Today, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Serbs have their own entity, Serbian Republic (Republika srpska) and Bosniaks/Muslims dominate the Federation entity where Bosniaks and Croats were intended to hold equal rights, political and existential power. That was the intention and the spirit of the 1995 Dayton Accords, which were designed to keep BiH in one piece, at peace, led and lived by three Constitutional people: Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs.
In the early 1990s when Serb and Yugoslav People’s Army pursued a terrible and bloody war of aggression in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina aggression in order to stop the imminent break-up of former communist Yugoslavia, in order to stop death of communism and birth of democracy, Bosnia and Herzegovina saw an increasing crush of Croat’s rights and identity. Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims (a.k.a. Bosniaks) ruled the day and wielded power (for their own interests) on the international scene, leaving Croats stranded in the waters of political and existential insignificance. In November 1991, as Croatia’s Vukovar fell under the bloody Serb onslaught, the Croats of BiH, rightfully fearing their self-preservation formed the Croatian Community of Herzeg Bosnia (Herceg Bosna), within the borders of BiH. The war of aggression raged and ravaged and on 28 August 1993, with Croatia’s support, the Republic of Herzeg Bosnia was proclaimed as an entity within BiH, that would see Croat majority fight for and defend their existence as rightful people of BiH.
Tuesday 28 August 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of Herceg Bosna; an administratively, legally based unit of BiH that would serve as a platform for Croats to defend themselves from the Serbian and Yugoslav Army onslaught and aggression, and later from the Bosniak, Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, onslaught, which brought to its aid the murderous Mujahedeen from the Middle East.
With the 1995 Dayton Accords and the consequent final abolishment of the Republic of Herceg Bosna in 1996 meant that Croats of BiH were once again left without a strong voice and the threat of their rights’ deterioration. Bosnia and Herzegovina was thus divided into two entities: Serbian Republic and the BiH Federation made up of Bosniaks and Croats.
The creation of Herzeg Bosnia’s own defence forces – Croatian Defence Council (HVO) meant that while the Republic of Herceg Bosna existed it was the only region of BiH where Croats of BiH were not systematically murdered, massacred, ethnically cleansed, persecuted – in which their homes were protected and in which they did not fear for their own lives. Herceg Bosna was the region in BiH where Bosniak’s and Serbs’ homes were not taken away, where Bosniak and Serb civilians were not systematically persecuted not ethnically cleansed.
Renowned historian Ivo Lucic, states:
“Although these statements (paragraph above) may appear controversial (even unacceptable) in the Serbian and especially in the Bosniak media and public, there is much evidence supporting the truth of them. And that evidence is best seen today. It’s enough to just pass through the Croatian villages that were under the Serbian Army (Serbs) and under the Army of BiH (Bosniaks) control and one can clearly see what occurred during the war. Only in Bugojno (under Bosniak control) there were at least ten Croatian villages completely destroyed and devastated, ceased to exist – not a single person lives in them today. In some of them not a single home has been restored.
On the other hand, in Livno, Ljubuski, Tomislavgrad, Ukoplje, Prozor … (Croat control) not a single Bosniak village ceased to exist.
During the war, for example, Croatian civilians, fearing for their own lives, walked across Kupres to Herceg Bosna. Those that remained in Bugojno and fell into Bosniak hands know best the fate to which they succumbed.
Naturally, Herceg Bosna was also not some arcade along which milk and honey flowed, but the fact is that during 1990’s that was the most prosperous space within BiH, and to some extent it remains that to this day…
Herceg Bosna had its own sins – some war crimes did occur, prisoners of war camps did exist. Civilians did suffer. Many were banished but that was not done systematically. I.e., Bosniak civilians were banished from West Mostar, but not from Livno, Tomislavgrad, Ljubuski… In addition, people returned to Herceg Bosna unimpeded, which cannot be said either for Serbian Republic or the territory under Bosniak control then known as the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity.
Furthermore, the return to those territories has been systematically sabotaged. Those are the facts that are being covered up. Also, the majority of war crimes committed on the territory of Herceg Bosna have been processed, those who committed them and those who ordered them have been punished; the same cannot be said for the other sides’ war crimes. Especially when it comes to war crimes committed in the areas controlled by Bosniaks’ Army. Even to this day those war crimes are described as ‘incidents’, and attempts are still afoot to try and show that Croats forcefully deported themselves and similar third-class absurdities.
It’s evident today that shutting down of Herceg Bosna was a key mistake made by the Croatian political leadership because, since then, Croats have no political or other equality in BiH…Croats of BiH could soon become second-class citizens of BiH even if their ancestors had lived there for centuries.
While in reality both the Serbian Republic and the Federation of BiH are prisons – Croats have lost their rights in Serbian Republic a long time ago (if they ever had any at all) and in the Federation they are on the verge of losing their rights as Constitutional people – the idea of Herceg Bosna gains more focus on the collective conscience of the Croatian people and as the ideal concept of freedom that is today being lost…”
A catastrophic step in Croats’ of BiH demise is indeed wrapped up in the prospect where Croats become second-class citizens in their own homeland of BiH and if they lose the right to decide for themselves, to elect their own representatives in the governing of BiH on all levels. The imminent general elections that are to occur in BiH in October, with Bosniaks pushing again to elect Croat representatives for Croats, if declared valid, even though the Electoral law had not been changed as directed by the Constitutional court, will indeed set an even stronger stage upon which the idea and absolute justification for a revived Hreceg Bosna is likely to gain more support.
Happy 25th birthday – Herceg Bosna! Ina Vukic