Koljevic Meets Tudjman

* Can you please tell us on whose initiative the meeting took place?

On my initiative. After the initial success of the last cease-fire, I noticed that Mr. Tudjman was willing to establish friendly relations between Serbs and Croats. I saw this as a chance to attempt something on my own, and if I succeed, so much the better. I turned to Mr. Boras (the vice-president of HDZ /Croatian Democratic Union/ for Bosnia), with whom I spoke earlier on the Serbo-Croatian relations. He is a man who has Serbs in his family, his daughter-in-law is Serbian, I think. I met with the positive reaction; we went to Gratz, and then to Zagreb; we did not stay the night at Banski Dvori (Tudjman's residence), as you say, but at "Intercontinental", if you must know. The wide public condemnation of this meeting can only be politically detrimental. I think that Serbs and Croats should become Bosnian ambassadors in Serbia and Croatia. Firstly, to make sure that they won't be separated from their homeland, and secondly, because of the future association which, heavens permitting, will be formed. Since the only chance for Serbia and Croatia to establish relations is precisely through Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is infinitely better than the politics of isolation which B&H is furthering at present. Another thing I wish to stress is that cease-fire is one thing and lasting peace another, which foreigners know only too well. I think that even in this case Bosnian Serbs and Croats should play a decisive role, especially in Eastern and Western Herzegovina. I hope that these talks will continue, one way or another. That will probably happen, and you have been the first to know.

* Did you speak with Tudjman about the division of Bosnia (the public is speculating on that issue)?

We talked about the transformation of Bosnia, the separation of national entities and separate and common institutions in Bosnia. We have already done that, we have formed the Serbian Parliament It is the precondition for political life in Bosnia which should be established as soon as possible. This is why: the HDZ/SDA (the Croatian Democratic Union and the /Moslem/ Party of Democratic Action) coalition was destructive and it forced Serbs to strike back, which resulted in anarchy. In Bosnia peace was paid for with brutal anarchy which was even greater than either in Croatia or in Serbia. Although we know how big a price had to be paid for maintaining the authority of power in both Croatia and Serbia - the price of war. But we have also preserved the peace at a very high price of anarchy, which looked something like this: the legal organs, the republic parliament, the presidency, the government were passing the decisions which the Serbian people found unacceptable. The Serbian people reacted to that, as you may well remember, with regionalization and the latest incident happened in Banjaluka, with their failure to pay in taxes to the republic funds. It was the case of - you keep saying what you like and we'll keep doing what we like. That is anarchy. That anarchy was made possible solely by the coalition SDA/HDZ which was detrimental to the Serbian people. I also think that a possible coalition between HDZ and SDS (Serbian Democratic Party) would not be a good thing. You can well imagine what would that mean for Moslems. I keep repeating that the mistake the Moslem leaders are making is that they insist on distancing themselves from Serbs one minute, and from Croats the next, which looks something like this: before the war with Serbs, during the war with Croats, after the war with Serbs, then again with Croats... that caused the political instability in B&H. If we establish the national political institutions to the desired extent and unite them with common organs of power where consensus will be predominant in decision- making, then I think, there is a chance for democracy and that would be the key to the stability of Bosnia.

* Since you are familiar with the idea of the cantonization of Bosnia, do you see it realized within the independent Bosnia or as a federal unit of some future, let us call it Federal State of Yugoslavia?

See, I told Alija Izetbegovic (the president of Bosnia) one thing, governed by the Moslem position. Moslems want a sovereign Bosnia, Serbs don't want that and neither do the Croats. Moslems want a unified Bosnia, they don't want to see it split. I think that both these requests are unrealistic. I understand fully the need or the fear of Moslems, if you like, of Serbian or Croatian domination. But you can not achieve that by reducing the Serbian population to a minority or by doing the same to the Croats. I am telling them to decide whether they want a unified Bosnia which will not be entirely sovereign or do they want it to be Moslem Bosnia. So let Moslem Bosnia be sovereign. Can Bosnia be sovereign and unified at the same time? Not likely.