IS TUZLA A MIRACLE?
AIM Tuzla, June 19, 1996
Tuzla is no miracle. Its citizens, wisely led by a coalition of democratic multi-ethnic parties, managed to remain normal, to act as before, and in key moments to ignore daily political euphoria, persistently relying on the basic principles which are foundations for protection of human rights and freedoms and everything else that had alwys been considered to be the achievements of civilization.
Faced with destructive and devastating winds of war, Selim Beslagic, mayor of Tuzla and his associates have created a strategy of defence of Bosnia and Tuzla, which has become known to the world. This strategy was based on the following:
Bosnia & Herzegovina is a unity of differences. Who ever insists on differences and neglects unity, contributes to its dissolution. That is why connecting forces were constantly underlined, everything that links people was emphasized, and not that separates them. Centripetal forces were reinforced, and centrifugal forces were stifled.
All the three nations and all citizens of Bosnia & Herzegovina are equal inheritors of Bosnia & Herzegovina, the country where they have lived together for centuries. Their joint life is a historic rule over a thousand years old. They always could and still can live together.
Division and disintegration of Bosnia & Herzegovina, as their own country, is not in the interest of any of the dominant Bosnian nations. Reasons for its disintegration exist only in the neighbouring countries.
No interethnic conflict or any war has ever broken out in Bosnia & Herzegovina for internal Bosnian reasons. All wars in its long history, the one before last (the Second World War) and the latest, current one, have come from outside Bosnia and for reasons which were not connected to circumstances in it.
Bosnia & Herzegovina has seen more struggle and given more victims into the victory over Hitler's fascism than any other former Yugoslav state. Out of the total of seven Hitler's offensives against ex-Yugoslavia, six were in Bosnia & Herzegovina. That was because during the entire war main force of multiethnic antifascist partisan troops were concentrated here. These forces have won the war in Bosnia. Multiethnic antifascist tradition is one of the most significant Bosnian characteristics.
Because of the joint life of people of different nationalities built up for centuries, it is impossible to divide Bosnia & Herzegovina. Nobody succeeded in it so far.
The past, the present and the future of Bosnia & Herzegovina are determined by its character. And it is multiethnic and multireligious. Regardless of the present unnatural processes, the nature and character of Bosnia & Herzegovina will prevail sooner or larter, because nothing else is possible.
The best way to protect the citizens from any cataclysm is incessant struggle for protection of all rights and freedoms of all men. There was no such thing as insignificant rights for Beslagic and his associates.
Aggression and crime belong to the sphere of evil, and it is possible to fight against evil only with good, against totalitarianism only with democracy, against violation of human rights by safeguarding them, against infringement of the Constitution and laws by protecting them.
These strategic directions were developed through daily political activities, by local media, public following of the work of the Assembly and all the agencies of local administration and they were whole-heartedly received by independent media. Special attention was devoted to cherishing all Bosnian traditions. At the moment the political parties and local authorities were pressured by the higher instances, these strategic directions were pursued by different non-partisan associations such as the Citizens' Forum of Tuzla, Erupta Saliniana, prominent authors, painters, individuals and all those who were capable of distancing themselves from the euphoric opinion of the majority dictated by daily politics and of listening only to the voice of reason.
Consistent implementation of laws has ensured safety for the citizens. Rate of crime in Tuzla during all the war years has been the same as in the ten-year prewar period. There have been no unclarified severe crimes.
Mayor Beslagic has proclaimed nationalism to be the greatest enemy of Tuzla, the greatest threat to safety of its citizens. Nationalism is, therefore, forbidden here. There are nationalistic journals, but nobody reads them.
Foreign journalists made a sensation from the fact that he had ordered reconstruction of the Serb orthodox church before any other shell-ridden buildings. The church was repaired immediately. This happened twice during the war. All the foreigners wondered. When Beslagic was asked why he had done it, he answered that the roof was hit, that it was raining and Tuzla had invested a lot of money into restoration of this cultural, historical and religious monument, and that it ought to be repaired and preserved as soon as possible. When he was asked what he thought about demolition of mosques in the space where Karadzic's Serbs had penetrated, he said that it was a crime against which it was worth fighting by preserving all places of worship from the war! When journalists found workers of all three nations repairing the damaged church and when this, normal thing for Tuzla, seemed strange to them, they took a worker of Bosniac nationality and Muslim religion aside and asked him: "So many mosques have been demolished and you are repairing the Orthodox church. Why are you doing it?" he amswered: "To earn some money".
Devotion to principles of Beslagic, who is also the president of the greatest opposition party in B&H, the UBSD, and his associates, at that specific moment seemed to be exaggerated. Later on, it proved to be very important. This happened in the case of "Slavinovici".
A group of people lacking responsibility banished two Croat, two Serb and one Bosniac family from their homes. In that act Beslagic recognized the beginning of the odious process of flagrant violation of rights of the citizens of Tuzla, especially those who were in minority, i.e. the Croats and the Serbs. An urgent session of the City Council was convened, a series of press conferences, several thousand citizens of different nationality gathered. Many spoke at the gathering, and the Mayor who has neither army nor police at his command, gave an ultimatum: banished citizens must be returned to their homes on that very day at the latest! If that did not happen, all the citizens of the whole part of town (most of them Bosniacs among them) would emigrate to the centre of the city and then, if necessary, headed by him, from Tuzla even. A "scandal" broke out, Beslagic and the President of the Presidency and President of the SDA, Alija Izetbegovic, exchanged letters on state television. Citizens banished by force were returned, their right was protected and the right of all those whose turn would have come the very next day. The constitutional system was protected.
Nowadays, citizens of all nationalities look upon Beslagic more as a father than a Mayor. When they ask him how Tuzla managed to withstand the violent attack on May 15, 1992, at the time when its citizens had not been armed, he answers that Tuzla was attacked by fascists and that it was defended by citizens of all nationalities.
And to the question how implementation of the Washington agreement between the Bosniacs and the Croats was proceeding, he answers that this agreement in Tuzla was not even needed, because there had been no conflicts between the citizens who belong to these two nationalities. It is true that there were conflicts between the SDA and the HDZ, but it had nothing to do with the Bosniacs and the Croats from Tuzla, because hardly any of them voted for these parties.
When asked about Dayton and reintegration of Bosnia & Herzegovina, he says that this process was almost over in Tuzla in the very beginning of the war and offers a list of members of the highest legislative agency (Municipal Council) and a list of officials in the executive power, managers in public and other enterprises. National structure in them approximately corresponds to the census of population before the war. If someone expresses surprise at this, Beslagic will be surprised why anyone should be surprised by it.
It is an established fact that before the war in the urban part of Tuzla there were over 30 per cent of mixed marriages and in the area of whole municipality there were 25 per cent. There are,however, few people who are aware that during the war this percentage did not decline. The Mayor himself was the best man at several weddings. At the time of the greatest tragedy in Tuzls - when 71 children from the city were victims of a shell Karadzic's and Mladic's Serbs had launched at the city from mount Ozren (on May 25, 1995), parents of the children expressed a wish that their children, just as they lived and died, should rest together. A high official of the Islamic community tried to interfere with this wish, but Beslagic won with the power of arguments and love and confidence of his citizens.
There are numerous such examples and enumeration would last long. One thing is for sure. Tuzla was saved by the rule of multiethnic democratic parties and complete coincidence of its political strategy with multiethnic essence and nature of Bosnia & Herzegovina.
JASMIN IMAMOVIC