Various individual countries also had specific interests related to the Bosnian civil war. France and Russia had deep historical ties to Serbia, in part because of the events that led up to World War I, but also going back to the same medieval crusading tradition that loomed so large in Serbian national consciousness. On the other hand, Turkey felt a special concern for the Bosnian Muslims, whose ancestors had converted to Islam during the era of Turkish rule [Embassy of the Republic of Turkey np]. Worldwide, Muslim organizations have also shown an ongoing concern for the fate and conditions of the Bosnian Muslims [Islam Online np].He would also use similar methods to pursue his ethnic nationalist agenda in neighboring regions of the former Yugoslavia -- particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The police-state security apparatus created during the Tito era was well-suited to the purpose of organizing, arming, and guiding paramilitary groups of nationalist thugs. These groups would commit a large proportion of the human-rights abuses that were perpetrated in Bosnia during the period leading up to the Dayton Peace Accords. Thus, in turn, they would be a major issue for the judicial component of the Accords. An Agenda for Bosnia's Next High Representative. Democratization Policy Institute, 2002. Borneman, John; Fisher, Linda; and Gamdzic, Elvir Gamdzic. Death of the Father: Tito and Yugoslavia. Cornell University, 1998. http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/dof/yugoslavia/yugo.htm Internal Armed Conflict. kosovocommission.org/reports/2.pdf Likewise, the course of events in Bosnia and the Balkans as a whole cannot be blamed simply on the Serbs. If Serbians have been charged with the preponderant number of human-rights abuses, this is essentially reflective of the fact that they were the largest ethnic group, and linked to the region's most powerful state. The bulk of the former Yugoslavian military and security apparatus fell into Serb hands by default |
