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🇭🇷 Croatia /Conflict & Security

Thirteen Croatian Genocides and Other Fairy Tales: How and Why Bosniak Elites Falsify History

From Večernji List · () Croatian

Translated from Croatian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Sources not specified Outcome reported
  • Bakir Izetbegović described the Bosnian war as involving elements of civil war as well as aggression, then called the remark an obvious mistake the next day.
  • The article argues that political parties and media in Sarajevo accused him of rewriting history and betraying victims.
  • It says political scientists classify the war as both an internal, inter-ethnic conflict and an internationalized civil war involving neighboring states.

Bakir Izetbegović had to retract what Sarajevo’s political establishment treated as an “epic-scale scandal”: his statement that the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina contained “elements of civil war” alongside aggression.

elements of civil war

· Bakir IzetbegovićIzetbegović used the phrase while describing the nature of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The SDA president made the remark in Kiseljak. Parties from the so-called Troika, SDP, Narod i Pravda and Our Party, as well as parts of the media, quickly accused him of “rewriting history,” “betraying the victims” and catering to Greater Serbian and Greater Croatian policies.

By the following day, Izetbegović had apologized for the statement, calling it an “obvious mistake” caused by fatigue. The article presents the retreat as politically necessary, while arguing that the description itself is standard in political-science literature.

rewriting history

· Critics from the Troika parties and parts of the mediaThey accused Izetbegović of distorting the historical account after his statement.

It cites political scientist Mirjana Kasapović and says dozens of leading international scholars of political violence view the Bosnian conflict primarily as a civil war. In that interpretation, the conflict was simultaneously an internal, inter-ethnic struggle and an internationalized civil war in which neighboring states became directly involved.

betraying the victims

· Critics from the Troika parties and parts of the mediaThe phrase formed part of the criticism directed at Izetbegović.

The article’s central argument is that “civil war” and “aggression” are not mutually exclusive categories. It uses the dispute over Izetbegović’s wording to criticize what it portrays as the political manipulation of historical terminology in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

obvious mistake

· Bakir IzetbegovićHe used this description when retracting his earlier statement the next day.
About this summary

Originally published by Večernji List in Croatian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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