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The practice, connected to the transferring of relics, imported to the Bulgarian tradition from Byzantium, can be treated as a part of Bulgarian rulers’ “Empire idea”, which has changed at the beginning of 13th century. The formation of an independent pantheon of saints helps to successfully Trinova’s competition with Constantinople and striving for the Bulgarian capital to become “Third Rome”. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, Bulgarian empire has claimed to be new Christian centre in the Balkans. The construction of its own pantheon of saints’ relics is a necessity for realization of the Bulgarian tsar’s imperial claims. The creation and following of this tradition led its beginning of the military actions and become a part of the ideological platform of the Bulgarian tsars.
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The Soviet Union is one of the old political forces that coerced or voluntarily held together ethnic or religious origins. It is a power that has left a very deep history in its past. The bipolar system in the world came to an end after the Cold War. After this situation, ethnic conflicts increased and spread to the Soviet Union in the 1980s and caused great repercussions in the world (Aslanlı, 2013). Conflicts occurring in the world have been a threat to security. These conflicts resulted in disintegration and in the early 1990s, the USSR was replaced by 15 new independent republics at the end of 1991 (İbadov, 2007).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Introductory remarks by: - Prof. Ph.D. Rifat Škrijelj, rector of the University of Sarajevo - Prof. Ph.D. Dženeta Omerdić, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Office of Dr. Denis Bećirević) - Prof. Ph.D. Denis Zvizdić, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Ph.D. Pavle Krstić, Minister (Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Youth of Sarajevo Canton) - Ph.D. Husein-ef. Kavazovića, reisul-ulema (Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Academician, prof. Ph.D. Mirko Pejanović (President of the Scientific Committee of the Conference of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Ćamil Duraković (Vice President of the RS entity) - Prof. Ph.D. Rasim Muratović, Director of the Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law, University of Sarajevo - Ph.D. Sc. Sedad Bešlija, director of the Institute of History
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Moralno-pravna i politička obaveza svijeta i Evropske unije i Bosne i Hercegovine jeste ne samo spriječiti buduće, civilizacijski katastrofične zločine poput genocida nad Bošnjacima u Srebrenici i oko nje nego, i prije svega, spriječiti njegovo planski aktivno i politički, medijski, kvazinaučno, sistematsko poricanje i negiranje. Tome svjedočimo danas i svih poratnih godina u Bosni i Hercegovini i njenom susjedstvu. Umjesto odgovornosti za nesprečavanje genocida, u Srbiji se i dalje veličaju ratni zločinci koji su doveli do izvršenja genocida. Upornim i neskrivenim javnim veličanjem zločina i međunarodno presuđenih ratnih zločinaca, praveći od njih nacionalne heroje s jedne, i stigmatiziranjem kritičkoga govora i priznavanja genocida od strane grupacija ili pojedinaca u njihovom javnom angažmanu na tu temu, s druge strane, ohrabruju se politike i zagovornici opetovanja genocidnog zla i njegovo javno, nekažnjeno, stadionsko i medijsko veličanje, poput transparenata tokom utakmica na kojima se zanavlja napis: Nož, žica, Srebrenica.
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Restrictions to freedom and forced labour in the Croatian, that is Yugoslavian, legal system following the Second World War, during the period of “National Democracy,” was determined by a series of decrees, resolutions, and laws. From 1945 to 1951, the Yugoslavian penal code recognized four types of non-free labour: forced labour without the removal of personal freedom, forced labour with restrictions to personal freedom, corrective work and socially useful work. This article, on the basis of sources, literature, and above all the most important decrees, resolutions, and laws applied in Croatia, and elsewhere in Yugoslavia, during the period of “National Democracy”, from 1945-1951, reviews the matter of state repression and the question of the restrictions to freedoms and forced labour in the penal code.
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Forced labour in Serbia, in the first postwar years, appeared in specific situations and affected various social groups, and it was carried out in the conditions of revolutionary political change. During the time of liberation and immediately afterward “mobilization” appeared as a specific form of required labour, while in the later period work referred to as “required service” or “required work” received special significance. Failure to comply with these orders carried sanctions in terms or criminal or administrative penalties. Specific social categories, the war prisoners and Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans), who li-ved in camps were employed as forced labour and their freedom was restricted as a whole; other social categories were required to work through judgments of the courts and these sentences could be applied in jails or in freedom; a third type of required labour, which affected groups such as pensioners, occurred due to a lack experts, requiring them to accept various jobs in order to maintain their pensions. Regardless of the type of category, forced labour was in fact mobilized free labour, which was employed in numerous construction sites, mines, or other objects in fulfillment of the first Five Year Plan.
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Forced labour for the Germans of Vojvodina was introduced in the first days after the new government was established. It was an expression of the necessity of making up shortages in the supply of labour as it was also seen as a punishment for the German minority’s support for the Axis powers during the Second World War and the participation of some of its members in war crimes. Some people were marched under armed guard to work in forests, fields, vineyards, the clearing of rubble, the construction or repair of buildings, roads, railways, and bridges, while some people were concentrated in special camps from which they were taken to work every day. The organization of work camps overlaps with the period of martial law, while the whole process took shape in stages, in an attempt to concentrate labour supply, preserve Ger-man property, open areas for the settlement of colonists and others. Conditions in the camps were inadequate in terms of supporting and maintaining the ability of inmates to perform work, and there was a lack of any motivation to improve them. In the autumn of 1947 it became clear that the policy toward the German minority was changing, and in the spring of 1948 the Communist authorities began to dismantle the camps. Because of these types of conditions and the fact that in the first years following the dismantling of the camps their work in large measure retained the qualities of forced labour, a large majority of Volksdeutsche decided to emigrate from Yugoslavia when this became a legal possibility. Their work, instead of contributing to the development of their homeland, contributed to the West German “economic miracle.”
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Author analyzes discursive praxis in confronting the past and reasons why such approach is considered as a stabilizing concept within historiography. The example of holocaust and its implementation within national and transnational memory of the entire humankind shows how history and memory coexist. Namely, a historiography is inspired by a new model of ethical awareness that imposes revealing of a negative memory in order to avoid repetition and manipulation of the remembrance, especially regarding possible retroactive justification of historical crimes. Generally speaking, such a concept of confronting the past opens question about “negative memories”, and maintains idea that not speaking about historical evil enables its possible return in the future. From the perspective of historical memory one can say that historiography today emphasizes its ethical orientation. Historians today do not have a monopoly on interpreting the past, and this fact enables dialogue between historiography and other scholarly disciplines. Namely, during the last twenty years many sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, literary scholars and philosophers contributed a lot in the investigation of contradictions and anomalies that accompany transformation of a living communicated remembrance to the commemorative and institutionalized memory. The question of transformation of individual remembrance to collective memory is rather well investigated in the relation to the meaning and significance of social obligation towards a social group, especially regarding question of merging or debarring of certain memories. Author also points out some examples of making the memories in Croatia during the transition period in 1990s’. Moreover, question of rememorizing the World War Two (1941-1945) is discussed in comparison to the rising of social importance of the remembrance of the Homeland War (1991- 1995), especially in the relation to the decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and collapse of communism in the Central and South-Eastern Europe provoked numerous nationalistic re-interpretations in the small local historiographies. Consequently, some of the Croatian historians during 1990s’ treated their nation as a victim, and confronting the past was rather strongly present in the investigation of victims of communism 1945- 1990, which was necessary at that time because of the need to create a social balance. Nowadays some recent studies show that Croatian historians are more open towards new theoretical approaches within the research field of culture of remembrance. Finally, there is an open question of memorial function of the Homeland War 1991-1995. Namely, many analysts think that international justice has failed in the case of processing crimes during the Yugoslav war. If the International Court of Justice took more clear and undisputable position regarding crime against peace that was committed by Milošević’s Serbia during the aggression to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, we could do much more effective work regarding negation of mass crimes and recurrence of genocide in Europe.
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After the collapse of the second Yugoslavia all the official bonds that Croatian historiography had with other former Yugoslav historiographies were broken. Still, the cooperation among historians was soon renewed, especially between Croatian and Serbian historians through participation on the international scholarly conferences called Dijalog povjesničara / istoričara (Dialogue among historians) organized by Foundation Friedrich Naumann. During eight years (1998-2005) the foundation organized 10 conferences, and published the conference proceedings. These conferences managed to gather 165 participants (from twelve different countries), who delivered their papers and worked in the form of workgroups. The most important part of these conferences is the fact that they were organized without any political influence, though many participants emphasized idea of international and internal reconciliation project. However, this reconciliation does not include political reconciliation but only reconciliation with the past. Throughout the years, these conferences showed that historians from both countries can cooperate and exchange ideas without any significant problem but only in the framework of a scholarly dialogue.
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Nobility from the territory of modern Slavonia played a significant role in wars against the Ottomans. As this essay will show, much of their activity was related to Banate of Jajce. Slavonian nobles, with their military units, fought in this area as well as occupied important offices related to the defence of Banate. Thus Franjo Berislavić Grabarski is referred to as Ban of Jajce in 1494 and 1499-1503, while his cousin Ivan held the same office 1511-1513. Another form of contribution to the defence of Jajce by Slavonian nobles was the fortification of towns and building of roads, as well as financial support to the expenses of wars and resistance to the Ottoman attack. This essay also draws the attention to other ways in which Slavonia participated in raising funds for the defence of Bosnia. For instance, around the turn of the sixteenth century bans of Jajce had the income of the abbey in Bijela at their disposal.
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The Blagaj castle is situated near the mouth of the River Japra into the River Sana, close to the most important medieval road through the valley of the River Una and leading from the Eastern Adriatic coast to the Pannonian basin. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the castle of Blagaj was the residence of Counts of Blagaj, the descendants of the earlier Babonić counts. While the collapse of the medieval Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463 foreshadowed Ottoman raids into the Sana valley, it was the foundation of Banate of Jajce that put an end to Ottoman raids for a couple of decades. Nevertheless, historical documents sporadically indicate constant threat of Ottoman raids around the turn of the sixteenth century. This is even more clearly depicted by the remains of the castle of Blagaj that show abundant construction work conducted during the anti-Ottoman defensive wars. In this essay, the author contextualizes the known information about the Ottoman attacks in the Sana valley and the importance and the role of the Blagaj castle in the anti-Ottoman defence system of the castles. Although these buildings are today in poor condition, the ruins of the Blagaj castle indicate a major extension of the castle’s fortification system built after 1503, and the beginning of the deconstruction of the defensive system of Banate of Jajce. A special attention is given to the establishnig of the final Christian (i.e. Croatian) desertion of the Blagaj castle during the 1540s.
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Ivo Pilar, Ph. D., (1874-1933), attorney-at-law, completed his brochure The World War and the Croats (Svjetski rat i Hrvati) in March 1915. It was published in Zagreb that same year. Knowing that the authorities of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy would not be pleased with some of his theses, Pilar published the brochure under the pseudonym Dr. Juričić. The author’s fears of a possible negative reaction to his geopolitical ideas were not ungrounded, since the state’s censor abridged Pilar’s original text thoroughly before he allowed it to be published. The second edition of Pilar’s brochure, containing many sentences that had been censored out of the first edition, most of them pertaining to the Central Forces’ unfaithful ally Italy, was published two years later. In his analysis of the political situation at the beginning of World War I, Pilar concluded that the times were fateful for the Croatian people, since the outcome of the war was going to decide with which country the Croatian territories would side in the long run. Tuđman felt that Pilar’s views were a reflection of the ideas of all the factions in Croatian politics that sought to solve the Croatian national question within the confines of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and within the Central European geopolitical territory. Even though Pilar’s basic hypothesis had proved wrong (he assumed Germany and Austro-Hungarian Monarchy would win World War I), some of his ideas, particularly the ideas about the geopolitical position of Croatian territories and their historical fate, still hold their original value.
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Early in May 1914, when official news about Archduke Francis Ferdinand’s military manoeuvres in Bosnia appeared in the Croatian newspapers, no one could have guessed that the tragedy of World War I was imminent. Although tensions between Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbia had been growing since the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkan turmoil, few were predicting an escalation of the conflict in a domino effect. Assassination of the Crown Prince and his wife Sofia on June 28, 1914, in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, led to the outbreak of a war in which the political map of Europe would be redrawn. The struggle for European supremacy between two blocs of states brought to the fore major military and foreign policy is-sues, in which smaller nations without their independent states had to demonstrate their ability to survive. In Croatia, the political public unanimously condemned the terrorist act of the Yugoslav revolutionaries gathered in the organization Young Bosnia (Mlada Bosna). It was committed on Vidovdan, a significant religious holiday for the Eastern Orthodox Serbs commemorating the notorious defeat of medieval Serbia in a conflict with the Ottoman Empire in Kosovo and symbolizing hope in revenge. Further developments were expected, in which the Croats could not play a significant role due to the underrepresentation of the Croatian elite in the leading positions in Austro-Hungarian key institutions: the governments of both countries, various ministries from foreign affairs to public finances, and the army.
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The duration and intensity of warfare in Yugoslavia and the Independent State of Croatia, the presence of significant occupation forces of the German Reich, Italy, and Hungary, and the activities of NDH Army, the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland (the Chetniks), and the People’s Liberation Army and the Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia / Yugoslav Army resulted in direct conflicts between the warring parties, which led to severe human losses among the soldiers and civilians alike. The irreconcilable ideologies and political and military interests in the armed conflict and the civil war multiplied the casulaties.
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Shqiptarët e Rumanisë janë një pakicë etnike që, sipas përfundimeve të regjistrimit të popullsisë të vitit 2002, numuron 520 vetë. Por shifra e vërtetë e tyre besohet të jetë rreth 10.000. Kjo mospërputhje lidhet me faktin që jo pak shqiptarë etnikë vetëdeklarohen rumunë. Afro gjysma e tyre banojnë në qendra të rëndësishme urbane, si: Timishoara, Jash, Konstancë dhe Kluzh-Napoka. Shumica janë të krishterë ortodoksë, të ardhur gjatë shekujve nga Jugu i Shqipërisë, kryesisht nga Korça, por ka edhe myslimanë, kryesisht në Dobruxhë, në rrethinat e portit të Konstancës.
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