A Muslim member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic is unhappy with the position that Sandzak County has in Serbia, and claims that Bosnia and Herzegovina will unilaterally recognize Kosovo’s independence. He also says that Bosnia should have already done this.
“As far as I am concerned, Kosovo’s independence should have been recognized long time ago. Of course, this is now going to infuriate our counterparts”, said Izetbegovic in an interview for Deutsche Welle (DW).
When asked directly whether Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) going to recognize Kosovo’s independence, Izetbegovic said simply: “I hope it would”.
Izetbegovic, who is the leader of the Muslim part of Bosnia, adds that he now has good relations with all political leaders in Sandzak, and goes on to say that he is not satisfied with the position of this region in Serbia which is populated mostly by Muslims. He thinks that Serbia should drop its paternal control over Sandzak.
Serbia, Izetbegovic adds, should stop imposing its views on Sandzak particularly when it comes to how many Muslims should make police force here, or how many will be appointed judges, or what names are schools going to be called.
“You have to let people breathe, build infrastructure…”, Izetbegovic, who is also the leader of the SDA party in Bosnia, says.
Several months ago, the Kosovo PM urged Bosnia to recognize Kosovo’s independence, provoking immediate response from Serb representatives in BiH institutions.
BiH Foreign Minister, Igor Crnadak said in late September that BiH would not only not recognize Kosovo – but would not even consider it. The president of the Serb entity in BiH, the Republic of Srpska (RS), also confirmed that Kosovo would not be recognized.
“Without the consent of the RS, Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot and will not recognize Kosovo – since all parties in the RS have reached a consensus on this issue,” Milorad Dodik said.
Izetbegovic also confirms this in the Deutsche Welle interview by saying: “Without the consent of two other members of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Presidency, especially its Serbian member, the official Sarajevo cannot make this decision”.
(Blic, 13.11.2017)
http://www.blic.rs/vesti/republika-srpska/izetbegovic-nadam-se-da-ce-bih-priznati-kosovo/kb0wbny
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