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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1993)
COMMENTARY Battle in Bosnia — a war created by politicians By Shin Yasut Winter is coming to Bosnia - Herr, ego vina with a cold wind of betrayal and neglect. Hope in Bosnia is withering in the cold wind And Bosnia is i nllapsing The collapse of Bosnia is < asting a doubt on the abilities of the United Nations, especially those of the United States and Euro pean nations. Is Bosnia really in a quagmire7 Yes, hut it's a perceived quag mire. There have been peace negotiations outside of Bosnia Herzegovina, hut they haven't tool bed on Jh.e C'jrC cf the !«i!kan crisis — avoiding "the” quagmire. If a peace agreement bused on demands from aggressors were implemented, it would only pro long the conflict and deepen the hostilities among different nationalities. It would be a real quagmire, and certainly the l foil ed States troops would he con fused with the question, "Whom should we defend?" In the beginning, the war in Bosnia was neither ethnic nor religious It was purely a politi cal war. which was created and guided bv people who wanted to preserve their own privilege and power. There would have been no place for politicians like .Slo bodan Milosevic if democratiza tion had proceeded intact liven the notion of (Ireater Serbia is uti lized by Milosevic and Ins i irclns in Belgrade for their own cause In Serbia, there are politicians like Vojislav Seselj and Zelko Raznjatovic (Arkau) who seized the moment to gain power with help of the concept of Greater Serbia. Milosevic knows why Tito could keep power so long — the military Since the breakup of Yugoslavia. Milosevic gradual ly succeeded in placing the mil itary under his control The Yugoslavia People's Army, which once claimed to be fourth-largest army in Europe, succumbed to Mi loses ic and the Army of Ser ine. Milosevic: can use the army, the unions, parliament and tele vision He instigated the local Serbs m Bosnia w ith nationalist propaganda and armed them Radvan ^-1. md111 *s merely a pup* put. and anyone c ould replace his position if Karadzic sought an independent c ourse Bosnia-Herzegovina. with dreadful memories of World War II. showed how marvelous a mul tiethnic: soc iety could l>e until the war began in 1002. Bosnia might have been an artificial creation for a buffer /one between Croat ia and Serbia, but many Bosni ans, especially in cities, devel oped a sense of tolerance and mutual trust regardless of Un political maneuvering Inveterate hatred and ancient antagonism have lieen spoken by people who try to justify geno c ide in Bosnia Serbian national ists appealed to their own his torical truth, and Croatian c ounterparts have their own vc-r sum of the truth It was Bosnia - Herzegovina that tried to escape from conflic ts of ' truth." Tin claim that Allja Izetbegovic want ed to create a pure Muslim state is doubtful, and tho Bosnian gov iimmitnl vs as i learlv < ommttted in maintenance of a multinational statu with a democratio < (institu tion In Croatia. President Frnnjo Tudjmnn and the right wing HI)/, (the Croatian Dermx ratio Com rminitv) politii ions, influented hv Her/egovman lobby. have been supporting tho partition of Bosnia Them am moderate politii ions in tho HIV/. liberals and military personnel who are opposed to Tudjman s polo v toward Bosnia Re< ently . espe cially after his re elci turn as head of the 111)/.. Tud|inan has pledged to take a more moderate course, though it s not i lear how muc h influence he has even in Ins own party The Croatian government armed Bosnian Croats, and para militaries from Croatia and the Croat National Guard fought on the side of the HVO Politii inns from western Herzegovina try to achieve their goals at the cost of Bosnian Croats who live else where in Bosnia Bosnian (‘.routs in central Bosnia have been forced to flee hv tin- Muslim led Bosnian Army All three sides have tieen i ommitting atnx dies and brutality, though Muslims have suffered the most The Bosnian government didn’t do the same thing as the Croatian and the Serbian gov ernments did that is, arming people before the possible explo sion of hostilities Without defi nite patronage from outside Mus lims Indies ed It was ihm essarv to seize strategic areas m central Bosnia while the Bosnian gov ernment was hemg pressured to accept the partition plan pro posed h\ Serbs and ( '.mats this summer Now it seems too late, and both Serbian and Croatian aggressors .ire on the verge of vii lory in Bosnia extremists have successfully replaced the politi cal war with the ethnic war When 1 was in Croatia this summer. I visited several Croat inn pencil organizations that are i omrnitted to bringing 11 lasting peace to ex Yugoslavia hike ill Croatia, there are many oppose turn groups and pent e ai.ti\ ists in Vojvodina. Serbia, Kosovo, Mai edonni ami Montenegro It 's important to maintain these orga ni/.ations to create genuine democrat v and t iv il society in ex Yugoslavia They need fi nun - i ial as well as moral sup port from outside countries Democrat v in Bosnia ller/.e govino should he restored w ith pro vvar borders bet ause of the territorv and the set uritv that are prov ided 1»v the l ulled Nations I et's throw uwuv the "quagmire pholn.i" and f.u e the problem in earnest Stephen W Walker, one of three former foreign service officers who resigned over U S policy toward Bosnia, said, 1 he only thing that would prevent Bosnia s t ollapse would lie an enormous. [lomiunenl, Berlin Air II ft-like military and ei onoinic defense It's not too late, anti the United Stales ( an land should) play a crucial rule fur juste e anti humanity It is also important to dual w ith the Balkan crisis as a w hole Croatia wants to get twii k the ter ritorv that has Ikkmi (h copied h\ tht> (roatian Sorbs The issues of Kosovo and M.u edouia must be fot usod he< auso they may alfis t areas beyond tho lfalk.an peuin sola While mam people have lost trust in different nationalities, there are stdl people who wish to live in it multinational sot iety Suppose deutiH mi y vs as replaced m Bosnia. Croatia and Serbia It might tiike a long time to ease the tensions and heal the soars left in people’s minds bvtm so. the establishment or re-establishment of denuk rat v in ev 1 ugoslavia would U’ it significant step for the progress of their so< ieties llow ever, .is long as politicians like Milosevu . Kuradrn , Tudjman and Mate Boh.in are in power, there won’t he any peat e in ev Yugoslavia Shin Yasut is a firr /niirnulism student ill the l nn ersiti *: Banyan lire | ,, if41 » . »/ <1'L* • p 4 S ' i h t , K) M il • i i.’! v*if ■S7T SiRlCji \~r>y~ Corner of 5th and High, Eugene • Open 7 Days a Week