Serbian president “interferes in Bosnia’s internal issues”

SOURCE: DANAS
BELGRADE, SARAJEVO -- Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić is interfering in internal relations and affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croat Presidency member Željko Komšić has said.

Željko Komšić (Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, file)

Željko Komšić (Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, file)

He announced earlier that he would not come to a bilateral meeting on April 23 in Belgrade because of Nikolić’s statements.

“My two colleagues, (Serb Presidency member Nebojša) Radmanović and (Bosniak Presidency member Bakir) Izetbegović can confirm I was certainly a proponent of Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency’s visit to Belgrade. Mr. Izetbegović even insisted that a trilateral meeting should first be held in Ankara and only then the visit to Belgrade,” Komšić told Belgrade-based daily Danas.

“We believed that we did not need a mediator, if it was about mediation in the first place, and agreed to go to Belgrade first and then to Ankara. Mr. Nikolić has had several statements since the beginning that we in Sarajevo considered very unacceptable but we still decided not to react, raise tensions and waited for the right moment to realize the bilateral meeting,” he explained.

When asked about relations between Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and key problems between the two countries, Komšić that he could say that there was even a “relaxed atmosphere” in solving of open issues if there were no such disputable statements and stances on Nikolić’s part.