Bosnia Blog

Finally finally….

I was searching the net, preparing for my trips to Berlin when Honza skyped me “Karadzic was arrested. I’m watching it on CNN.” “No, i can’t be. I’ve just surfed that site.” I objected and refreshing CNN home page, still nothing. I googled around but came up empty. Then there it was, the familiar breaking news yellow banner with the large text “War crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic has been arrested, AP reports quoting the office of Serbian president.” 

This is too good to be true. It’s… politics. Croatia and Serbia caught their infamous fugitives, well, in a very convenient time, too convenient I must say.

“Are you happy for Bosnians?” Honza asked me. “I think they will celebrate.”

I think they do too, at least the Bosniaks and Bosnian-Croats.  I hope Karadzic’s capture, thought done by Serbia special force, will help Bosnia’s EU case.

[Reuters]

Two weeks ago I arrived at The Hague, Netherlands to visit a friend of mine, N., who interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. She and I taught at the same high school in Sarajevo in 2006. I flew at 6:20 a.m., thus all I wanted to do the rest of the morning was to take  quick nap before exploring the city.   Eventually she convinced me to follow her to work and then went to the trial of the Bosnian Serb, Vojislav Seselj, founder and former president of  the Radical Serbian Party. Being a brilliant lawyer, Seselj defended himself against a panel of three judges and three/four prosecutors. On that day, the court interrogated him for crimes committed against Croatian civilians because all questions, facts and evidence focused on Croats and villages in Croatia; also the word “Frandjo Tudman” and “Utasha” came up frequently.

I had not had a fainted idea of Seselj before arriving at the trial. He made a good impression on me with his composure and his dominating of the invisible witness by his line of questioning. The witness kept saying “yes” and “i also heard that” and “i read that” to the majority of Seselj’s questions regarding Serb civilians being discriminated and oppressed under Tujdman’s regime.

Seselj studied law with my friend N.’s uncle at Sarajevo University and visited her grandparents’ house during the good old days when he was a “normal” man. “He was extremely smart and polite before he became crazy with his ideology.” She said. “You saw how he kept looking at me from the inside. He hates that he’s in there, and I’m out here.” “Why is that so?” I asked. “Uh, ’cause he and his men tried to kill people like me.”  (My friend N. wears a head-scalf.) 

Neither did I have paper and pen to jot down keywords nor I was allowed to take notes. Only visitors with press badges, who sit on the left side, can do this. For a complete transcript of the trial and video feeds of the courtroom, please check out the links below.

Notes: The trials are open to the public for free. You get a visitor ticket from the security-guarded reception, and then you can proceed to the courtrooms after leaving all electronics and dangerous objects in a locker.

Resources

• Website
• Transcript (only on the day I was there)
• Charges against him

On Sunday, 17 of February, 2008 Kosovo’ parliament declared independence from Serbia with back up of the USA, Britain, Germany and France.

[BBC]

Map

The Balkan border is a disputing issue as Slovenia is included on some maps and not on the other, and the part of Romania which belongs to this region is unclear.

Balkan Scissors blogs a short but fairly  detailed post describing the Balkan:

The identity of the Balkans owes as much to its fragmented and often violent common history as to its mountainous geography. The region was perennially on the edge of great empires, its history dominated by wars, rebellions, invasions and clashes between empires, from the times of the Roman Empire to the latter-day Yugoslav wars.

The author’s observation rang true during my recent travel to the mountainous region of Banat in Romania. More than twice, the word “Balkan” was sarcastically used when an unpleasant situation arose. (will be mentioned my next post about the Balkan)

Although the former characterization of the Balkans is widely used and extremely common today, it is important to note that this characterization is also widely exaggerated and may be connected to historically negative connotations the Balkans have amongst Western European nations and political elites. Recent problems and conflicts in the Balkans having to do with recent political and social divisions rather than the so-called age-old ‘tendency’ of the Balkan peoples to engage in war and conflicts.

Global Etiquette

So what should you do?

Czechs don’t like to be called Eastern Europeans because the term carries a negative connotation, implying a former, poor, screwed up Communist state. Also, in every geographical and historical senses, the Czech Republic lies in Central Europe, subjected to the rule of Austro-Hungarian empire for hundred of years and has been the culture center of Europe. Similarly, if you happen to be in contact with Slovenians or Croatians who are not your friends, you will be wise not to associate them to the Balkan as the term, for some, is not something to be proud of. Slovenia has become rightfully an EU member, converted to the EURO, and been doing economically well. Croatia has tried hard to follow its neighbor’s footsteps, thus getting rid of the Yugolsavia and Balkan past all together.

[Balkan Scissors]