Moslems In the Serbian Cinema

* Acknowledging a fair assumption that the fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina is primarily determined by the relationship between the Serbs and Moslems who live in it, and bearing in mind the fact that the present "interests" are virtually excluded, how do you view the future developments?

You see, you have used the term "the future developments" while I am concerned with the question of whether there will be a general war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is there any way we can avoid it. Three months ago my reply to that question was that "there won't be a general war in B& H if SDS (Serbian Democratic Party for Bosnia) manages to fulfill its aims and ambitions without a general war". In the meantime, the things "at home" have not changed a iota, except that all national communities have increased the degree of military readiness for such a war. Secondly, I do not agree with the above proposed assumption since it too easily dispels with the Croatian factor and assumes its elimination in the last instance, which is inadmissible even if it were the way to avoid the war, which it isn't: the war would not be avoided but would only proceed in a somewhat changed form and with an altered position of players. In the above assumption, I was primarily governed by the fact that almost everywhere in B&H Serbs and Moslems are intermixed, while the Serbs and Croats are intermingled in only a few places. But, I will present you with the unfortunate task of measuring out the proposed variants; First: considering the brutality of the present Milosevic's regime and his important ethnic parameters, if B&H stays within the so-called state of Yugoslavia, are Moslems and other non-Serbian nationalities faced with the realistic threat of being gradually assimilated or even physically exterminated, which many find acceptable? And another variant: if B&H is constituted as an independent state, how justified is the fear of the Bosnian Serbs? Does that present us with the age old dilemma of choosing between "the two evils"? And which is the lesser evil?

The lesser evil for me is bound to be the greater evil for Karadzic (the SDS president for Bosnia) and our choices are bound to be in conflict. But there is an undeniable fact, and it is that the significant reasons for the fear of Bosnian Serbs can be traced back in history, to the 1941-1945 period. They are taken out from that period, made current and implemented to fit various needs and changing circumstances. Bosnian Moslems have just as great cause for concern based on historical reasons, but they don't have the need to call upon them, since there are enough everyday reasons for fearing everything the official Serbia and its miserable exponents in B&H are doing. Arguments to support this can, in the past three years be found throughout Yugoslavia, they are common knowledge. A striking example: the analysis of the population percentage in the boroughs which the SDS wants to include in its Serbian Autonomous Region indicates that they regard as Serbian any borough where the sum total of all other nationalities (Serbs, Moslems, Yugoslavs and other) is gretaer than the Croatian population. It is blatantly obvious that the present slogan "all Serbs in one state" would very quickly be altered into "only Serbs in this state".

But, all this is not the crux of the matter. For Bosnia and Herzegovina to be able to join the negotiations on an equal footing with the rest on any kind of association of the Southern-Slav states it will have to have the same status as other republics of former Yugoslavia. Sovereignty is thus seen here primarily as equality.

*According to the current UN plan, "blue helmets" will not come to Bosnia. How do you comment on that and do you, in the view of this, think that the European and world arbitration will be decisive in the solution of the Yugoslav crisis?

I am still hoping that "blue helmets" will come to B&H. Hopefully before it's too late and it will be too late and too costly if it is not taken as a preventive measure. Not only that. I suppose that the status of B&H will not be solved without an agreement on a moratorium lasting several years and without some kind of UN protectorate.

* You don't think there is any possibility that the ruling parties can come to a mutually acceptable agreement?

There is a possibility, but there is obviously no will to do that. SDS as the most powerful, since the pathetic former federal army is "working" in its interest, does not even consider giving up on the Great Serbia project. In its fight for power it is hypocritically calling the Serbs and other nationalities to "stay in Yugoslavia" - as if one could stay in a house which no longer exists? SDA ( Moslem Party of Democratic Action) as the most numerous party and virtual election winner does not even think of breaking up the coalition with the partner which denies the right to exist to this almost a thousand year old state. Croatian Democratic Union, governed by its estimates, does not deny B&H its state status, but it does not even think of withdrawing its loyalty from Tudjman's politics which has, with the cessation of Croatia from Yugoslavia left the Bosnian Croatians to their own fate in the manner unbecoming of a fiercest foe. Thus the gesture of the five Croatian writers in Bosnia who disputed Tudjman's knowledge, intelligence and the right to represent them is admirable. If only something like that would happen to the Serbian intellectuals in Bosnia? With regards to the Bosnian Moslems, I myself, as one of them, hereby take the freedom to tell Alija Izetbegovic, the president of SDA, that the accusations of Radovan Karadzic concerning the projected "Islamic Republic" can not be successfully refuted with the formulation that SDA is not for the creation of the "Islamic Republic" "because it is not feasible". Karadzic himself knows that "it is not feasible" and he has neither been repeatedly launching this accusation because he thinks it is feasible nor because he fears it. His reasons are different. But it is important for the entire Bosnian, Yugoslav, European and world public to state that SDA is not blindly for the "Islamic Republic" because it is primarily for the formation of a state according to European standards and models. And this should not only be said but it should also be worked on.

* Since you mentioned European standards and models, what have you agreed on in Paris? At what stage is the project "The Bridge Over the Drina River"?

It seems that, although Kusturica and I have started this project in 1985, it has only now really been started. It is such an enormous undertaking, financially and in every other respect, that it needs a very influential world producer. We have found him and the contracts are being signed these days. The way the things are going, the worst that could happen is that in a few years time, when the film, heavens permitting, is shown, our cinemas become nationally divided, so that Moslems who want to see it would have to go to a Serbian cinema. Who knows if they will be allowed in?

Z. Is.