AGRESIJA NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU: OPSADA I ODBRANA SARAJEVA – TRI DECENIJE POSLIJE –
AGGRESSION ON THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: THE SIEGE AND DEFENSE OF SARAJEVO - THREE DECADES LATER -
Contributor(s): Zilha Mastalić Košuta (Editor)
Subject(s): Criminal Law, International Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Law and Transitional Justice, Local History / Microhistory, Military history, Political history, Security and defense, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Inter-Ethnic Relations, Politics of History/Memory, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Institut za istraživanje zločina protiv čovječnosti i međunarodnog prava Univerziteta u Sarajevu
Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina; War studies; ethnic cleansing in Bosnian war; Bosniaks; Sarajevo; siege; Bosnian Serbs; Aggression; 1992-1995; ARBIH; JNA; Genocide; Srebrenica; Political and military aspects of war; Alija Izetbegović; Franjo Tuđman;
Summary/Abstract: Prošlo je trideset godina od početka opsade i odbrane Sarajeva. Sarajevo je, shodno velikosrpskom strategijskom planu, bio epicentar i glavni cilj agresije. Agresija JNA i srpskih oružanih jedinica iz Bosne i Hercegovine i Srbije i Crne Gore na međunarodno priznatu državu Bosnu i Hercegovinu, po svim meritornim analizama, imala je široke razmjere i karakter Blitzkrieg, odnosno karakter brzo izvedene okupacije i opsade, prije svega, velikih gradova kao centara ekonomske, političke, kulturne moći i tradicijskog značaja, te posebice blokade vitalnih komunikacija (cestovnog, željezničkog, vazdušnog, pa i riječnog saobraćaja), a sve s ciljem pripajanja cijele teritorije Bosne i Hercegovine Saveznoj Republici Jugoslaviji, a u kontekstu dogovora između Tuđmana i Miloševića, znatan dio Bosne i Hercegovine bio je namijenjen projekciji „Velike Hrvatske”. Sarajevo je do 6. aprila 1992. godine već bilo potpuno odsječeno. Komunikacijski presječeno. Jedinice JNA i srpske paravojne (četničke) jedinice već su bile na svim bitnim strateškim punktovima u Sarajevu i oko Sarajeva i šire regije; gledano sa striktno vojnog stajališta, planom blokade, opsade i osvajanje Sarajeva bilo je veoma dobro zamišljeno; zaposjednute su sve vitalne tačke: Trebević, Zlatište, Brus, Osmice, Žuč, Hum, Mrkovići, Borije, Špicasta stijena, itd., a koncentrirana vatrena moć je, po izjavama Karadžića, Mladića i Vojislava Šešelja, bila takva da je bila dovoljna po zamišljenim prognozama artiljerijski da napadne Italiju. Pet bivših korpusa JNA, od Riječkog, Zagrebačkog, Užičko-valjevskog i Titogradskog, itd. bilo je koncentrirano i raspoređeno u Bosni i Hercegovini, a od toga glavnina vatrene moći oko Sarajeva. Iza svake od tih strateških zajedničkih tačaka, koje su Sarajevo imale kao na dlanu i koje su ga tako bezočno uništavale i razarale, iza sebe su imale stručno napravljene komunikacijske i fortifikacijske linije, kompletne saobraćajnice, s pozadinskom logistikom, doturom municije, nafte, hrane i svega onoga što je bilo potrebno za uništavanje jednog velikog grada.
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-9958-028-46-5
- Page Count: 445
- Publication Year: 2023
- Language: Bosnian
BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA NA PUTU KA NEZAVISNOSTI: PRAVNI IZAZOVI I ISKUŠENJA (1991‒1992)
BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA NA PUTU KA NEZAVISNOSTI: PRAVNI IZAZOVI I ISKUŠENJA (1991‒1992)
(BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ON ITS WAY TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE: LEGAL CHALLENGES AND TEMPTATIONS (1991‒1992))
- Author(s):Sead Bandžović
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Political history, Government/Political systems, Political behavior, Comparative politics, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), History of Communism, Politics of History/Memory, Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:13-51
- No. of Pages:39
- Keywords:Yugoslavia; dissolution; Badinter’s Commissions; Bosnia and Herzegovina; referendum;
- Summary/Abstract:Ever since Tito’s death in 1980, the socialist Yugoslavia was going through difficult political, economic, and social temptations, involving ample domestic and international actors, along with the accompanying consequences of the era change of on a global level. The Yugoslav state crisis should be observed in a broader context which will provide a more complete answer. The remaining two fundamental pillars of the Yugoslav federation – Yugoslav Communist Party (SKJ) and Yugoslav National Army (JNA) ‒ were undermined in early 90’. The then republics’ elites, guided by partial interests, mutually confronted to one another, were not ready to adequately face the challenges of democratization that captured the Eastern euripi following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Yugoslav republics took numerous legal steps towards strengthening their own sovereignty. The crisis culminated in 1991 with the separation of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia, and the armed conflicts that followed. Confronted with the new legal and political surrounding, Bosnia and Herzegovina also began with the revival of its independence. This path proved to be extremely difficult and challenging, mainly due to the revived great-Serbian and great-Croatian attempts to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly expressed in 1991 during the negotiations between Slobodan Milošević, president of Serbia, and Franjo Tuđman, president of Croatia. In early days, these plans, with a strong support of regime affiliated media from Belgrade and Zagreb, manifested in form of numerous obstructions in the operation of the highest authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, promotion of a thesis that Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot survive as an independent political entity, establishment of illegal Serb communities of municipalities and regions, and then Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croat ones in form of regional communities, whereby the most significant one was Herzeg Bosnia. In such complex circumstances, and in line with the recommendations of the Badinter’s Commission, referendum on independence was organized in 1992, when the citizens firmly voted in favor of independent Bosnia and Herzegovina. European Community recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina on 6th of April, while the USA did it on the following day. In conditions of aggression and four year long war destruction, a new chapter in legal and state development of Bosnia and Herzegovina began.
STVARANJE PARADRŽAVE BOSANSKIH SRBA: IDENTIFIKACIJA „ISTORIJSKIH NEPRIJATELJA” I ETNIČKO RAZDVAJANJE STANOVNIŠTVA U RATU PROTIV BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE (1991‒1995)
STVARANJE PARADRŽAVE BOSANSKIH SRBA: IDENTIFIKACIJA „ISTORIJSKIH NEPRIJATELJA” I ETNIČKO RAZDVAJANJE STANOVNIŠTVA U RATU PROTIV BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE (1991‒1995)
(CREATION OF PSEUDO-STATE OF THE BOSNIAN SERBS: IDENTIFICATION OF THE “HISTORIC ENEMIES” AND ETHNIC SEPARATION OF POPULATION IN THE WAR AGAINST BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (1991‒1995))
- Author(s):Sead Selimović
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Military history, Political history, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Inter-Ethnic Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:53-82
- No. of Pages:30
- Keywords:Bosnia and Herzegovina; pseudo-state of Bosnian Serbs; historic enemies; ethnic separation; Bosniacs; Croats, Serbs; international community; war crimes; Dayton Agreement;
- Summary/Abstract:The Bosnian Serbs have hoped, until late 1991, that Yugoslavia would prevail, but once it was clear that this goal could not be achieved, they have changed their attitude and began with the creation of their own sovereign Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (pseudo-state), with its political, civilian, and military structures. The Bosnian Serb leadership presented, in their speeches, Bosniacs and Croats as “historic enemies of the Serbs” to justify their territorial tendencies in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which they considered “historically Serb territory”. Strategic objectives of the Bosnian Serb leadership made the key element in the military strategy of the so-called Republika Srpska Army, namely the creation of the pseudo-state Republika Srpska. Statements and speeches of Bosnian Serb leaders suggested that they supported and advocated the capturing of the territory, previously conquered militarily by the “Serb forces”. Bosnian Serb leadership was aware that the policy of ethnic cleansing would result in violence, given the fact that the population of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was so mixed. And yet, they continued with that policy. In his speeches, statements, and announcements, Radovan Karadžić would blame Bosniacs and Bosnian Croats for separation of population, and he argued that the Bosnian Serbs did not try to make “ethnically cleansed state”. These statements and announcements served for purpose of creating one version, intended exclusively for the international community, based on which Bosnian Serbs would not be guilty for separation and resettlement of population. Public statements often contravened their plans for ethnic separation. Radovan Karadžić and Bosnian Serb leadership continued to talk, in 1994 and 1995, about the removal of Bosniacs and Bosnian Croats from the state they had created and permanent importance of unification of all Serb states. Up until 1995, Bosniacs and Bosnian Croats were still shown as “historic enemies” of Bosnian Serbs and their (pseudo)state.
O RELATIVIZACIJI AGRESIJE NA BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU I NEKIM POKAZATELJIMA NJENE HISTORIJSKE STVARNOSTI NA PODRUČJU SARAJEVA
O RELATIVIZACIJI AGRESIJE NA BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU I NEKIM POKAZATELJIMA NJENE HISTORIJSKE STVARNOSTI NA PODRUČJU SARAJEVA
(ABOUT THE RELATIVIZATION OF THE AGGRESSION AGAINST BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND SOME INDICATORS OF ITS HISTORIC RELAITY IN THE TERRITORY OF SARAJEVO)
- Author(s):Mesud Šadinlija
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Military history, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Inter-Ethnic Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:83-104
- No. of Pages:22
- Keywords:Bosnia and Herzegovina; Sarajevo; aggression; relativization; war crimes;
- Summary/Abstract:Similarly, as in cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity for which it is necessary to establish cumulative conditions applicable to the existence of armed conflict within which they were committed, the revision of the assessment of the nature of conflict being the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina and its relativization are of the paramount relevance in the process of equal redistribution of different aspects of responsibility between all the actors, and ultimately all the national communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This process, whose obvious and daily progression in a broad social spectrum is achieved within several motivationally different and synergically strong tendencies, does not have a benign nature and it does not suggest the assumptions of such societal development that could overcome past contradictions and conflicts. To that end, it is important to highlight different forms of this phenomenon and maintain, in the public discourse, the awareness about the genuine content and meaning of the notion of aggression, structure and responsibility of the executors, particularly in terms of responsibility for the committed crimes. We shall highlight in this paper some aspects of the denial and relativization of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and remind of the international definition of the aggression and in relation to this suggest some concrete indicators of its. Historic reality, particularly in the territory of Sarajevo.
OPĆI PRISTUP PROBLEMU AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU
OPĆI PRISTUP PROBLEMU AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU
(GENERAL APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM OF AGGRESSION AGAINST THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)
- Author(s):Ermin Kuka, Almir Grabovica
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Military history, Government/Political systems, Political behavior, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Politics of History/Memory, Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:105-116
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:scientific studies; aggression; Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; great-Serbian ideology; crimes;
- Summary/Abstract:In the period 1992‒1995, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was subjected to a classic armed aggression by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) and the Republic of Croatia. This was the aggression of colossal extent, which was followed by the commission of a numerous mass and individual crimes, primarily against Bosniacs. To scientifically study the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina is extremely complex and demanding scientific and methodological task. The mere aggression is an empiric fact, which requires a scientific approach to the aggression, both in terms of theoretical and the empiric position. The aggression against the Republic. Of Bosnia and Herzegovina was systematically prepared, and to the smallest detail, as well as planned and organized, which included the political and military leadership of the neighboring country, as well as their supporters in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (political and military leadership of the self proclaimed Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Also, the role of the academic, cultural, and other circles cannot be disregarded, as they had the task to prepare ideological foundation and basis for the execution of the aggression. Serbian Academy of Science and Arts (SANU) can be particularly singled out in this regard with their Memorandum from 1986. All these listed actors became the basis for the advocacy and execution of the great-Serbian ideology and policy which in practical terms meant creation of ethnically cleansed Serbian territories, that is the creation of the so-called great Serbia. This fascistic and genocidal ideology could not have been implemented without the commission crimes, including the crime of genocide. Due to the complexity of circumstances, context, and the extent of the mere aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the general approach to this problem requires primarily a scientific approach based on knowledge and findings of the contemporary methodology of the social studies, through the implementation of the contemporary methods and techniques of the scientific study.
ULOGA MEĐUNARODNE ZAJEDNICE U KONTEKSTU AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU
ULOGA MEĐUNARODNE ZAJEDNICE U KONTEKSTU AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU
(ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE AGGRESSION AGAINST BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA)
- Author(s):Alija Kožljak
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):International Law, Military history, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Political behavior, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:117-137
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:Aggression; Bosnia and Herzegovina; International community; United Nations; European Union; NATO;
- Summary/Abstract:International community has, on its own will, taken the responsibility to resolve the situation in the then Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, following its dissolution. This has particularly applied to the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was threatened by an open aggression, even disappearance. To that end, ample peace plans were designed, and to a large extent based on ethnic divisions, which suggested intentions of the international community in relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lack of a good will and unity aimed at prevention of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the prevention of mass crimes against its citizens, including the crime of genocide, as well as failure to prevent the destruction of state owned infrastructure, silent approval of the several years long siege of the capital, clearly speaks about the attitude on the part of international actors towards the aggressors and innocent victims, particularly the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lack of condemnation of the aggression, and permanent attempts to equalize the victims and aggressors serve as a direct confirmation that the initial attitude towards Bosnia and Herzegovina did not significantly change, although the circumstances to a large extent did. Current development of the situation on a global plan affects the changes in the perception of threat, including the relevance of the Western Balkans, and more specifically Bosnia and Herzegovina, which now suggests the new discourse of the West (EU and NATO Member States) in relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The paper is structured in five chapters: Dissolution of SFRY and international recognition of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Quest for a peace solution in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Intensification of the international community engagement; Final NATO operation and peace establishment; Post-war reaction of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Final considerations. The study is based on the qualitative analysis of documents and critical analysis of activities and actions of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period 1991-2022.
ULOGA HKD NAPREDAK U SARAJEVU POD OPSADOM
ULOGA HKD NAPREDAK U SARAJEVU POD OPSADOM
(THE ROLE OF HKD NAPREDAK (CROAT CULTURAL SOCIETY ‘PROGRESS’) IN BESIEGED SARAJEVO)
- Author(s):Franjo Topić
- Language:Croatian
- Subject(s):Cultural history, History of Church(es), Local History / Microhistory, Military history, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:139-165
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:Progress; Church; culture; humanitarian aid;
- Summary/Abstract:The aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, by its nature, remains forever written in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina and remembered by the people who suffered it. Painful and negative things are remembered more, especially the dead, wounded, and disabled people, as well as fear, hunger, and thirst. All those who lived through it and suffered it recount and will recount the events of that era for the rest of their lives. No matter how personal the memories are, they are still important, because they bear the mark of a concrete experience, and they have a context. Future scholars will try to objectify it, but they will always lack a context that is impossible to construct even close, let alone completely, later on. Who will imagine that people in Sarajevo first lived in a besieged and blocked city? It was a big prison, and we all know, even without personal experience, what a prison means. Who will be able to comprehend the situation in which numerous citizens for months received 200 grams of rice per week, that they did not eat anything serious for months, that they did not have water, electricity, transportation, telephone, cigarettes? Some said that they could not live with it, nor could they die. Some envied the dead. The Catholic Church and its Caritas and St. Anthony’s Bread tried as much as they could to alleviate the needs of hungry people, including by providing clothes and everything else necessary for life. At the beginning of the war in April 1992, HKD Napredak also registered as a humanitarian society and developed a significant humanitarian activity in addition to cultural and social activities, even though it had just been rebuilt (September 29, 1990). It suffices to say that Napredak organised 80 concerts, 37 exhibitions, several book promotions and various events in Sarajevo alone during the three and a half years of war. “The first musical event was organised by HKD Napredak, which, during the war-time years, took the lead in organising all cultural events in the city.” Moreover, Napredak distributed together with Vrhbosna seminary 403,000 meals, under which auspices it operated and protected. Napredak itself distributed 436 tons of food and medicine worth about two million DEM (= BAM, today 1 million euros). What is important for this context is that it provided a lot of humanitarian aid to members of other nations, at the time when exclusivity was dominant. Many living witnesses can testify to this.
ULOGA JNA U PRIPREMI AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU 1992‒1995. I OTPOR AGRESIJI, S POSEBNIM OSVRTOM NA PODRUČJE SJEVEROISTOČNE BOSNE
ULOGA JNA U PRIPREMI AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU 1992‒1995. I OTPOR AGRESIJI, S POSEBNIM OSVRTOM NA PODRUČJE SJEVEROISTOČNE BOSNE
(THE ROLE OF YPA IN THE PREPARATION OF AGGRESSION AGAINST THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN 1992-1995, AND RESISTANCE TO THE AGGRESSION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE AREA OF NORTHEAST BOSNIA)
- Author(s):Izet Šabotić
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Regional Geography, Military history, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:167-202
- No. of Pages:36
- Keywords:Yugoslav People’s Army (YPA); Territorial defence (TD) of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bosnia and Herzegovina; northeast Bosnia; Tuzla; aggression;
- Summary/Abstract:The paper points out at the role of the YPA in the preparation and implementation of the aggression against the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with special reference to northeast Bosnia. The YPA took the side of the great-state Serbian ideologists, blindly implementing the policy created in Belgrade, which implied open aggression and pretensions towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this respect, the YPA has been carrying out numerous activities since the late 1980s, working on the Serbisation of the YPA, installing exclusively Serbian-Montenegrin command staff in key positions. This made it possible for the YPA to be fully involved in the preparation of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it played a key role in all of this. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the YPA implemented a plan to disarm and disable the TD of Bosnia and Herzegovina, taking over most of its weapons. It openly armed the Serb national component in Bosnia and Herzegovina, worked in cooperation with the SDS to undermine the constitutional and legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to implement war plans, such as the “RAM”, “TEPIH” and “DRINA” plans, which implied open aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the aforementioned plans, the area of northeast Bosnia had a special significance for the aggression planners. Therefore, the YPA carried out numerous activities in this area. Preparations for the aggression were entrusted to the YPA 17th Corps, based in Tuzla. According to a clearly developed plan, the YPA armed the Serb population, for which the high-ranking YPA officers were strictly in charge of. Through the YPA, a significant number of YPA units, which arrived from Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro, were deployed in northeast Bosnia. Propaganda was constantly spread in this area for the purpose of collapsing the security situation and creating insecurity among the population. In preparation for the aggression, YPA units occupied important military-strategic points in this area. All the aforementioned activities were carried out by the YPA under the complete control of the military and political leadership from Belgrade, and in cooperation with the SDS of Bosnia and Herzegovina. By April 1992, the YPA had made all the necessary preparations for the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aggression began in early April 1992, precisely in the area of northeast Bosnia, with the attack on Bijeljina and other places in the Bosnian Podrinje. The consequences of the brutal aggression would have been much greater if the goals of the great-state ideologists and planners had not been recognised on time in this area, so that the preparations were made accordingly, responsibly, and decisively to start providing resistance to the aggression.
ULOGA PRIPADNICA ARBIH U ODBRANI REPUBLIKE BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE 1992‒1995. - TRIDESET GODINA POSLIJE
ULOGA PRIPADNICA ARBIH U ODBRANI REPUBLIKE BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE 1992‒1995. - TRIDESET GODINA POSLIJE
(ROLE OF FEMALE MEMBERS OF THE ARMY OF REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN THE DEFENSE OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN 1992‒1995 - THIRTY YEARS LATER)
- Author(s):Meldijana Arnaut Haseljić
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Military history, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:203-219
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; aggression; state; defense; armed units; female members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; defense-liberation fight;
- Summary/Abstract:Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina emerged from the need of the Bosnian people to defend itself. The aggressors’ desires, planned and projected goals were confronted with a strong will of patriots to defend themselves and their homes, families, state. The defenders of Bosnia were barehanded young men and girls, decisive and courageous in their intention to defend their homeland, namely the heroes who recognized the conclusive historic moment for Bosnian and Herzegovina to confirm its independence and sovereignty, and to stop being the object of hegemonistic and great-state tendencies of its neighbors. This strong will produced the organization of the Army, which was the only official armed force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with its objective to protect the territorial integrity of the state, citizens, economic, cultural, and other goods. In the ranks of the Army were also 5,360 members of “soft” gender, who have presented sufficient bravery to join those forces in the most difficult times of the final defense of independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the state. Among them, the particular piety belongs to those who were awarded Golden Fleur-de-lis (Zlatni ljiljan) – 13 of them. The option of choice – a victim or a defender ‒ made their decision easier when expressing their readiness to choose the adequate response. A special honor and respect be-long to a particular group of women ‒ who joined the Army voluntarily, when there were many of those who were hiding or were trying to escape the frontline or even the country, wishing to be a part of and to contribute in the fight for survival, either as combatants on frontlines, members of the sabotage units, reconnaissance teams, unit commanders, nurses, or those who worked in logistical units, commands or headquarters. Some of them did not live long enough to see the freedom. And where are those brave female combatants today? The answer to this question is the topic of empiric study, presented in the same-name paper which contains the results of all the processes related to building the culture of memory, including positioning of voluntary female combatants in legal norms. These are two crucial foundations, which position voluntary female combatants in a sociological reality of the present day.
KRATKA HISTORIJA NEGIRANJA GENOCIDA NAD BOŠNJACIMA
KRATKA HISTORIJA NEGIRANJA GENOCIDA NAD BOŠNJACIMA
(A BRIEF HISTORY OF DENIAL OF THE GENOCIDE COMMITTED AGAINST BOSNIACS)
- Author(s):Muamer Džananović, Hikmet Karčić
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Criminal Law, International Law, Military history, Studies in violence and power, Historical revisionism, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:221-236
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:crimes; genocide; Sarajevo; Srebrenica; denial; revisionism;
- Summary/Abstract:The matter of denial of the genocide committed against Bosniacs, including also a revisionism of history has become in course of last several years a current topic in the Bosnian and Herzegovinian society. With the amendments to the Criminal Code off Bosnia and Herzegovina, which prohibits genocide denial and glorification of the adjudicated war criminals, exercising such practices has not stopped. The focus of recent studies related to the genocide committed against Bosniacs is reduced to the contemporary phenomena. Authors of this paper are trying to offer a historic review of the denial of crimes and genocide committed against Bosniacs, which has been in progress ever since the early days of the aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The denial of camps, massacre at the Tuzla square, Sarajevo Markale market place, ample other crimes, including also the denial of genocide in Srebrenica, clearly suggests the form of institutional denial of crimes, which has been in progress, to a lesser or larger intensity, in the last thirty years.
VOLJA GRAĐANA BILA JE PRESUDNA U ODBRANI GRADA SARAJEVA U VREMENU OPSADE OD APRILA 1992. DO NOVEMBRA 1995. GODINE
VOLJA GRAĐANA BILA JE PRESUDNA U ODBRANI GRADA SARAJEVA U VREMENU OPSADE OD APRILA 1992. DO NOVEMBRA 1995. GODINE
(EXPRESSED WILL OF CITIZENS WAS DETRIMENTAL IN THE DEFENSE OF THE CITY OF SARAJEVO IN TIME OF THE SIEGE, WHICH EXTENDED FROM APRIL 1992 TO NOVEMBER 1995.)
- Author(s):Mirko Pejanović
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Civil Society, Local History / Microhistory, Military history, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:239-256
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:Aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina; siege of Sarajevo for 1425 days; War Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Summary/Abstract:Sarajevo as the capital of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been subjected to the longest military siege in a more recent history. The siege continued for 1425 days. The objective of the siege as to prevent legitimate authorities of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to organize resistance and defense from the aggression executed by the Milošević’s regime against the sovereign and independent Bosnia and Herzegovina. The defense of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was organized and managed by the War Presidency on the basis of Platform for the operation of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in time of war. The principal role in the defense of Sarajevo was with the self-organized citizens and the 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
ISTRAGE, OPTUŽNICE I PRESUDE U PREDMETIMA RATNIH ZLOČINA U PROCESU USPOSTAVE POVJERENJA I POMIRENJA NARODA I DRŽAVA ZAPADNOG BALKANA
ISTRAGE, OPTUŽNICE I PRESUDE U PREDMETIMA RATNIH ZLOČINA U PROCESU USPOSTAVE POVJERENJA I POMIRENJA NARODA I DRŽAVA ZAPADNOG BALKANA
(INVESTIGATIONS, INDICTMENTS, AND JUDGMENTS IN WAR CRIME CASES IN THE PROCESS OF THE BUILDING OF TRUST AND RECONCILIATION BETWEEN THE PEOPLES AND STATES IN THE WESTERN BALKANS)
- Author(s):Ismet Alija
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Criminal Law, International Law, Law and Transitional Justice, Military history, Government/Political systems, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:257-285
- No. of Pages:29
- Keywords:aggression; crimes; judiciary; Prosecutor’s Office of BiH; Dobrovoljačka street; trust; reconciliation; Dayton Agreement; Serbia; Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- Summary/Abstract:The political goal of the total demographic extermination of the Bosniac Muslim people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is evidenced by the criminal practice on the part of the aggressor, which tried to systematically persecute said people from the territory in which they always lived. Such a goal could not be achieved in another way, but by criminal methods of waging warfare. In order to cover up the aggressive nature of the military force use against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, presenting it as a civil war within an internationally recognized country, the Belgrade regime established a so-called Republika Srpska para-state and constituted an army of the said para-state, which made an integral part of the Army of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The unjust and criminal political and military goals determined and directed the war of aggression primarily against the non-Serb civilian population, and only than against the other armed forces, given that most of the killed victims were civilians. The unjust policy based on the great-Serbian ideology against Bosnia and Herzegovina continued even after the signing of the General Frame-work Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter the Dayton Agreement), and continued up to the present day. This is just another proof that Serbia has not yet sincerely and in good faith recognized territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, indicating that all anomalies and blockades in the implementation of the Dayton Agreement are a signal that Serbia, as of this day, does not consider its internationally recognized borders as being final. Such policy of the Belgrade regime is most concretely and indeed most destructively manifested in their attempts to cover up war crimes and glorify war criminals, aspiring to shifting the blame for starting the war and its consequences onto victims, and in that regard to equalize responsibility of the aggressor and Bosnia and Herzegovina defenders, ultimately to change the character of war. It is precisely the reason why the judiciary in the states that acted as aggressors against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period 1991-1995 was burdened with anomalies resulting in blockades, even the setbacks in the commitments from the Dayton Agreement. This is the reason why trust cannot be built and reconciliation cannot be achieved on such foundations between the peoples and states of the Western Balkans. In that context, various concrete cases of unjust and illegal protection of war criminals should be analyzed, as well as numerous indictments fabricated by the Serbian regime and the Bosnia and Herzegovina entity of Republika Srpska should be considered. Obvious example of such practice is the indictment, including its confirmation, related to the events in Sarajevo’s Dobrovoljačka Street on May 3, 1992.
LOGISTIČKO OBEZBJEĐENJE JEDINICA 1. KORPUSA ARMIJE REPUBLIKE BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE OD 1992. DO 1995. GODINE
LOGISTIČKO OBEZBJEĐENJE JEDINICA 1. KORPUSA ARMIJE REPUBLIKE BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE OD 1992. DO 1995. GODINE
(LOGISTICAL SECURITY OF THE UNITS OF THE 1ST CORPS OF THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN 1992-1995.)
- Author(s):Neziran Đogo
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Military history, Security and defense, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies, Transport / Logistics
- Page Range:289-359
- No. of Pages:71
- Keywords:Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; 1st Corps; logistics; definition of logistics; structure of logistics; securing; Group TNT2; Container; Transporter; Operation Group TNT-rabbits; LoB;
- Summary/Abstract:Purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review how system of logistical security of the units within 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina emerged, its organisation and functioning, given that the 1st Corps as a military formation served within the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Officially, 1st Corps was established on 1 September 1992 under the conditions of aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the complete blockade and siege of the city of Sarajevo. Observed from the aspect of spatial, temporal and functional features, and given the lack of documentation ‒ as this topic was not elaborated in course of last 30 years ‒ achieving the expected result is a complex task. If we add to this that the logistical system as such is complex, big, open, and integral, complexity of this task is progressively increased. The author is aware that this task cannot be accomplished in this paper. By its specifics and manner of logistical securing of the units within the city under the siege, the time of war beginning in April 1992 until November 1995 is divided into four periods of logistical securing, which will be separately discussed further in the paper. First two periods precede the establishment of the 1st Corps. They are reflected in the fact that the logistics was not organised, that there were no permanent sources to supply the units with material and technical means, that there were no reserve sources, and also that there was no competent staff to carry out these tasks, so that the second period is in fact the beginning of establishment of logistics in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
ULOGA I ZNAČAJ PRVOG KORPUSA ARMIJE REPUBLIKE BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE U ODBRANI SARAJEVA
ULOGA I ZNAČAJ PRVOG KORPUSA ARMIJE REPUBLIKE BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE U ODBRANI SARAJEVA
(THE ROLE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FIRST CORPS OF THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN THE DEFENSE OF SARAJEVO)
- Author(s):Vahid Karavelić
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Local History / Microhistory, Military history, Security and defense, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:361-397
- No. of Pages:37
- Keywords:Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo; 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Igman; Tunnel D‒B (Tunnel of salvation); aggressor; Republika Srpska Army; Sarajevo-Romanija Corps;
- Summary/Abstract:Sarajevo, as the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the biggest urban, demographic, economic, and political centre, and the city which during the siege and defence had around 350,000 residents. The 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was growing from the ashes, and its predecessors were Patriotic league and Territorial defence which with the state insignia became legal and legitimate force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Government. In the period March-April 1992, the aggressors managed to achieve a deep operational military blockade and placed the city under the siege. The city was militarily and hermetically closed. With this closure of the city, the aggressor manged to create all preconditions to begin with an open military operation aimed at terrorising and disappearance of Sarajevo. It also believed that only several weeks were required to completely take over Sarajevo. The city was destined to die. The 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established on 1 September 1992 in Sarajevo and it encompassed all the military units, established up to that moment. The aggressor intended to remove from office the state, political and military leadership in Sarajevo, establish a new marionette presidency, occupy Sarajevo, declare capitulation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus and retain it within the ramp Yugoslavia, namely “Great Serbia”. The 1st Corps played a key strategic role in the defence of Sarajevo, during the longest siege observed in the history, and served as a principal holder the armed resistance and fight for the defence of Sarajevo. Valter was the 1st Corps, which based its fight for the defence of Sarajevo on his paradigm. This was the fight between David and Goliath, and despite the UN arms embargo, David won. It began with the groups, detachments, brigades, followed by Tactical groups, Operational groups and finally divisions with the total manpower of over 80,000 members. During the defence of the city, the 1st Corps manged to defend Sarajevo with the bodies of its soldiers. International community has left the 1st Corps and the Army to the mercy of the aggressor. At the end of the 20th century, the 1st Corps, in such an unfair fight from the aspect of the relationship of power in the technical factor, though fair from the aspect of justice and fairness, had to dig a tunnel under the airport, before the eyes of the entire world, which is the tunnel of the international shame and the tunnel of our pride, that had a strategic relevance for the defence of Sarajevo, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. International community has stopped the war with the architecture of the Dayton Peace Agreement, although the fight to make Bosnia and Herzegovina disappear by those same retrograde political forces, which started the war, continued, becoming even stronger in their ideology. That is the reason why the international community bears a huge responsibility for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is obliged, responsible, and it would have to do everything possible to rectify those failures made in relation to Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina by way of ensuring its permanent prosperous future and building its political systema based on principles of civil democracy, as well as multi-ethnic and secular state.
POLITIČKI I VOJNI ASPEKTI ODBRANE SARAJEVA
POLITIČKI I VOJNI ASPEKTI ODBRANE SARAJEVA
(POLITICAL AND MILITARY ASPECTS OF THE DEFENCE OF SARAJEVO)
- Author(s):Nedžad Ajnadžić
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Local History / Microhistory, Military history, Political history, Government/Political systems, Security and defense, Military policy, Political behavior, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:399-423
- No. of Pages:25
- Keywords:Bosnia and Herzegovina; Sarajevo; defence; 1st Corps of the ARBiH; political and military aspects;
- Summary/Abstract:The defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the defence of Sarajevo, was based on political and patriotic awareness of its citizens, who were genuinely committed to preservation of Bosnia and Herzegovina specific political and statehood being, as a community of equal citizens and peoples. Based on assessment of a big relevance of Sarajevo for the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the aggressor has thoroughly planned, prepared, and utilised large military forces to conquer the city and establish there its occupational authority. They wanted Sarajevo to be only a Serb capital of the so-called “Republic of Serb Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The combat activities carried out by the 1st Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina were organised in a very complex strategic, operational, and tactical conditions, under the conditions of besieged free territories in which the units and the commands of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina operated, including the conditions of specific military siege of a major part of the 1st Corps in the city of Sarajevo. Strategic and operational-tactical positions of the aggressor’s forces were rather favourable for them, given that they controlled main roads that were connecting Bosnia and Herzegovina battlefield with the sources of mobilization into the aggressor’s army with soldiers and material means in the so called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), and the countries that supported aggressor. The extent of human losses, during and after every war, turned into a big political, historic, and moral and ethical issue. Pursuant to the character of response of the warring parties and their allies to the question of the extent of human losses, it is possible to identify the character of policy that served as a basis for war engagement and support to any of the warring parties. In general, the factors on the side of the warring party that waged the righteous war strive to present truthfully the number of victims, whereas the factors on the side of the warring party that waged unfair war strive to fake the number of victims and adapt it to the character of its unfair political views related to the causes and consequences of the war. Given the fact that the international community with its embargo harmed the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina defence forces, which operated on the grounds of fair policy and righteous war, we arrive at a conclusion that the embargo was unfair, in favour of unfair aggressor’s policy, criminal and genocidal war practice.
VOJNI POTENCIJALI JNA U PRIPREMI AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU I OPSADU SARAJEVA
VOJNI POTENCIJALI JNA U PRIPREMI AGRESIJE NA REPUBLIKU BOSNU I HERCEGOVINU I OPSADU SARAJEVA
(MILITARY POTENTIAL OF JNA DURING THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE AGGRESSION AGAINST THE REPUBLIC OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO)
- Author(s):Džemal Najetović
- Language:Bosnian
- Subject(s):Military history, Security and defense, Military policy, Studies in violence and power, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Peace and Conflict Studies
- Page Range:425-442
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:aggression; defense; Bosnia and Herzegovina; armed forces; war;
- Summary/Abstract:Faced with an open threat from Radovan Karadzic in the Republic of BiH Assembly on October 14, 1991 that the Muslim people would disappear, President Alija Izetbegovic visionary won the state, first through a referendum and then recognition from the European Community and the United Nations. With this, he repealed the SFRY laws. He formulated the general strategic concept of the defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is about small community waging a war, in a small territory, against incomparably militarily and economically stronger opponents. And precisely because of that, it was necessary to apply such a strategic concept that provides the opportunity to wage war in all domains, to engage all human and material potentials, activate all energy, to apply all forms of combat, all types and forms of combat operations. This means organizing the whole society into a solid monolithic community, which is completely identified with the total military force. Part of the RBiH leadership and its patriots, using the prior experiences from the war in Slovenia and Croatia, estimated that without the armed forces there cannot be any defense of an independent, complete, sovereign and multiethnic BiH. For the sake of easier and more purposeful leadership and command, all patriotic forces were united in the Army of RBiH. On April 6, 1992, the European Community recognized the independence of BiH, and one day earlier, on April 5, as this decision became public, the JNA, in fact Serbia and Montenegro, began with the aggression against BiH. This marked the beginning of the most terrible and bloodiest war in the history of BiH and the Balkans. Poorly armed units of the Territorial Defense, Ministry of the Interior, Patriotic League, Green Berets and spontaneously formed small armed groups provided heroic resistance to superior attackers who quickly took control over the large territory of the state. Our resistance was especially manifested in bigger cities, such as Sarajevo, Tuzla, Zenica... In a kind of the counterattack, armed units of the legitimate authorities liberated these places and the government was consolidated in them. On May 22, 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina became a full member of the OUN.