien.  

Bosnia and Herzegovina, situated in the west part of the Balkan peninsula, commenced its independent existence in 1995, with the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord. The statement that, fourteen years later, the country still gravitates around the dead star of Yugoslavia, seems not deprived of accuracy. Bosnia convulsively shudders and her heart woefully pulsates, locked in a frame, depicted mainly by the melancholic and depressive colours of the former Yugo reality and enmeshed in a senseless fratricidal war. 

The state is divided into two main administrative entities – Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska. Respectively, the former is chiefly resided by Bosniaks and Croats, and the latter by Serbs. Both parts have relatively autonomic governments, subordinated to the supreme and central Bosnian parliament, characterised by a rotating presidency. Overarching all these structures is the so-called Office of the High Representative, which is perceived as a guarantor for the political stability of the state and has to abide by the directives of the Dayton Peace agreement. Such a system is subject to constant criticism for its incapability to curb the pervasive waves of internal tension. In fact, it is the last in a chain of problems for the people of this particular Balkan area. 

Undoubtedly Bosnia is unique in one aspect. She is like a mirror: clearly synthesizing the contradictions tearing the Balkans apart. Three ethnic groups woven in a conflict, strained by a fratricidal war and genocide: Croats, Serbs and the so-known Bosniaks. Similar to a substantial number of the Balkan states, a prime source (origin) of the consequently escalated tension is specified to be the five centuries long Ottoman governance and its legacy. The Empire tended to forcibly convert its ‘infidel’ servants. In the name of historical truth, the mere fact must be highlighted that the Bosniaks are ethnic Serbs or Croats. They accepted Islam a few centuries ago. 

In Bulgaria, people who had similar faith are know as Pomacs. In this train of thought the name “Bosniak” as a sign of an ethnic belonging is of the same weight as the artificial division between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and Congo. Historically, “Bosniak” is not a ethnic category, but the name given by the locals, in the indigenous tongue, to those who bent under the green banner of the Koran. For a creed to be placed on the same footing as a national or ethnic identity is sheer nonsense. However, this is exactly what occurred in Bosnia. A paradox with universal outcome that led to thedoom of thousands of people. Yet, to cast all the blame upon the legacy of the Ottoman empire would be inadequate. Here we come across the second terminal issue that ruined the prospects of a smooth development for many Eastern European states – the socialist regime. In the case of Bosnia, Tito, the long standing leader of Yugoslavia, decided to copy the model of federalism in analogy of the USSR. For the disaster of the next generations, he had, if not ultimate, at least substantial success in the process of “creation” of nations and identities. In a similar way, breath was given to a controversial “nation”, Macedonia, as the descendant of the Empire of Alexander the Great. Nowadays, this state constantly astounds the world and especially its Greek neighbours with bizarre claims. In this line of misunderstandings should be counted the Montenegro nation and the fostering of a “favourable” environment for conceiving the lamentably reputed Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

And, if once Bosnia belonged to Serbs or Croats, today it is a no man’s land. Soaked in blood, decaying in a ferocious strain, Bosnia dreams to tread the long, difficult and thorny path towards the EU. Why not? There is no conflict in Bosnia anymore. What is left is the ruined hopes of poor people, blindly wandering in a labyrinth of insanity, who are waiting for their new fanatical leader to use them as a live force in achieving his ‘holy’ tasks. Then only one thing is more than certain – Bosnia, as a metaphor for the whole Balkans, will be again seduced and brutally abused for she will always repeat the same mistake – excessive trust in the friendship of her wooers. A suicidal attitude in a world of a fragile amity but enduring interests.

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