Bosnia like Nagorno Karabakh, Serbia and Kosovo like FRG and GDR?
I was quite impressed by the statement made by Hido Biščević, secretary-general of the Regional Cooperation Council for South Eastern Europe (RCC) in an interview, that the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is “extremely worrisome” and now appears to be turning into a “dormant frozen conflict”.
“To be very honest, I think the political situation in BiH at the moment is very worrisome, extremely worrisome. It appears to be a dormant, frozen conflict,” said Biščević, implicitly comparing the situation in the former Yugoslav country with unresolved conflicts in the post-Soviet space, such as Transnistria or Nagorno-Karabakh.
I asked Mr. Biščević if Moscow was not involved, as whenever we speak of a frozen conflict, Russia is not very far.
“I would not say that anyone is interfering, but there are obviously very different positions throughout the international community”, he answered, adding that the Russians for example, who do not recognise Kosovo, “have an outlook based on their own foreign policy issues”.
Another thing that stuck me from this intsrview was the comparison between Serbia and its former province Kosovo, now independent, with Germany in the recent past.
Maybe some remember that from 1949 until the 1970s the Federal Republic of Germany considered East Germany, or the German Democtratic Republic, as an illegaly constituted state. FRG at that time even severed diplomatic relations with all countries which recognised GDR, except the USSR. Only with chancellor Willy Brandt and his Ostpolitik in the 1970s normal diplomatic relations were established, allowing the two Germanies to obtain UN membership.
History apparently shows us that in worse circumstances, more difficult issues have been solved.
You can see Mr. Biščević speaking to EurActiv below:
Georgi Gotev is senior editor of EurActiv