Peticija za Pojedinacno Potpisivanje
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Bosnian Days on the Capitol Hill
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American Bosnian Association
P.O. Box 48
Mt. Prospect, IL 60056
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abausa@gmail.com
Documents from First Bosnian Days on the Capitol Hill
Dokumenti sa Prvih Bosanskih Dana na Capitol Hillu
POLITICAL MISSION STATEMENT
We, citizens of the United States of America of all ethnic and religious groups descending from Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H), have decided to establish political-humanitarian and policy guidance organization that will portray a true and objective picture of the events experienced during the most recent tragic history of our homeland of Bosnia & Herzegovina. We envision Bosnia & Herzegovina as a modern state that will follow the path of the civilized, peaceful, and democratic modern world - a nation that will fight for a justice and equality for all its citizens. Our Association devotes its efforts towards healing the wounds and easing off hatred and painful division caused by the most recent wars in B&H. Furthermore, our Association emphasizes the importance of creating a safe and stable political environment in Bosnia & Herzegovina, where all human rights and freedoms will be guaranteed to all people, where people will be enabled through their own work and political participation to shape their own destiny, and where the citizens of B&H will have a functional say in their future.
We have brought this decision under the following conditions:
1. There are no relevant Bosnian and Herzegovinian political-humanitarian and policy development organizations in the United States of America that will contribute to a truthful and objective interpretation of events of the recent tragic war.
2. Currently existing Bosnian organizations in the United States of America deal with the issues of a little importance, or they solely represent interests of one single ethnicity or a single religion. Their prevalent chauvinistic views and misunderstanding of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multicultural society are the same views that were the main cause of the unfortunate war and its incomprehensively tragic violence.
3. Post-war recovery efforts in Bosnia & Herzegovina have not shown significant positive results nor created much optimism for a better life and future for the citizens of B&H.
4. Democratic transition in B&H has been very slow, and this important transition has experienced continued sabotage by ethnic and religious division and intolerance.
5. B&H judicial systems have not proven wholly functional and have been unable to provide for all citizens satisfactory standards of fairness and justice
6. International participation in the region has been crucial in stopping the war, but it has been ineffective during the post-war recovery period in regard to fostering economic restructuring and progressive nation-state building efforts.
7. Ethnic and religious intolerance and hatred are still the main motivating factors in the B&H political system. Nationalist parties utilize these divisive emotions in securing political support among their own ethnic groups. There is a continued lack of effective national effort towards the promotion of reconciliation and tolerance among ethnic groups in B&H.
8. Recent social, economic, educational, and demographic dynamics have continued to contribute to the insecure status of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a functional and independent nation-state in an area of South Central Europe which remains potentially quite volatile today.
We, as members of the American Bosnian Association, have decided to help our homeland of Bosnia and Herzegovina by doing our citizens’ duty of helping to strengthen the country, rebuild the economy and spread peace, tolerance, and political stability in the region.
Our duty to our prior homeland, we believe, will significantly contribute to the wellbeing and eventual security of our new homeland - the United States of America. By advocating freedom and human rights and promoting representative democracy in B&H, we will help to secure for the United States a permanent friend and ally in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its people. Achieving this goal is of great general importance, even more so in the era of the global war on terrorism.
This statement calls on all people of good will to join and help us to accomplish following:
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Disseminate the truth of the recent war events and support reconciliation as the only way out of the vicious hatred circle - a main impediment to the proper functioning of the state and an economic recovery in B&H.
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Support a free and indivisible Bosnia & Herzegovina as a united country of three equal and constitutive ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs.
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Establish Bosnia & Herzegovina as a democratic country with operational and functional executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government based on the tested democratic principals of separation of state and religion.
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Emphasize economic restructuring and economic revival as a fundamental condition in bringing prosperity, stability, and economic viability to all citizens of B&H.
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Admission of Bosnia & Herzegovina into international organizations and its full participation in the region’s economic and political negotiations as the necessary step to greater political stability in the Balkans, in particular, and in greater Europe.
We strongly believe that our Association’s Mission Statement is just, right, noble, and in alignment with the traditional and current policy goals of the United States. The seriousness and gravity of the present political situation in B&H makes us strongly determined to persevere. We will pursue these laudable goals for B&H using established, legal, and democratic means of political participation, including lobbying activities with the U.S Congress. We will pursue additional direct appeals with influential American politicians and decision makers, including those at the State Department, the White House, and at local levels as well.
We believe that we possess necessary knowledge and recent relevant experience to help facilitate the accomplishment of these goals for B&H. We believe that success for Bosnia and Herzegovina will require - and be the result of – our hard work and strong beliefs in our cause. Thus, current citizens of United States of America that have emigrated from Bosnia and Herzegovina – and all people of good will – please join us in our efforts in bringing peace, stability, and democracy to Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans while serving our new homeland – the United States of America – with pride and dignity.
National Board of Directors of the American Bosnian Association
Bozidar Sicel - President
Exodus of the people of West Bosnia - 1995-2005
We, the members of the American Bosnian Association (ABA), have been very concerned about the progress of reconciliation in Bosnia & Herzegovina after the war from 1992 to 1995. We strongly believe that reconciliation is a necessary condition to create an environment of mutual respect and trust and to create a stable state with a functioning government.
The process of reconciliation has been slowed by a legal system that has not been guaranteeing equal rights and freedoms to all citizens and to all ethnic groups. The political climate has been characterized by the domination of nationalist parties in their ethnocentric viewpoints. Slow and inefficient prosecution of war criminals on all sides has exacerbated the fragile mutual trust and the reconciliation process at large. The legal system of Bosnia & Herzegovina has been under the strong ideological influence of leading nationalist parties, a development that jeopardizes the proper implementation of a just and fair judicial system.
The problem of capturing Radovan Karadzic is just a part of the larger issue. One of the greatest untold and uncovered tragedies in Bosnia is the tragedy of the Bosniak war in West Bosnia. Many crimes had been committed on the civil population and members of the resistance by the hands of the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army. No criminals have been named or prosecuted, something that has grown to become a major obstacle for reconciliation in West Bosnia and in Bosnia & Herzegovina as a whole.
Tens of thousands of people of West Bosnia had left their homes in the fear of retribution of the radical fundamentalist troops of the Fifth Corps of the B&H Army and the secret police of the then ruling nationalist party, the SDA. The permanent resettlement to Western Europe and North America then became the sole option for many. Some estimate up to 90,000 people have been exiled and about fifteen thousand have settled in the USA, becoming proverbial 21st century pilgrims in search of a land free from persecution. The Fifth Corps of the B&H Army and SDA party had embraced a radical interpretation of Islam, and they prosecuted in a most brutal fashion anybody who opposed them or who held different political views. Cruel murders, torture, rape, destruction of property and other means of the intimidation had been their only ways of dealing with political adversaries. Due to these intolerable policies, hundreds of people have been killed and massacred, thousands have been tortured and imprisoned, tens of women had been raped, and tens of thousands had been exiled by “the liberators of the country” who had stolen their properties and denied them their most basic human rights.
The current government of Unsko Sanski Canton and the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not done anything serious in order to capture or to trial these individuals who committed these atrocious crimes.
In the remembrance of a decade of Western Bosnian exile to the United Sates of America, the American Bosnian Association raises its voice in the defense of truth and justice, and we humbly request that the international community and the United States particularly, help us to finally end the long period of the painful silence. Our intention is not to avenge and bring new tension in the region, but to bring these individuals to justice. The punishment of the war criminals in West Bosnia is necessary for the reconciliation, permanent peace and stability in West Bosnia and the country as a whole.
We believe that we have the same right and a duty to reveal the truth of the crimes that have been committed on the people of West Bosnia as the people of Srebrenica did, when they showed to the whole world their tragic truth and finally brought some closure to their aching hearts. This is the only true path to reconciliation, progress and prosperity for our first homeland, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
The National Board of Directors of the American Bosnian Association
October, 2005.
Fikret Abdic – Bosnian Ataturk
Regarding the Political Persecution and Imprisonment of Fikret Abdic:
An Appeal for a Retrial
For many years, Mr. Fikret Abdic, citizen of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, today known as Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), was an economic innovator and advocate of free market principles in his homeland, instituting sweeping changes in the agricultural, industrial, and trade sectors of his region and entire country. In the western Bosnian provinces of Bihac and Cazinska Krajina, Mr. Abdic’s corporate entity Agrokomerc was the primary catalyst for the remarkable increase in food production and employment opportunities that these impoverished regions experienced in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Agrokomerc grew to become a seminal entity in the economic life of the region, employing 13,500 workers, capitalizing on the experimental economic and political climate that the former Yugoslavia experienced during this time. His successes became to be known, both statewide and worldwide, and it was this reputation as both businessman and humanist that propelled him into the public sphere and eventually into the political life of his country.
The remnants of the communist regime in Belgrade conspired to manufacture fraudulent charges of “counterrevolutionary action” against him, charges that led to his eventual arrest and imprisonment in the year of 1987. He spent two years in jail, having never been found guilty. As a head of Agrokomerc, the first publicly traded company in the former Yugoslavia, Mr. Abdic was able to rally the support of his countrymen due to its economic successes and was nominated as a candidate in the first free and democratic presidential elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina held in 1990. Fikret Abdic won by more than 200,000 votes, but was subsequently prevented from taking office. To summarize:
Mr. Abdic was the winner of the first free and democratic Presidential elections in BiH that were held in 1990, defeating his opponents, including eventual president Alija Izetbegovic, by a margin of 200,000 votes.
Fikret Abdic was prevented from taking over official responsibilities. The ruling Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and its leader, the radical Islamist Alija Izetbegovic, engineered Izetbegovic’s ascension to the Bosnian Presidency.
Remaining as one of the members of the Presidency of BiH, Mr. Abdic used his influence and political acumen to try to prevent the war and preserve Bosnia and Herzegovina as a multiethnic country with all three of its constitutive nations, Muslims, Serbs, and Croats.
During the war he saved hundreds of thousand lives and helped to prevent collateral damage in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Fikret Abdic resolutely protested the creation of an Islamic state in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as was attempted by Alija Izetbegovic and his Party of Democratic Action (SDA).
Fikret Abdic openly opposed the import of Islamic fundamentalism and associated terrorist groups to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In accordance with this goal, he warned the world about the potential consequences of these policies permissive of terrorism in BiH.
Fikret Abdic dutifully warned international actors and organizations involved in diplomatic events during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Peter Galbraith, then U.S. Ambassador to Republic of Croatia, about the danger that the creation of the terrorist centers in BiH would eventually pose to the world, centers now contributing to the current climate of global terrorism.
The Islamic religious authorities in Bihac region issued a fatwa against Fikret Abdic and all his followers in 1993 in which it was stated that:
Mr. Abdic and his followers were to be held as enemies of the state and as such denied all their political, religious and human rights.
The strength of the 5th Corp. of the BiH Army was to be used to enforce the political whims of the SDA, forcing tens of thousands of Abdic’s Bosnian followers to flee to United States, Canada, or other European countries.
Fikret Abdic was later targeted for assassination while residing in the Republic of Croatia during 1996:
The planning for the Abdic Assassination was prepared by official elements of the Bosnian government at that time and the high ranking members of the ruling Party of Democratic Action led by Alija Izetbegovic. Perpetrators are being tried in Bosnia and Herzegovina just these days.
Some of Abdic’s Assassination plan’s perpetrators were charged and convicted during legal proceedings in Republic of Croatia.
Fikret Abdic, as a Bosnian Muslim, was subsequently indicted and prosecuted in 2001-2005 trial on the basis of unsubstantiated “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” committed against the Muslim population in Western Bosnia. This indictment was falsified under the political eye and influence of then BiH President Alija Izetbegovic and the influence of his radical Islamic Party of Democratic Action (SDA).
The indictment’s goal was the eventual removal of Fikret Abdic from the political, economic, and public life of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These events can be described as unadulterated political persecution. The persecution was conducted in the Republic of Croatia on the basis of an unjustified and illegal indictment announced from Bosnia. His legal rights to defense were not satisfied. Mr. Abdic was unjustifiably sentenced to 15 years in prison on false charges.
Mr. Abdic never committed war crimes - or any crimes - against humanity. He is currently a political prisoner and is imprisoned in Croatia.
Fikret Abdic is a proponent of democracy, human rights, and the free exchange of goods and ideas. Mr. Abdic is a proven opponent of international terrorism and a friend to the United States of America and all people of good will.
The American Bosnian Association, its membership, and the signers of The Abdic Petition request that the Congress of the United States of America and President George W. Bush utilize their influence and resources to convince the Republic of Croatia to retry Fikret Abdic in a new and unbiased proceeding. It is our hope that this trial will be internationally observed and will abide by all applicable international laws and those of the Republic of Croatia.
Bozidar Darko Sicel, President
American Bosnian Association
PETITION TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
AND PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
FOR A NEW AND FAIR TRIAL
FOR FIKRET ABDIC
We, the undersigned, express our awareness of the following facts:
1. Fikret Abdic was the winner of the first free and democratic Presidential elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) held in 1990. He defeated all candidates, including eventual President Alija Izetbegovic, by a margin of 200,000 votes.
2. Fikret Abdic was blocked from taking over official responsibilities as the first President of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As the winner of the BiH’s first free and democratic elections, he was entitled to become the first President. But the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and its leader, the radical Islamic fundamentalist Alija Izetbegovic, engineered Izetbegovic’s ascension to the Presidency.
3. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Fikret Abdic, as a member of the Presidency of BiH, used his dedication and all his strength to stop the war and preserve Bosnia and Herzegovina as a united and multiethnic country with all three constitutive nations: those of the Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. With his contributions he managed to save hundreds of thousand lives and preserve from useless destruction vast material goods in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4. Fikret Abdic resolutely raised his voice against the creation of an Islamic state on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as it was imagined and attempted by Alija Izetbegovic and his Party of Democratic Action (SDA).
5. Fikret Abdic openly opposed the import of the Islamic fundamentalist and related terrorist groups to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In accordance with this goal, he warned the world about the potential consequences of these terrorist-permissive policies in BiH.
6. Fikret Abdic was correct when he dutifully warned international actors and organizations involved in diplomatic events during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the U.S. Ambassador to Republic of Croatia Peter Galbraith, about the danger that such policies would eventually pose to the world. This was proven true on September 11th, 2001, with the brazen terrorist attacks on the United States of America that fully announced to the world the new era of global terrorism
7. The Islamic religious authorities in Bihac region issued a Fatwa against Fikret Abdic and all his followers in 1993 in which it is stated that Mr. Abdic and his followers are being excommunicated and as such being denied all their human, political and religious rights. Unquestionably, this was one of the reasons why tens of thousands of Abdic’s followers had to flee to United States and Canada, as well as to many other European countries.
8. Fikret Abdic was targeted for assassination in the Republic of Croatia in 1996. The planning for the Abdic Assassination was in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was prepared by official elements of the Bosnian government at that time and the members of the ruling Party of Democratic Action led by Alija Izetbegovic. In regard to the Abdic Assassination plan, its perpetrators were charged and later convicted during legal proceedings in Republic of Croatia.
9. Fikret Abdic, as a Bosnian Muslim, was subsequently indicted on the basis of fabricated “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” committed against the Muslim population in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This indictment was created under the political eye and influence of then BiH President Alija Izetbegovic and the influence of his radical Party of Democratic Action. The indictment had a major goal and this was the eventual removal of Fikret Abdic from the political, economic, and public life of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These events can be described as pure political persecution.
10. Fikret Abdic was indicted and prosecuted in a politically motivated judicial process where even the minimal legal rights to a proper defense were not satisfied. The process was conducted in the Republic of Croatia on the basis of an unjustified, inappropriate and illegal indictment announced from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fikret Abdic was eventually unjustifiably sentenced to 15 years in prison.
11. Fikret Abdic never committed war crimes or any crimes against humanity. He is a political prisoner currently being held in prison in the Republic of Croatia.
12. Fikret Abdic is a proponent of democracy, human rights, and free market economy. Mr. Abdic is a proven opponent of international terrorism. He is a friend to the United States of America and to all people of good will.
We, the signatories of this Petition, because of abovementioned facts, give our support to AMERICAN BOSNIAN ASSOCIATION in its attempts to appeal to the U.S. Congress and to U.S. President George W. Bush to use their authorities and influence with the government of Republic of Croatia to require a new trial with a fully satisfactory defense rights granted to Mr. Fikret Abdic. This trial must be internationally observed. It must abide by all applicable legal rules in accordance with appropriate and relevant international laws and those of the Republic of Croatia.
CHICAGO, July 20, 2005.
Dayton Peace Accord Constitution – an obstacle to the prosperity of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The American Bosnian Association (ABA) has been closely monitoring the political developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and would like to use this opportunity to express its concern about the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a unified country. This year, ten years after the end of the war that lasted from 1992 to 1995, we feel obligated to express the reasons our concerns are based upon:
The political reality in Bosnia and Herzegovina is characterized by mistrust between its three constitutive nations: the Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. Presently, the central political roles are being played by the same nationalist parties that had been the ideological creators of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990’s.
Currently, the economic and social growth of the nation’s society is slowed down or obstructed by the inadequacy and corruption of the country’s political and judicial system.
Protection of basic human rights is well below the standard of the civilized world.
The processes that would bring Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to joining the EU and NATO have moved substantially slower than in the other parts of the region.
Unemployment and poverty are causing the productive and educated members of the society to leave the country, leaving the remainder exposed to extremist ideologies, whether they are religious fundamentalism or radical nationalism, whose ends are bent on the rekindling of the hatreds of the past.
The decisive obstacle to the development of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an effective and prosperous country is in the poor state of the political and public institutions. We believe that the main factor contributing to this is the position that the Dayton Peace Accord Constitution had left the country in after the war. The Dayton Peace Accord had a positive historical role in ending the war and bringing the peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as such represents a positive moment in the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ten years after the war, however, the Dayton Peace Accord Constitution has become a major obstacle to the functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an effective state. By dividing Bosnia and Herzegovina into two entities, one of which is in absolute control of the Serbs, and the other one where a power is divided between the Bosniaks and Croats, has created an unsuccessful constitutional model proven to be ineffective in establishing the rule of law. The territorial division of Bosnia and Herzegovina on a nationalistic basis represents the legitimization of the same behavior and ideas that caused the war of the 1990’s.
Due to the above facts, the American Bosnian Association supports the replacement of the Dayton Peace Accord Constitution with a new B&H Constitution based on the following principals:
Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to be established as a territorially sovereign, undivided and unified country without the existence of the territorial political entities based on the nationality of its citizens. The country needs to be organized as a two house parliamentary republic.
For each of the three ethnic groups that have been living in Bosnia and Herzegovina for centuries, equal and constitutional rights need to be guaranteed, as well as the right to participate in the government and political processes of the entire country. For each of the three ethnic groups, those of Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, the constitutionality and sovereignty of the entire territory of B&H must be guaranteed by the Constitution, as well.
The vital rights of each ethnic group must be protected by the implementation of the rights to consensus and to veto. With the proper implementation of these rights by the Constitution, the threat of the enforcement of the will of one ethnic group on the others will be avoided, and the equality of all citizens and all ethnic groups will be achieved despite their various differences.
Also, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to have a unified army and police force as well as all the other institutions vital for national security.
The National Board of Directors of the American Bosnian Association
October, 2005.