Karađorđevo agreement
Encyclopedia
In 1991, Croatia
n president Franjo Tuđman and Serbia
n president Slobodan Milošević
had a series of discussions which became known as the Karađorđevo agreement or, less commonly, the Karađorđevo meeting. These discussions commenced as early as March, 1991. They involved the redistribution of territories in the ex-Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
between Croatia
and Serbia
, in the way that territories with either Croatian or Serbian majority (or plurality) would be annexed. This meeting did not include the third and the largest ethnic group in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosniaks
.
caused a confrontation between Croat police forces (bolstered by paramilitaries loyal to Tuđman) and the Yugoslav army. Around a week later, on 9 March 1991, the Yugoslav army rushed to defend Milošević's government against political protests, or possibly riots, in Belgrade
. These events brought about a meeting between Milošević and Tuđman at Karađorđevo, Vojvodina
, Serbia
. No Bosniak representative participated in these talks, which were held bilaterally between the Serbs and Croats. The ICTY case against Milošević noted, as a fact, that "On 25 March 1991, Slobodan Milošević and Franjo Tuđman met in Karađorđevo and discussed the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Serbia and Croatia." Later, in 1993, Slaven Letica
recalled this meeting, stating "There were several maps on the table. The idea was close to the recent ideas on Bosnia-Herzegovina, either to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina into 10 or 15 [sub]units, or three semi-independent states." Following Karađorđevo, Franjo Tuđman pointed out that it would be very difficult for Bosnia to survive and that the Croats were going to take over the Banovina plus Cazin
, Velika Kladuša
and Bihać
.
Tuđman argued that Bosnia-Herzegovina should form part of the federal Croatian unit because it was linked historically to Croatia. Tuđman did not take a separate Bosnia seriously as shown by his comments to a television crew "Bosnia was a creation of the Ottoman invasion [...] Until then it was part of Croatia, or it was a kingdom of Bosnia, but a Catholic kingdom, linked to Croatia." From the view of Tuđman, expressed a decade before the meeting, a federal Bosnia-Herzegovina "was more often a source of new divisions between the Serb and Croat population than their bridge". Moreover, Tuđman observed that from an ethnic and linguistic viewpoint most Bosniaks were of Croatian origin. A Bosniak identity could only benefit the Serbs and hence advance the timing of Bosnia's "reasonable territorial division". It is possible that an "agreement with Milošević at Karađorđevo [...] was the final step in that direction". Although some politicians deny that there was a formal agreement on the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina at Karađorđevo, for example Hrvoje Šarinić
.
A second meeting was held in Tikveš
at the end of April 1991. It is possible that these meetings convinced Tuđman that Serbia would partition Bosnia and Herzegovina along a Serb-Croat seam with Serbia conceding to Croatia territory up to the borders of the 1939 Banovina
. At a meeting with a Bosnian Croat delegation on December 27, 1991, Tuđman announced that the conditions allowed for an agreement to redraw the boundaries of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The most immediate significance of the meeting was not a deal about Bosnia and Herzegovina but the absence of a deal about Croatia. Milošević made a speech one week after the Belgrade riots where he outlined plans which involved the incorporation of a large area of Croatia into the new Yugoslavia. This led to the start of hostilities and the Croatian War of Independence
. However, Tuđman continued to pursue a settlement with Milošević, of which the cost was borne by Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a considerable part of Croatia itself.
The Milošević-Tuđman plans for Greater Serbia and Croatia are seen to have been implemented by ethnic cleansing
, with over 97,000 Bosnians
(Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina) killed and more than 1.5 million expelled. This can be regarded as going from a situation where no region could be described as purely Bosniak, Serb or Croat to a situation where the former Yugoslavia moved towards regions of ethnic homogeneity.
The policies of the Republic of Croatia and its leader Franjo Tuđman towards Bosnia and Herzegovina were never completely transparent, but always included Franjo Tuđman’s ultimate aim of expanding Croatia’s borders. In the Tihomir Blaškić
verdict, the Trial Chamber found that "Croatia, and more specifically former President Tuđman, was hoping to partition Bosnia and exercised such a degree of control over the Bosnian Croats and especially the HVO
that it is justified to speak of overall control." Franjo Tuđman and the Croatian government have denied there was an agreement at Karađorđevo on numerous occasions, stating that in 1991 the Serbs controlled all of the Yugoslav Army
and the Serbian rebellion in Croatia during the Croatian war of independence
was just beginning. In this context the meeting can be viewed as an attempt by Tuđman to prevent a Serbo-Croatian war where Croatia would face the full might of the Yugoslav army. Discussion of the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina is therefore seen by some people as an attempt to avoid this conflict. However, the Bosnian leadership at the time viewed the meeting as part of a collusion between Milošević and Tuđman to destroy Bosnia.
in 1993 by President Milošević and President Tuđman said, "All speculations about a partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Croatia and Serbia are entirely unfounded." But Milošević said of the partition, "It is a solution which is offering to the Muslims much more than they can ever dream to take by force."
testified that at the meeting the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina was discussed and that was it the main topic of the discussions. Hrvoje Šarinić
, Tuđman's emissary for contacts with Milošević, denied there had been a formal agreement with Milosević. The former prime minister of SFRY, Ante Marković
, also testified in ICTY and confirmed an agreement was made to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina between Serbia and Croatia. Testimonies of American and British politicians such as US ambassador to Yugoslavia
Warren Zimmermann
, and ambassador Herbert Okun (a US veteran diplomat), suggested that the meeting was about the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lord Paddy Ashdown
also confirmed that the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Croatia and Serbia was a goal of Franjo Tuđman.
confirmed that, following negotiations with Slobodan Milošević, "it was agreed that two commissions should meet and discuss the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina". Bilandžić's testimonies are seen as contradictory by some Croatian journalists.
In a court testimony and statements to the media Hrvoje Šarinić
, counselor of Franjo Tuđman for foreign affairs, who was present during the negotiations denied there was a formal or concrete agreement, at Karađorđevo, about the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina
with Milošević. He also questioned why most people were concentrating on Karađorđevo when there had been a follow up meeting at Tikveš where the two leaders had spent several hours together. When being examined by Milošević he (Šarinić) stated "The fact that you met was no secret but what you discussed was a secret. [...] As regards Bosnia and the division of Bosnia, there was a lot of speculation about it, but no one else except the two presidents, one of whom is here and the other in the other world, could know what they actually said." Šarinić, further went on to say that whilst Bosnia was discussed between the presidents only one side put any plan into practice and that was the Serbs in ethnically cleansing and preparing Republika Srpska for annexation. He claimed that whilst Tuđman was optimistic after Karađorđevo that he thought Milošević had his "fingers crossed
in his pocket", Šarinić also claimed that he did "not believe that a formal agreement was reached"
Mario Nobilo, a senior advisor of Franjo Tuđman, confirmed to Tim Judah
that talks "to resolve the Yugoslav conflict by carving up the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and creating an Islamic buffer-state between them" took place.
Professor Smilja Avramov, an advisor to Milošević, stated "I did not attend the Karađorđevo meeting [...] but the group that [...] I was a part of, I assume was formed based on the agreement from Karađorđevo. [...] I talked about how we discussed borders in principle, whether they can be drawn based on the revolutionary division of Yugoslavia or based on international treaties"
Borisav Jović
, a close ally and advisor to Milošević was not present at the meeting but testified in the Milošević trial that he "was never informed by Mr. Milošević that at a possible meeting of that kind they discussed -- he discussed -- possibly discussed with Mr. Tuđman the partition of Bosnia" He also claimed he believed that Mesić was not telling the truth about the meeting because Mesić had a political clash with Tuđman."
When Stjepan Mesić
became the president of Croatia after the death of Tuđman, he testified in ICTY about existence of a plan to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina into three parts, between Serbs and Croats and a small Bosniak state. Stjepan Mesić claims he was the one who organized the meetings. When Mesić suggested the meeting to Borisav Jović
, Mesić confronted him and accused him of "arming the Croatian Serbs
", Jović denied it and stated that they "were not interested in the Croatian Serbs, but only in 65% of Bosnia-Herzegovina."
Mesić held Milosević responsible for creating a Greater Serbia "on the ruins of the Former Yugoslavia".
Mesić revealed thousands of documents and audio tapes recorded by Franjo Tuđman about his plans during a case against Croat leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes committed against Bosniaks. The tapes reveal that Tuđman and Milosević ignored pledges to respect Bosnia's sovereignty, even after signing the Dayton accord. In one conversation Tuđman told an official: "Let's make a deal with the Serbs. Neither history nor emotion in the Balkans will permit multinationalism. We have to give up on the illusion of the last eight years... Dayton isn't working. Nobody - except diplomats and petty officials - believes in a sovereign Bosnia and the Dayton accords." In another he is heard telling a Bosnian Croat ally: "You should give no indication that we wish the three-way division of Bosnia." The tapes also reveal Tuđman's involvement in atrocities against the Bosniaks in Bosnia including the Croatian president covering up war crimes at Ahmići
where more than a hundred Bosniak men, women and children were terrorised, and then shot or burned to death.
When asked if "Tuđman's view was that Bosnia was a mistake and that it was a mistake to make it as a republic after the Second World War and that it should be annexed to Croatia", Mesić responded "Those were his ideas, that Bosnia was supposed to belong to Croatia on the basis of a decision that should have been adopted by AVNOJ
."
, the last Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
, broke his 12-year long silence and at the trial of Slobodan Milošević stated: "I was informed about the subject of their discussion in Karađorđevo, at which Milošević and Tuđman agreed to divide Bosnia-Herzegovina between Serbia and Croatia, and to remove me because I was in their way. [...] They both confirmed that they had agreed on dividing Bosnia-Herzegovina. Milošević admitted this immediately, while Tuđman took more time", when questioned by chief prosecutor Geoffrey Nice.
According to Marković, both Tuđman and Milošević thought that Bosnia and Herzegovina was an artificial creation and the Bosniaks an invented nation, because in Tuđman’s view they were "converted Catholics" and in Milošević’s "converted Orthodox". Since the Serbs and the Croats combined constituted a majority, the two also believed that the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina would not cause a war and conceived an enclave for the Bosniaks. Support from Europe was expected as they did not desire having a Muslim state. Tuđman also told him that history would repeat itself in that Bosnia and Herzegovina would again fall "with a whisper".
During the Prlić trial Marković specifically stated that Tuđman had informed him after the meeting "that they had reached an agreement in principle
of their attitude towards Bosnia-Herzegovina and how they were to divide it, or how it was to be divided."
Marković declared that he warned both leaders that it would result in the transformation of Bosnia into a Palestine
. He told this to the Bosniak leader Alija Izetbegović
, who gave him secretly made tapes of conversations between Milošević and Radovan Karadžić
, discussing JNA
support of the Bosnian Serbs, he went on to say that Milošević was "obviously striving to create a Greater Serbia
. He said one thing and did another. He said that he was fighting for Yugoslavia
, while it was clear that he was fighting for a Greater Serbia, even though he never said so personally to me."
According to the testimony of Warren Zimmermann, the last US ambassador to Yugoslavia
, Franjo Tuđman claimed that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be divided between the Croats and the Serbs. "Tuđman admitted that he discussed these fantasies with Milošević, the Yugoslav Army
leadership and the Bosnian Serbs," writes Zimmermann, "and they agreed that the only solution is to divide up Bosnia between Serbia and Croatia".
Zimmermann also testified about Tuđman's fears of an "Islamic fundamentalist state" who referred to Izetbegović as a "fundamentalist front man for Turkey
" and accused them of "conspiring to create a Greater Bosnia" by "flooding Bosnia with 500,000 Turks
."
was the deputy of Cyrus Vance
, UN special envoy to the Balkans. In this capacity, he attended a number of meetings where the division of Bosnia Herzegovina was discussed. As Okun described it, the aspirations of Croatia and Serbia for the annexation
of parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina became evident after Tuđman and Milošević met in Karađorđevo in March 1991 and after the meeting of Mate Boban
and Radovan Karadžić
in May 1992 in Graz
. Neither party kept their plans for the creation of separate states within Bosnia-Herzegovina and their annexation to Serbia and Croatia secret at their subsequent meetings with international diplomats.
Herbert Okun testified that on May 6, 1992, Radovan Karadžić and Mate Boban met in Graz in Austria to discuss the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina along the boundaries of the Croatian Banovina. Herbert Okun also testified that during the international conference on the former Yugoslavia, held between September 1992 and May 1993, Franjo Tuđman was the de facto
president of the Bosnian Croat delegation, including, among others, Mate Boban and Milivoj Petković
. During that conference, Herbert Okun heard Franjo Tuđman make statements about extending the borders of Croatia, either directly or by including Herceg-Bosna within Croatia. He also heard him make statements about his support for the government of Mate Boban.
Most of the Bosnian Serb wartime leadership Biljana Plavšić
, Momčilo Krajišnik
, Radoslav Brđanin, Duško Tadić
were indicted and judged guilty for war crimes and ethnic cleansing. The former president of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić
is currently under trial. The top military general Ratko Mladić
is also under trial by the ICTY in connection with the siege of Sarajevo
and the Srebrenica massacre
. Serbian president Slobodan Milosević
was also accused of genocide
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and war crimes in Croatia. However he died before judgment concured.
The ICTY judged as follows:
The Trial Chamber found that the strategic plan of the Bosnian Serb leadership consisted of "a plan to link Serb-populated areas in BiH together, to gain control over these areas and to create a separate Bosnian Serb state, from which most non-Serbs would be permanently removed". It also found that media in certain areas focused only on SDS
policy and reports from Belgrade
became more prominent, including the presentation of extremist views and promotion of the concept of a Greater Serbia
, just as in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina the concept of a Greater Croatia
was openly advocated.
published a document drafted by the Bosnian HDZ in 1991 and signed by its leading members Mate Boban
, Vladimir Šoljić, Bozo Raic, Ivan Bender, Pero Marković, Dario Kordić
and others. It stated, among other things, that "[...] the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina must finally undertake a decisive and active policy that should bring about the realisation of our centuries-old dream: a common Croatian state."
Based on the evidence of numerous Croat attacks against Bosniaks, the ICTY Trial Chamber concluded in the Kordić and Čerkez case that by April 1993 Croat leadership had a common design or plan conceived and executed to ethnically cleanse Bosniaks from the Lašva Valley
. Dario Kordić
, as the local political leader, was found to be the planner and instigator of this plan. Further concluding that the Croatian Army was involved in the campaign, the ICTY defined the events as an international conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia
. Kordić along with commander Mario Čerkez were sentenced to 25 years and 15 years respectively.
In the Tihomir Blaškić
verdict, of March 2000, the Trial Chamber concluded "[...] that Croatia, and more specifically former President Tudjman, was hoping to partition Bosnia and exercised such a degree of control over the Bosnian Croats and especially the HVO
that it is justified to speak of overall control."
Jadranko Prlić
, Bruno Stojić
, Slobodan Praljak
, Milivoj Petković
, Valentin Corić
, and Berislav Pušić
were all charged with being part of a joint criminal enterprise with a purpose of politically and military subjugating, permanently removing and ethnically cleansing Bosniaks and other non-Croats from certain areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina in an effort to join these areas as part of a Greater Croatia. It is stated in the amended indictment (Prlic et al. case
) by the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), that at a meeting with his closest advisers and a group of Croat nationalists
from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Franjo Tuđman declared that "It is time that we take the opportunity to gather the Croatian people inside the widest possible borders." pointing out the opportunity to expand Croatia's border at the expense of Bosnia and Herzegovina's territory. The indictment regards not just Franjo Tuđman, but also other key figures from the Republic of Croatia including former Minister of Defence Gojko Šušak
and senior General Janko Bobetko
as participants. The amended indictment goes further to say:
The Prosecution submitted that part of the Greater Croatia-Herceg-Bosna program had at least three important goals.
After the meeting at Karađorđevo the Croatian war of independence
began with Croats and Serbs as the main antagonists. Also an international conflict began in Bosnia and Herzegovina, lasting until November 1995. During this time control of territory within Bosnia and Herzegovina changed hands between the predominantly Bosniak government and the Serbs
and Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
. The internal structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina was discussed and was finally decided with the Dayton Agreement
with some internal divisions
remaining, most notably the Republika Srpska
.
was a pact signed between Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić
and Bosnian Croat leader Mate Boban
on April 27, 1992 in the town of Graz, Austria, during a period when Serbian forces controlled 70% of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The treaty was meant to limit conflict between Serb
and Croat forces
and put them closer to annexation of territory under Croat and Serb control. The Graz agreement was seen as a sequel to the Karađorđevo agreement. In between the newly expanded Croatia and Serbia would be a small Bosniak buffer state, pejoratively called "Alija's Pashaluk" by Croatian and Serbian leadership, after Bosnian president Alija Izetbegović
. The ICTY judgement in the Blaškić
case suggests a reported agreement at the Graz meeting between Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat leaders confirms a previous agreement between the Serbs and Croats (Slobodan Milošević
and Franjo Tuđman) on the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, possibly from the Karađorđevo meeting.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n president Franjo Tuđman and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n president Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
had a series of discussions which became known as the Karađorđevo agreement or, less commonly, the Karađorđevo meeting. These discussions commenced as early as March, 1991. They involved the redistribution of territories in the ex-Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
between Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, in the way that territories with either Croatian or Serbian majority (or plurality) would be annexed. This meeting did not include the third and the largest ethnic group in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
.
Overview
An attempted Serb police coup at PakracPakrac
Pakrac is a town in western Slavonia, Croatia, population 4,852, total municipality population 8,482 . Pakrac is located on the road and railroad connecting the regions of Posavina and Podravina.-Name:...
caused a confrontation between Croat police forces (bolstered by paramilitaries loyal to Tuđman) and the Yugoslav army. Around a week later, on 9 March 1991, the Yugoslav army rushed to defend Milošević's government against political protests, or possibly riots, in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. These events brought about a meeting between Milošević and Tuđman at Karađorđevo, Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. No Bosniak representative participated in these talks, which were held bilaterally between the Serbs and Croats. The ICTY case against Milošević noted, as a fact, that "On 25 March 1991, Slobodan Milošević and Franjo Tuđman met in Karađorđevo and discussed the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Serbia and Croatia." Later, in 1993, Slaven Letica
Slaven Letica
Slaven Letica is a Croatian author, economist, commentator and politician.Native of Podgora, Letica graduated from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Economics....
recalled this meeting, stating "There were several maps on the table. The idea was close to the recent ideas on Bosnia-Herzegovina, either to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina into 10 or 15 [sub]units, or three semi-independent states." Following Karađorđevo, Franjo Tuđman pointed out that it would be very difficult for Bosnia to survive and that the Croats were going to take over the Banovina plus Cazin
Cazin
Cazin is a town and municipality in northwest Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the border with Croatia. It is located in the Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cazinska Krajina is named after Cazin...
, Velika Kladuša
Velika Kladuša
Velika Kladuša is a city and municipality in the far northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located near the border with Croatia. The closest city is Cazin, and a bit farther, the cities of Bihać and Bosanski Novi. Across the border, it is not far from Cetingrad...
and Bihać
Bihac
Bihać is a city and municipality on the river Una in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosanska Krajina region. Bihać is located in the Una-Sana Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.-History:...
.
Tuđman argued that Bosnia-Herzegovina should form part of the federal Croatian unit because it was linked historically to Croatia. Tuđman did not take a separate Bosnia seriously as shown by his comments to a television crew "Bosnia was a creation of the Ottoman invasion [...] Until then it was part of Croatia, or it was a kingdom of Bosnia, but a Catholic kingdom, linked to Croatia." From the view of Tuđman, expressed a decade before the meeting, a federal Bosnia-Herzegovina "was more often a source of new divisions between the Serb and Croat population than their bridge". Moreover, Tuđman observed that from an ethnic and linguistic viewpoint most Bosniaks were of Croatian origin. A Bosniak identity could only benefit the Serbs and hence advance the timing of Bosnia's "reasonable territorial division". It is possible that an "agreement with Milošević at Karađorđevo [...] was the final step in that direction". Although some politicians deny that there was a formal agreement on the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina at Karađorđevo, for example Hrvoje Šarinić
Hrvoje Šarinic
Hrvoje Šarinić is a Croatian politician.Šarinić was born in Sušak, Rijeka and graduated from the University of Zagreb then-Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy....
.
A second meeting was held in Tikveš
Tikveš
Tikveš is a plain situated in central Republic of Macedonia which is known for an artificial lake. It is home to the towns of Kavadarci and Negotino. Famous for its wine, Tikveš is the center of the Macedonian wine production which has been cultivated for more than 120 years...
at the end of April 1991. It is possible that these meetings convinced Tuđman that Serbia would partition Bosnia and Herzegovina along a Serb-Croat seam with Serbia conceding to Croatia territory up to the borders of the 1939 Banovina
Banovina of Croatia
The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1943 . Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia...
. At a meeting with a Bosnian Croat delegation on December 27, 1991, Tuđman announced that the conditions allowed for an agreement to redraw the boundaries of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The most immediate significance of the meeting was not a deal about Bosnia and Herzegovina but the absence of a deal about Croatia. Milošević made a speech one week after the Belgrade riots where he outlined plans which involved the incorporation of a large area of Croatia into the new Yugoslavia. This led to the start of hostilities and the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
. However, Tuđman continued to pursue a settlement with Milošević, of which the cost was borne by Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a considerable part of Croatia itself.
The Milošević-Tuđman plans for Greater Serbia and Croatia are seen to have been implemented by ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
, with over 97,000 Bosnians
Bosnians
Bosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...
(Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina) killed and more than 1.5 million expelled. This can be regarded as going from a situation where no region could be described as purely Bosniak, Serb or Croat to a situation where the former Yugoslavia moved towards regions of ethnic homogeneity.
The policies of the Republic of Croatia and its leader Franjo Tuđman towards Bosnia and Herzegovina were never completely transparent, but always included Franjo Tuđman’s ultimate aim of expanding Croatia’s borders. In the Tihomir Blaškić
Tihomir Blaškic
Tihomir Blaškić is a Bosnian Croat army officer who was sentenced in 2000 to 45 years imprisonment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes as part of the Lašva valley ethnic cleansing...
verdict, the Trial Chamber found that "Croatia, and more specifically former President Tuđman, was hoping to partition Bosnia and exercised such a degree of control over the Bosnian Croats and especially the HVO
Croatian Defence Council
The Croatian Defence Council was a military formation of the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War.-History:...
that it is justified to speak of overall control." Franjo Tuđman and the Croatian government have denied there was an agreement at Karađorđevo on numerous occasions, stating that in 1991 the Serbs controlled all of the Yugoslav Army
Yugoslav Army
Aside from the Yugoslav People's Army, the terms Yugoslav Army, Army of Yugoslavia, or Military of Yugoslavia may refer to:* Yugoslav Partisans , the Yugoslav resistance army during World War II...
and the Serbian rebellion in Croatia during the Croatian war of independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
was just beginning. In this context the meeting can be viewed as an attempt by Tuđman to prevent a Serbo-Croatian war where Croatia would face the full might of the Yugoslav army. Discussion of the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina is therefore seen by some people as an attempt to avoid this conflict. However, the Bosnian leadership at the time viewed the meeting as part of a collusion between Milošević and Tuđman to destroy Bosnia.
Participant statements
The main participants of the meeting, Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević, denied there was ever an agreement about division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, discussed or reached. In a joint statement in GenevaGeneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
in 1993 by President Milošević and President Tuđman said, "All speculations about a partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Croatia and Serbia are entirely unfounded." But Milošević said of the partition, "It is a solution which is offering to the Muslims much more than they can ever dream to take by force."
Testimonies
After Tuđman's death some of the Croat politicians who worked with Franjo Tuđman such as counselor Dušan Bilandžić and former prime minister of Croatia Stjepan MesićStjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
testified that at the meeting the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina was discussed and that was it the main topic of the discussions. Hrvoje Šarinić
Hrvoje Šarinic
Hrvoje Šarinić is a Croatian politician.Šarinić was born in Sušak, Rijeka and graduated from the University of Zagreb then-Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy....
, Tuđman's emissary for contacts with Milošević, denied there had been a formal agreement with Milosević. The former prime minister of SFRY, Ante Marković
Ante Markovic
Ante Marković was a statesman of the former Yugoslavia. He was the last prime minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.- Early life :...
, also testified in ICTY and confirmed an agreement was made to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina between Serbia and Croatia. Testimonies of American and British politicians such as US ambassador to Yugoslavia
United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia
The nation of Yugoslavia was formed on December 1, 1918 as a result of the realignment of nations and national boundaries in Europe in the aftermath of The Great War. The nation was first named the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929...
Warren Zimmermann
Warren Zimmermann
Warren Zimmermann was a diplomat, humanitarian and the last US ambassador to Yugoslavia before its disintegration into civil war.-Background:...
, and ambassador Herbert Okun (a US veteran diplomat), suggested that the meeting was about the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lord Paddy Ashdown
Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....
also confirmed that the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Croatia and Serbia was a goal of Franjo Tuđman.
Counselors
Dušan Bilandžić, a counselor of Franjo Tuđman participated at the meeting and published a book claiming that "the essence of meeting was the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina". An interview with Bilandžić published on October 25, 1996 by the Croatian weekly NacionalNacional (weekly)
Nacional is a Croatian weekly newsmagazine published in Zagreb.-History:Nacional was started in 1995 by Denis Kuljiš, Ivo Pukanić and other journalists dissatisfied with the editorial policies of Croatian weekly newspaper Globus. Both publications were hostile to the ruling HDZ government...
confirmed that, following negotiations with Slobodan Milošević, "it was agreed that two commissions should meet and discuss the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina". Bilandžić's testimonies are seen as contradictory by some Croatian journalists.
In a court testimony and statements to the media Hrvoje Šarinić
Hrvoje Šarinic
Hrvoje Šarinić is a Croatian politician.Šarinić was born in Sušak, Rijeka and graduated from the University of Zagreb then-Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy....
, counselor of Franjo Tuđman for foreign affairs, who was present during the negotiations denied there was a formal or concrete agreement, at Karađorđevo, about the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
with Milošević. He also questioned why most people were concentrating on Karađorđevo when there had been a follow up meeting at Tikveš where the two leaders had spent several hours together. When being examined by Milošević he (Šarinić) stated "The fact that you met was no secret but what you discussed was a secret. [...] As regards Bosnia and the division of Bosnia, there was a lot of speculation about it, but no one else except the two presidents, one of whom is here and the other in the other world, could know what they actually said." Šarinić, further went on to say that whilst Bosnia was discussed between the presidents only one side put any plan into practice and that was the Serbs in ethnically cleansing and preparing Republika Srpska for annexation. He claimed that whilst Tuđman was optimistic after Karađorđevo that he thought Milošević had his "fingers crossed
Crossed fingers
To cross one's fingers, is an apotropaic hand gesture, used to superstitiously wish for good luck or to nullify a promise.The gesture is referred to by the common expression "fingers crossed", meaning "let's hope for a good outcome"....
in his pocket", Šarinić also claimed that he did "not believe that a formal agreement was reached"
Mario Nobilo, a senior advisor of Franjo Tuđman, confirmed to Tim Judah
Tim Judah
Tim Judah is a front line reporter for The Economist and author. A graduate of the London School of Economics and of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University he worked for the BBC before becoming the Balkans correspondent for The Times and The Economist. During the Kosovo war he...
that talks "to resolve the Yugoslav conflict by carving up the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and creating an Islamic buffer-state between them" took place.
Professor Smilja Avramov, an advisor to Milošević, stated "I did not attend the Karađorđevo meeting [...] but the group that [...] I was a part of, I assume was formed based on the agreement from Karađorđevo. [...] I talked about how we discussed borders in principle, whether they can be drawn based on the revolutionary division of Yugoslavia or based on international treaties"
Borisav Jović
Borisav Jovic
Borisav Jović is a former Serbian communist politician, who served as the Serbian member of the collective presidency of Yugoslavia during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
, a close ally and advisor to Milošević was not present at the meeting but testified in the Milošević trial that he "was never informed by Mr. Milošević that at a possible meeting of that kind they discussed -- he discussed -- possibly discussed with Mr. Tuđman the partition of Bosnia" He also claimed he believed that Mesić was not telling the truth about the meeting because Mesić had a political clash with Tuđman."
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
became the president of Croatia after the death of Tuđman, he testified in ICTY about existence of a plan to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina into three parts, between Serbs and Croats and a small Bosniak state. Stjepan Mesić claims he was the one who organized the meetings. When Mesić suggested the meeting to Borisav Jović
Borisav Jovic
Borisav Jović is a former Serbian communist politician, who served as the Serbian member of the collective presidency of Yugoslavia during the late 1980s and early 1990s...
, Mesić confronted him and accused him of "arming the Croatian Serbs
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
", Jović denied it and stated that they "were not interested in the Croatian Serbs, but only in 65% of Bosnia-Herzegovina."
Mesić held Milosević responsible for creating a Greater Serbia "on the ruins of the Former Yugoslavia".
Mesić revealed thousands of documents and audio tapes recorded by Franjo Tuđman about his plans during a case against Croat leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina for war crimes committed against Bosniaks. The tapes reveal that Tuđman and Milosević ignored pledges to respect Bosnia's sovereignty, even after signing the Dayton accord. In one conversation Tuđman told an official: "Let's make a deal with the Serbs. Neither history nor emotion in the Balkans will permit multinationalism. We have to give up on the illusion of the last eight years... Dayton isn't working. Nobody - except diplomats and petty officials - believes in a sovereign Bosnia and the Dayton accords." In another he is heard telling a Bosnian Croat ally: "You should give no indication that we wish the three-way division of Bosnia." The tapes also reveal Tuđman's involvement in atrocities against the Bosniaks in Bosnia including the Croatian president covering up war crimes at Ahmići
Ahmici massacre
Ahmići massacre was the culmination of the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing committed by the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia's political and military leadership on Bosniak civilians during the Croat-Bosniak war in April 1993...
where more than a hundred Bosniak men, women and children were terrorised, and then shot or burned to death.
When asked if "Tuđman's view was that Bosnia was a mistake and that it was a mistake to make it as a republic after the Second World War and that it should be annexed to Croatia", Mesić responded "Those were his ideas, that Bosnia was supposed to belong to Croatia on the basis of a decision that should have been adopted by AVNOJ
AVNOJ
The Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Yugoslavia, known more commonly by its Yugoslav abbreviation AVNOJ, was the political umbrella organization for the national liberation councils of the Yugoslav resistance against the World War II Axis occupation, eventually becoming the...
."
Ante Marković
Ante MarkovićAnte Markovic
Ante Marković was a statesman of the former Yugoslavia. He was the last prime minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.- Early life :...
, the last Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
The Prime Minister or the President of the Federal Executive Council of Yugoslavia was the head of government of the Yugoslav state, from the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 until the end of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.-Kingdom of...
, broke his 12-year long silence and at the trial of Slobodan Milošević stated: "I was informed about the subject of their discussion in Karađorđevo, at which Milošević and Tuđman agreed to divide Bosnia-Herzegovina between Serbia and Croatia, and to remove me because I was in their way. [...] They both confirmed that they had agreed on dividing Bosnia-Herzegovina. Milošević admitted this immediately, while Tuđman took more time", when questioned by chief prosecutor Geoffrey Nice.
According to Marković, both Tuđman and Milošević thought that Bosnia and Herzegovina was an artificial creation and the Bosniaks an invented nation, because in Tuđman’s view they were "converted Catholics" and in Milošević’s "converted Orthodox". Since the Serbs and the Croats combined constituted a majority, the two also believed that the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina would not cause a war and conceived an enclave for the Bosniaks. Support from Europe was expected as they did not desire having a Muslim state. Tuđman also told him that history would repeat itself in that Bosnia and Herzegovina would again fall "with a whisper".
During the Prlić trial Marković specifically stated that Tuđman had informed him after the meeting "that they had reached an agreement in principle
Agreement in principle
In law, an agreement in principle is a stepping stone to a contract. Such agreements with regards to the principle are usually considered fair and equitable. Even if all details are not known, an agreement in principle may outline a percentage of royalty for example.- External links :****[...
of their attitude towards Bosnia-Herzegovina and how they were to divide it, or how it was to be divided."
Marković declared that he warned both leaders that it would result in the transformation of Bosnia into a Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. He told this to the Bosniak leader Alija Izetbegović
Alija Izetbegovic
Alija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
, who gave him secretly made tapes of conversations between Milošević and Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
, discussing JNA
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
support of the Bosnian Serbs, he went on to say that Milošević was "obviously striving to create a Greater Serbia
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia applies to the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology directed towards the creation of a Serbian land which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to the Serbian nation...
. He said one thing and did another. He said that he was fighting for Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, while it was clear that he was fighting for a Greater Serbia, even though he never said so personally to me."
Warren Zimmermann
United States Ambassador to Yugoslavia
The nation of Yugoslavia was formed on December 1, 1918 as a result of the realignment of nations and national boundaries in Europe in the aftermath of The Great War. The nation was first named the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929...
, Franjo Tuđman claimed that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be divided between the Croats and the Serbs. "Tuđman admitted that he discussed these fantasies with Milošević, the Yugoslav Army
Yugoslav Army
Aside from the Yugoslav People's Army, the terms Yugoslav Army, Army of Yugoslavia, or Military of Yugoslavia may refer to:* Yugoslav Partisans , the Yugoslav resistance army during World War II...
leadership and the Bosnian Serbs," writes Zimmermann, "and they agreed that the only solution is to divide up Bosnia between Serbia and Croatia".
Zimmermann also testified about Tuđman's fears of an "Islamic fundamentalist state" who referred to Izetbegović as a "fundamentalist front man for Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
" and accused them of "conspiring to create a Greater Bosnia" by "flooding Bosnia with 500,000 Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
."
Herbert Okun
Herbert OkunHerbert S. Okun
Herbert Stuart Okun was a United States Ambassador to East Germany and the Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations...
was the deputy of Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980...
, UN special envoy to the Balkans. In this capacity, he attended a number of meetings where the division of Bosnia Herzegovina was discussed. As Okun described it, the aspirations of Croatia and Serbia for the annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
of parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina became evident after Tuđman and Milošević met in Karađorđevo in March 1991 and after the meeting of Mate Boban
Mate Boban
Mate Boban was a Bosnian Croat politician and the only president of the short lived and self proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia that existed between 1991−1994 during the Bosnian war.-Pre-war life:...
and Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
in May 1992 in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
. Neither party kept their plans for the creation of separate states within Bosnia-Herzegovina and their annexation to Serbia and Croatia secret at their subsequent meetings with international diplomats.
Herbert Okun testified that on May 6, 1992, Radovan Karadžić and Mate Boban met in Graz in Austria to discuss the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina along the boundaries of the Croatian Banovina. Herbert Okun also testified that during the international conference on the former Yugoslavia, held between September 1992 and May 1993, Franjo Tuđman was the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
president of the Bosnian Croat delegation, including, among others, Mate Boban and Milivoj Petković
Milivoj Petkovic
Milivoj Petković is a Bosnian Croat army officer who is among six defendants charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , in relation to the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War....
. During that conference, Herbert Okun heard Franjo Tuđman make statements about extending the borders of Croatia, either directly or by including Herceg-Bosna within Croatia. He also heard him make statements about his support for the government of Mate Boban.
Bosnian Serb involvement
Biljana Plavšic
Biljana Plavšić is a former president of Republika Srpska and war criminal. She is the highest ranking Bosnian Serb politician to be sentenced. She was indicted in 2001 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes committed during the Bosnian war...
, Momčilo Krajišnik
Momcilo Krajišnik
Momčilo Krajišnik is a Bosnian Serb former politician convicted of murder and other crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war .He co-founded the Bosnian Serb nationalist Serbian Democratic Party with Radovan...
, Radoslav Brđanin, Duško Tadić
Duško Tadic
Duško Tadić is a Bosnian Serb war criminal, former SDS leader in Kozarac and a former member of the paramilitary forces supporting the attack on the district of Prijedor...
were indicted and judged guilty for war crimes and ethnic cleansing. The former president of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
is currently under trial. The top military general Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
is also under trial by the ICTY in connection with the siege of Sarajevo
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
and the Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
. Serbian president Slobodan Milosević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
was also accused of genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and war crimes in Croatia. However he died before judgment concured.
The ICTY judged as follows:
The Trial Chamber found that the strategic plan of the Bosnian Serb leadership consisted of "a plan to link Serb-populated areas in BiH together, to gain control over these areas and to create a separate Bosnian Serb state, from which most non-Serbs would be permanently removed". It also found that media in certain areas focused only on SDS
Serbian Democratic Party
The Serbian Democratic Party is a political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is led by Mladen Bosić...
policy and reports from Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
became more prominent, including the presentation of extremist views and promotion of the concept of a Greater Serbia
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia applies to the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology directed towards the creation of a Serbian land which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to the Serbian nation...
, just as in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina the concept of a Greater Croatia
Greater Croatia
Greater Croatia is a term applied to certain currents within Croatian nationalism. In one sense, it refers to the territorial scope of the Croatian people, emphasising the ethnicity of those Croats living outside Croatia...
was openly advocated.
Bosnian Croat involvement
On 13 October 1997, the Feral TribuneFeral Tribune
Feral Tribune was a Croatian political weekly magazine. Based in Split, it first started as a political satire supplement in Nedjeljna Dalmacija before evolving into an independent satirical weekly paper in 1993...
published a document drafted by the Bosnian HDZ in 1991 and signed by its leading members Mate Boban
Mate Boban
Mate Boban was a Bosnian Croat politician and the only president of the short lived and self proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia that existed between 1991−1994 during the Bosnian war.-Pre-war life:...
, Vladimir Šoljić, Bozo Raic, Ivan Bender, Pero Marković, Dario Kordić
Dario Kordic
Dario Kordić is a former Bosnian Croat politician, military commander of the HVO forces between 1992 and 1994, and vice president of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia...
and others. It stated, among other things, that "[...] the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina must finally undertake a decisive and active policy that should bring about the realisation of our centuries-old dream: a common Croatian state."
Based on the evidence of numerous Croat attacks against Bosniaks, the ICTY Trial Chamber concluded in the Kordić and Čerkez case that by April 1993 Croat leadership had a common design or plan conceived and executed to ethnically cleanse Bosniaks from the Lašva Valley
Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing
The Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing, also known as the Lašva Valley case, refers to numerous war crimes committed during the Bosnian war by the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia's political and military leadership on Bosnian Muslim civilians in the Lašva Valley region of Bosnia-Herzegovina...
. Dario Kordić
Dario Kordic
Dario Kordić is a former Bosnian Croat politician, military commander of the HVO forces between 1992 and 1994, and vice president of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia...
, as the local political leader, was found to be the planner and instigator of this plan. Further concluding that the Croatian Army was involved in the campaign, the ICTY defined the events as an international conflict between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. Kordić along with commander Mario Čerkez were sentenced to 25 years and 15 years respectively.
In the Tihomir Blaškić
Tihomir Blaškic
Tihomir Blaškić is a Bosnian Croat army officer who was sentenced in 2000 to 45 years imprisonment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes as part of the Lašva valley ethnic cleansing...
verdict, of March 2000, the Trial Chamber concluded "[...] that Croatia, and more specifically former President Tudjman, was hoping to partition Bosnia and exercised such a degree of control over the Bosnian Croats and especially the HVO
Croatian Defence Council
The Croatian Defence Council was a military formation of the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War.-History:...
that it is justified to speak of overall control."
Jadranko Prlić
Jadranko Prlic
Jadranko Prlić is a Croatian politician who is among six accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , in relation to the joint criminal enterprise which included mass war crimes and ethnic cleansing against Bosnian Muslim population.-History:Son of Mile, was born on...
, Bruno Stojić
Bruno Stojic
Bruno Stojić is a Bosnian-Croat politician who has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
, Slobodan Praljak
Slobodan Praljak
Slobodan Praljak is a Croatian politician, HV and HVO general from Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, Milivoj Petković
Milivoj Petkovic
Milivoj Petković is a Bosnian Croat army officer who is among six defendants charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , in relation to the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War....
, Valentin Corić
Valentin Coric
Valentin Ćorić is a Bosnian-Croat politician who is among six defendants charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia -Background:...
, and Berislav Pušić
Berislav Pušic
Berislav Pušić sometimes misspelled as Nerislav Pušić is a Croatian politician who was among 6 Croatian defendants charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia -Background:...
were all charged with being part of a joint criminal enterprise with a purpose of politically and military subjugating, permanently removing and ethnically cleansing Bosniaks and other non-Croats from certain areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina in an effort to join these areas as part of a Greater Croatia. It is stated in the amended indictment (Prlic et al. case
Jadranko Prlic
Jadranko Prlić is a Croatian politician who is among six accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , in relation to the joint criminal enterprise which included mass war crimes and ethnic cleansing against Bosnian Muslim population.-History:Son of Mile, was born on...
) by the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), that at a meeting with his closest advisers and a group of Croat nationalists
Croatian nationalism
Croatian nationalism is the nationalism of Croats or of Croatian culture. It arose in the 19th century in response to Magyarization of Croat territories under Hungarian rule, especially under the influence of Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik,...
from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Franjo Tuđman declared that "It is time that we take the opportunity to gather the Croatian people inside the widest possible borders." pointing out the opportunity to expand Croatia's border at the expense of Bosnia and Herzegovina's territory. The indictment regards not just Franjo Tuđman, but also other key figures from the Republic of Croatia including former Minister of Defence Gojko Šušak
Gojko Šušak
Gojko Šušak was the Croatian Minister of Defence from 1991 to 1998. A Bosnian Croat emigreé to Canada, he entered the political life of Croat diaspora in North America, subsequently becoming a close friend and associate to Franjo Tuđman, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union, a nationalistic...
and senior General Janko Bobetko
Janko Bobetko
Janko Bobetko was a Croatian Army general and Chief of the General Staff during the Croatian War of Independence from 1992 until his retirement in 1995. Bobetko had been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia but died before he could be tried...
as participants. The amended indictment goes further to say:
The Prosecution submitted that part of the Greater Croatia-Herceg-Bosna program had at least three important goals.
Aftermath
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
began with Croats and Serbs as the main antagonists. Also an international conflict began in Bosnia and Herzegovina, lasting until November 1995. During this time control of territory within Bosnia and Herzegovina changed hands between the predominantly Bosniak government and the Serbs
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina are people of Serb ethnicity inhabiting the Balkan regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or, since the establishment of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state in the 1990s, the Serbs who have its citizenship. The Serbs are one of the three constitutive nations of this...
and Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina form one of the three constitutive nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.There is no precise data regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina's population since the last war. Ethnic cleansing within Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s saw the vast majority of Croats move and take...
. The internal structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina was discussed and was finally decided with the Dayton Agreement
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
with some internal divisions
Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina were created by the Dayton Agreement, which recognized a second tier of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina comprising two entities—a joint Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska -- each presiding over roughly one half of...
remaining, most notably the Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
.
Graz agreement
The Graz agreementGraz agreement
The Graz agreement was a partition agreement signed between Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić and Bosnian Croat leader Mate Boban on 6 May 1992 in the town of Graz, Austria. The agreement was meant to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina between Republika Srpska and the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia...
was a pact signed between Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
and Bosnian Croat leader Mate Boban
Mate Boban
Mate Boban was a Bosnian Croat politician and the only president of the short lived and self proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia that existed between 1991−1994 during the Bosnian war.-Pre-war life:...
on April 27, 1992 in the town of Graz, Austria, during a period when Serbian forces controlled 70% of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The treaty was meant to limit conflict between Serb
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...
and Croat forces
Croatian Defence Council
The Croatian Defence Council was a military formation of the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War.-History:...
and put them closer to annexation of territory under Croat and Serb control. The Graz agreement was seen as a sequel to the Karađorđevo agreement. In between the newly expanded Croatia and Serbia would be a small Bosniak buffer state, pejoratively called "Alija's Pashaluk" by Croatian and Serbian leadership, after Bosnian president Alija Izetbegović
Alija Izetbegovic
Alija Izetbegović was a Bosniak activist, lawyer, author, philosopher and politician, who, in 1990, became the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served in this role until 1996, when he became a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving until 2000...
. The ICTY judgement in the Blaškić
Tihomir Blaškic
Tihomir Blaškić is a Bosnian Croat army officer who was sentenced in 2000 to 45 years imprisonment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for war crimes as part of the Lašva valley ethnic cleansing...
case suggests a reported agreement at the Graz meeting between Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat leaders confirms a previous agreement between the Serbs and Croats (Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
and Franjo Tuđman) on the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina, possibly from the Karađorđevo meeting.