NASTANAK AUTONOMNE POKRAJINE ZAPADNA BOSNA
THE CREATION OF THE AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE OF WESTERN BOSNIA

Summary/Abstract: From the very beginning of Fikret Abdić Babo’s public activities at the beginning of the 1970-ies, as the executive officer of Agrokomerc in Velika Kladuša, up until 1987 and the famous Agrokomerc affair, this man from Krajina managed to divert attention to himself and did not leave space for indifference to his work and actions. With the outbreak of the war and aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as due to great political changes which the Bosniak political leadership was subjected to, Babo reached the peak in complete obscurity and misunderstanding of his actions from his associates, opponents and/or observers. This paper traces the genesis of Abdić’s political projekt, the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (AP WB), its breakdown in late autumn of 1994 and its quick re-establishment with the aid of Serb military and political forces. Fikret Abdić was captivated by the idea of stopping the war by all means, thus subjecting the interests of one part (the Bihać area) to the whole (B&H). The Autonomy, which in May of 1995 grew into a Republic was planned as a separate entity with all prerogatives of a state. The Declaration, which he signed with Radovan Karadžić on the 22nd of October 1993, sponsored by Slobodan Milošević, anticipated the constitutional administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a “Union of republics”, the mutual acknowledgment of the Republic of Srpska and the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, the settling of borders, and cooperation as if this was an agreement between two independent states. Only a day earlier (21st October 1993) Fikret Abdić signed a Statement with Mato Boban which is basically a political document which also defines Bosnia and Herzegovina as a “Union”.

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