Catholic Church in Ballot Box?

The referendum scheduled by Croat Democratic Community of B&H (HDZ) for November 11, on the day of the elections in B&H, by the atmosphere and reactions, greatly reminds of the known events in 1992

AIM Sarajevo, November 4, 2000

It all began when the Croat People's Convention was held in Novi Travnik (Central Bosnia) on October 28, which unambiguously, through the speech of the Croat member of B&H Presidency, president of HDZ and the newly elected president of the Presidency of the Croat People's Convention, Ante Jelavic, abolished the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina! The unanimously passed Declaration on the Rights of the Croat people in B&H, briefly, demands a different terrirorial organisation of the state of B&H. According to the Declaration "sovereignty of the Croat people in B&H is unquestionable and inalienable; there is a demand for full constitutional and true equality of all the three sovereign and constitutive peoples in B&H which can only be achieved by identical constitutional and administrative and territorial internal organisation of B&H for the application of the principle of consensus in decision-making and parity in partaking and rotation at the leading posts of agencies and institutions with the indisputable right of the Croat people to independent choice of representatives in the Chambers of the Peoples and member of B&H Presidency".

Apart from the Declaration, the decision on scheduling a referendum was also reached unanimously, and it was all accompanied by euphoric statements such as "Today we have confirmed the sovereignty of the Croat people and given support to decentralisation of B&H" (Josip Muselimovic, president of the committee for the organisation of the referendum), and conviction that "the Convention will operate as a lasting political institution of the Croat people in B&H" (Ante Jelavic, president of Presidency of the Croat People's Convention in B&H).

Special attention and a series of questions on the current attitude of the Catholic Church to the policy of HDZ were provoked by the fact that the Convention in Novi Travnik was attended by the Archbishop of Bosnia Vinko Puljic, the recently elected Provincial of Bosnia Srebrena father Mijo Dzolan and president of Napredak (Progress) Croat Cultural Society Dr. Franjo Topic, who is also a priest.

Since this is a burning topic in B&H, there are numerous reactions of the media, opposition parties and non-governmental organisations which in the "panic of HDZ because of the elections recognise the old idea of disintegrating B&H by creating the third entity". The international community - OSCE and OHR - believe that the referendum of the Croat people on November 11 would be violation of pre-election silence, and that the Election Appelate Sub-Commission of OSCE would penalise all the parties involved. For the Office of High Representative organising of the referendum is an unconstitutional act and it therefore cannot bring about any constitutional amendments. "It is in fact just a public opinion poll, and constitutional amendments can be achieved only by submitting amendments in the regular parliamentary procedure" (Chris Bird, spokesman of OHR).

To all that Ante Jelavic answers that the referendum can be prevented “only by an operation of the international forces”. At a press conference in Mostar on October 31 he underlined that the gathering in Novi Travnik was “not a gathering of one or two political parties. More than 75 per cent of legal representatives of the Croat people passed their declaration on the rights and position of the Croat people and reached a decision on the referendum question: “Are you in favour of organisation of B&H pursuant the Declaration”. As reported by BHP/Habena agencies, Jelavic also said that at the constitutional session of the Presidency of the Croat People's Convention (held on October 30), satisfaction was expressed because of the support of the heads of the Catholic Church in B&H – Cardinal Vinko Puljic and Provincial of Bosnia Srebrena father Mijo Dzolan.

At the same time, the Croat People's Council (HNV) (a local non-governmental organisation), reacted sharply, and its press conference aroused exceptionally great interest. The topic was provocative enough – Attitude towards the Declaration of the so-called Croat People's Convention and the referendum scheduled by HDZ, and so were the participants at the conference: father Luka Markesic, writer Ivan Lovrenovic, don Luka Brkovic and father Petar Andjelovic, until recently the provincial of Bosnia Srebrena.

“The Declaration and the Referendum of HDZ do not have at their background the concern for the Croat people but political manipulation. It is an assessment of HDZ to create along with its coalition partner (Party of Democratic Action/SDA) in B&H Federation a space in which the results of the elections can be deprived of their legitimacy”, said president of HNV Dr. Ivo Komsic.

Father Luka Markesic began his critical statement with the words that actually a so-called Convention had been held in Travnik, because it had been just a gathering of one party and a few minor parties, cronies of HDZ, and this was clear from the items of the Declaration. About the first one father Markesic said that it spoke only of sovereignty of the Croat people in B&H and nothing about sovereignty of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and “without sovereignty of B&H there is no sovereignty of either the Croats or any other people”. According to his words, the Declaration “always speaks of Bosnia as of a territory, never a state, showing what the intention of the policy of HDZ was - that B&H be divided and then disappear”. Commenting on the second item of the Declaration, Markesic stressed that in mentioning Croat institutions on the territory of the whole of B&H nothing was said about these institutions being united with the same institutions of other peoples, and “religious institutions are not mentioned at all, although HDZ always sticks to the Catholic Church”. Giving his personal comment on the fact that the Catholic Church was not mentioned, this priest said that this was because the Catholic Church in B&H was an institution in B&H which had been the first to recognise B&H as a state, which is confirmed by the establishment of B&H Bishops' Conference.

The third item of the Declaration is also interesting for Markesic. It speaks about administrative and territorial organisation of B&H “in which the old policy of HDZ on division of B&H is recognised”. Practically by the establishment of the third entity, the country would be divided, and Herzeg-Bosnia would be annexed to Croatia. This is confirmed by the presence of the known members of HDZ from Croatia in Novi Travnik”. And the term “common” is mentioned only once in the Declaration, in item 4 which speaks of “division of power in common institutions in B&H”, evidently “as yet another hypocrisy of an oligarchy which shuts its people in political and cultural ghettoes”, says father Markesic.

Further on, father Markesic referred also to item 5 of the Declaration which “speaks of the obligations of all legal representatives of the Croat people”, in fact appeals for legality and legitimacy, so a logical question arises: how come they have evaded the legal institutions of the state, among other why was the Convention held in Travnik and not in Sarajevo. “It is obvious”, faher Markesic was explicit, “that this is an idea that has existed from the beginning of the establishment of the authorities made up of three ethnic parties which strove for division from the very start”.

Father Petar Andjelovic spoke like a Bosnian friar, reminding or more precisely comparing these developments with those in 1992 when as a Provincial of Bosnia Srebrena he had reacted by writing a letter to all the Franciscans which had an exceptionally great impact at the moment “when the Franciscans observed with fear (like they do nowadays) creation of a new political relief and when certain deals were proposed to them too”. Quoting some parts of the letter, father Petar stressed that “destruction of Bosnia, betrayal of Bosnia and our souls”, and therefrom deals after 700 years of their devotion to unconditional love and serving the people were completely out of the question: “We are not politicians, and least of all members of any party. While I was the provincial I had an unwritten agreement with the Cardinal not to go to any party gatherings. We stuck to it. We friars will say our bit only at crucial times, and this is one of them. When speaking of B&H today, we are together with our people in favour of independent and sovereign B&H. Bosnia is the country bestowed on us and we on it, and such moves like the Convention in Novi Travnik, and even the entire HDZ policy create such atmosphere which threatens not only the Croats but other people as well, whole of Bosnia”.

And Father Luka Bakovic said that it was interesting that for eleven months HDZ had showed no interest for the Church, and then on the eve of the elections ”jumped out of the ambush” so that even the Cardinal appeared at the Convention. “I believe that Church dignitaries have collected at sliding prices into the ballot box of HDZ”, said father Luka, explaining this by “symbolism of impressions” – if two thousand peoples listened to the Cardinal in Travnik, for at least 200 thousand via media it is by far more important that he was present, and not what he said.

Writer Ivan Lovrenovic emphasised that what is shocking for all is how it could happen that high dignitaries of the Catholic Church could have participated in something like this. “This is a puzzle It is the worst political anti-Croat and anti-Bosnian gesture”, says Lovrenovic, clarifying that although the Cardinal's speech at the convention was super-political, super-partisan, he “agreed to be the puppet in the hands of Ante Jelavic, so it affects us not sentimentally but existentially”. “The figures of the Cardinal and the Provincial are icons bearing a strong political meaning, which by this game of broken phones conveyed the message – Vote for us!”

Nada SALOM

(AIM, Sarajevo)