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Republic of Srpska â€“ second Kosovo in the Balkans

26 February 2008 12:44 (UTC +04:00)

Pristina. Dr. Fakhri Karimli-APA. Kosovoâ€™s unilateral declaration of independence divided not only neighbors or European space, but also the entire world community into two opposing sides: the countries recognizing Kosovo as the newest state of the world and the countries stating that this incident does not meet international legal norms.

Though UN Security Council does not recognize Kosovo, three out of five permanent members of the council â€“ US, Great Britain and France supported the declaration of independence. This position is also supported by great states of Europe Germany and Italy and as well as by Turkey and Albania. Despite its problems Afghanistan was the first country to recognize Kosovo. The other two members of the UN Security Council Russia and China fears that Kosovo will set precedent and separatist tendencies will increase in the world. Foreign Ministry of China made a statement that â€œthe situation causes serious concernâ€ and stated that Taiwan, which recognized Kosovo, has no such a right, as it is a part of China. Russia calls on the UN to pass decision regarding Kosovoâ€™s action as invalid. This camp also includes four members of the European Union â€“ Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Romania. Miguel Angel Moratinos, Foreign Minister of Spain struggling against Basque Separatist Movement stated that Kosovoâ€™s independence contradicts international law. Romania bewares of autonomy demands of Hungarian minority in the country, Greek Cyprus and Athens fears that Kosovo will set precedent for Northern Cyprus. But in fact, neither Basque, nor Northern Cyprus is close to follow Kosovo lesson. Actually, the region, which is close to follow Kosovo lesson in Europe, is Republic of Srpska. Republic of Srpska, the name of which is similar to the neighboring Serbian Republic, is a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the six republics of Yugoslavia, underwent the bloodiest slaughter in 1992, soon after it declared its independence. It was the bloodiest slaughter in Europe after the World War II.
According to Dayton agreement in 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina became federation established by Bosnian Muslim and Croats and Republic of Srpska established by Serbian minority. Republic of Srpska which surrounds 49% territory of 51-square meter Bosnia gives a great importance to political will of Belgrade and it has a great potential to declare the independence. Serb Movement of Independent Associations (SPONA) sated on February 14 that it will demand independence for Republic of Srpska to repeat experiment of Kosovo. Milorad Dodik Prime Minister of Republic of Srpska announced that, Kosovoâ€™s declaration of independence can form â€œsimilar opinions in othersâ€.
Serbian Radical Party and Serbian Democratic Party supported this demand. The commissions of local Parliament will begin to prepare the document on the declaration of the Republic of Srpskaâ€™s independence if UN Security Council members recognize the independence of Kosovo.
Miroslav LajÄÃ¡k, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina/EU Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina criticized the opinions of Banya-Luka.
â€œThe Republic of Srpska has not right to separate from Bosnia, but nobody can abolish Republic of Srpska,â€ he said. Prime Minister Milorad Dodik made a new statement on February 20 after warning of international instances. He approved that, they will demand referendum on the independence, if the status of Rebulic of Srpska is doubtful. He sated that, independence of Kosovo will not cause it.
â€œThe independence of Kosovo only strengthened the Republic of Srpska. Our aim is to increase the status of autonomy. I would like to carry out several issues immediately. But some of my approaches are not realist. We should take cogent and sensible measures. Hasty decisions should cause damage,â€ he said. Other negative influence of the experiment of Kosovo is that, centralized process of the state in Bosnia was seriously damaged. Republic of Srpska announced that it will compromise none of its authorities to Bosnia. It is not possible that, Bosnia will recognize the independence of Kosovo soon. Because all efforts in this direct ion are blockaded by Republic of Srpska. Main issue of the week is that, Kosovo does not set precedent in the example of Republic of Srpska. The fact is that, it can not be forecasted that, which steps Russia and Belgrade will take in future.