Bosnia Minister urges Kosovo, Montenegro, Croatia to unite against Serbia

Minister of Interior of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ramo Isak said that the glorification of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić in Serbia and Republika Srpska represents a direct security threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans, arguing that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Croatia should form a common front against Serbia.

Isak said that, for him, “the top priority of foreign and security policy is strengthening Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ties with Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and all other countries in the region that have an interest in ensuring that the Balkans never again becomes a space where territorial ambitions, ethnic nationalism and the rehabilitation of wartime policies turn into violence,” CE Report quotes MIA.

He added that he was referring to “creating a front against the fanatic Chetnik ideology in Serbia”, stressing that “its political manifestations represent a direct threat to the constitutional and legal order, security, democracy and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia and Albania.”

“In Serbia and the BiH entity of Republika Srpska, the glorification of war criminal Ratko Mladić has reached such a level of political, social and institutional legitimacy that it can no longer be described as marginal nationalism,” Isak said.

Such phenomena, he added, must not be treated solely as a security challenge, but as a direct threat to long-term peace, political stability and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire Western Balkans.

“The EU has clearly stated that the glorification of war criminals, denial of genocide and historical revisionism have no place either in the European Union or in candidate countries. That message must have concrete consequences,” Isak said.

He called on the Council of the EU to change the existing regime of restrictive measures by introducing public glorification of individuals legally convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as a separate and explicit basis for sanctions. He also called for sanctions over the denial of legally established genocide and other international crimes, as well as revisionist attempts to justify them.

Photo Facebook/ramo.isak.fb