Denis Bećirović, a member of the three-person Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina who represents the country’s Muslim Bosniaks, called on NATO on Monday to deploy troops in the country to “prevent peace violations,” as reported by the Klix portal. Bećirović met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels.
The Bosnian politician emphasized that his country is “on the threshold of joining NATO.”
The Secretary General of the Alliance acknowledged that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made progress towards obtaining the status of a candidate country.
“We also appreciate Bosnia-Herzegovina’s contributions to our common security. And I welcome your efforts to upgrade your armed forces to work even more closely with NATO. And we stand ready to continue our political dialogue and strengthen our practical cooperation.” said Stoltenberg, emphasizing the need for further reforms.
“All formal requirements for BiH to apply for NATO membership have been met,” added Bećirović.
A member of the Bosnian Presidency proposed “periodic meetings between representatives of the Alliance and BiH” as well as “the presence of NATO troops in military bases in BiH.” NATO soldiers were stationed in the country until the end of 2004 when the responsibility for peacekeeping after the 1990s war was taken over by EU stabilization forces.
Bećirović stated that “NATO is one of the key factors ensuring peace and stability in BiH, and the citizens appreciate this.”
Source of tensions
Political leaders of Bosnian Serbs accuse the Muslim population of radicalism and terrorism to discredit them in the eyes of the West, sensitive to the phrase ‘Muslim radicalism,’ assessed Paulina Wankiewicz, an analyst at the Center for Eastern Studies, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The President of Republika Srpska (RS), the predominantly Serbian autonomous region of BiH, warned in March about “the most dangerous source of terrorism in Europe, which is Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
“We cannot turn a blind eye to this problem, and we must finally start solving it,” wrote Milorad Dodik, a pro-Russian politician subject to sanctions by the USA and the United Kingdom, on the X platform, who has repeatedly threatened with the secession of RS.
“This is a biased narrative of Bosnian Serbs aimed at discrediting Muslims, who constitute about 51% of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These statements are intended to serve domestic policy in a country with a complex political system based on the existence of three nations,” noted Wankiewicz.
“The other side responds by alleging that Serbs are developing paramilitary units in BiH in cooperation with Russia, so accusations of radicalism appear on both sides. It is also known how the West reacts to the possibility of Muslim radicalism appearing in Europe,” she emphasized.
“In the past, French President Emmanuel Macron called BiH a ‘ticking bomb,’ and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán admitted that the problem in accepting the country into the European Union may be its Muslim population,” the OSW expert reminded.
The Secretary General of the Alliance acknowledged that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made progress towards obtaining the status of a candidate country.
“We also appreciate Bosnia-Herzegovina’s contributions to our common security. And I welcome your efforts to upgrade your armed forces to work even more closely with NATO. And we stand ready to continue our political dialogue and strengthen our practical cooperation.” said Stoltenberg, emphasizing the need for further reforms.
“All formal requirements for BiH to apply for NATO membership have been met,” added Bećirović.
A member of the Bosnian Presidency proposed “periodic meetings between representatives of the Alliance and BiH” as well as “the presence of NATO troops in military bases in BiH.” NATO soldiers were stationed in the country until the end of 2004 when the responsibility for peacekeeping after the 1990s war was taken over by EU stabilization forces.
Bećirović stated that “NATO is one of the key factors ensuring peace and stability in BiH, and the citizens appreciate this.”
Source of tensions
Political leaders of Bosnian Serbs accuse the Muslim population of radicalism and terrorism to discredit them in the eyes of the West, sensitive to the phrase ‘Muslim radicalism,’ assessed Paulina Wankiewicz, an analyst at the Center for Eastern Studies, in an interview with the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
The President of Republika Srpska (RS), the predominantly Serbian autonomous region of BiH, warned in March about “the most dangerous source of terrorism in Europe, which is Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
“We cannot turn a blind eye to this problem, and we must finally start solving it,” wrote Milorad Dodik, a pro-Russian politician subject to sanctions by the USA and the United Kingdom, on the X platform, who has repeatedly threatened with the secession of RS.
“This is a biased narrative of Bosnian Serbs aimed at discrediting Muslims, who constitute about 51% of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These statements are intended to serve domestic policy in a country with a complex political system based on the existence of three nations,” noted Wankiewicz.
“The other side responds by alleging that Serbs are developing paramilitary units in BiH in cooperation with Russia, so accusations of radicalism appear on both sides. It is also known how the West reacts to the possibility of Muslim radicalism appearing in Europe,” she emphasized.
“In the past, French President Emmanuel Macron called BiH a ‘ticking bomb,’ and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán admitted that the problem in accepting the country into the European Union may be its Muslim population,” the OSW expert reminded.
Source: PAP, nato.int
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