Zeljko Komsic

Türkiye is ready to give support for overcoming the problems regarding the upcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sept. 6.

But there is a considerable price to pay for these small steps towards basic functioning in the entity-level government. The larger thrust of Schmidt's proposal amounts to a sort of election gerrymandering by the Office of the High Representative, OHR.

The Serbian member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, Milorad Dodik, on Monday said that Bosnian Serbs will respect Sunday's agreement signed in Brussels on building a peaceful and stable Bosnia. Although the agreement is not signed or legally binding, "it will be respected on the political and moral level", he said.

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic (L), Slovenian President Borut Pahor (C), Member of the Bosnian Presidency, Milorad Dodik (R). Photo: EPA-EFE/IGOR KUPLJENIK

"We won't solve this problem without the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina," Milanovic said.

In that sense, Bosnia's sovereignty can only be truly championed by its own citizens. Still, it is striking that for a country which at one time was the poster child of the triumphs of international liberalism, the cause of liberal democracy in Bosnia effectively falls on deaf ears in most Western capitals.

Then September brought a flurry of meetings: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu travelled to Serbia to open a Turkish consulate in the city of Novi Pazar, part of the southwestern region of Sandzak, straddling both Serbia and Montenegro and mainly populated by Bosniak Muslims; Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic visited Erdogan in Istanbul; and Erdogan met Croatian President Zoran Milanov

Bosnian Presidency member Milorad Dodik (R) shakes hand with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Linhart (L) as he arrives for a meeting at the Bosnian Presidency, 15 October 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and Bosnian presidency members Sefik Dzeferovic, Zeljko Komsic and Milorad Dodik in Belgrade, October 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC.

The NGOs' joint letter also criticised the inaction of the international community and recalled the consequences of the 1990s war in Bosnia.

According to Dodik, this could include pulling Bosnian Serb soldiers out of Bosnia's joint armed forces and re-establishing Republika Srpska's own military, as well as withdrawing from the country's indirect taxation system.

When former police official Edin Vranj was arrested last weekend while entering Serbia on suspicion that he committed war crimes against prisoners of war during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict, officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina responded furiously.