HOW MUCH ARE BOSNIAC VOTES WORTH

Situation in Sandzak

The government of the Republic of Serbia, with its decision to dissolve the Novi Pazar municipal assembly with the help of the mighty security and police apparatus, brought Sandzak back into the focus of interest of the local and the broader public

AIM Belgrade, 16 July, 1997

The decision was made on 10 July, 1997, when the municipal power from the legally elected repersentatives of the coalition called List for Sandzak - Dr Sulejman Ugljanin, was taken over by a nine-member municipal council formed of members of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Yugoslav United Left (JUL), parties which were almost run to the ground in the last local elections. The implementation of the decision accompanied by a blockade of the centre of the town and violent actions of the members of the special units of the ministry of the interior of Serbia, caused a critical tension in the town, especially during the first hours of introduction of dictatorship when news spread that Sulejman Ugljanin was arrested. In spreading disinformation about Ugljanin's arrest, some people recognized a wish of the forces of the regime to cause unrest in the town, so that the "legal state" would finally be given a pretext to show to the Serbian and Yugoslav public its efficiency and "resoluteness to prevent any form of separatist activities", which would have certainly been shown on Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) so many times that it would have exceeded even the credits the Socialists have so persistently tried to prove in the past several days they deserve for the won European basketball gold medal.

As this was happening at the height of preparations for the convention of the Muslim National Council of Sandzak (MNVS) scheduled to take place on 12 and 13 July, the newly established municipal council reached a decision in haste that the citizens of Novi Pazar could publicly gather only in premises planned for such gatherings, such as the cinema hall, and the Secretariat of Internal Affairs of Novi Pazar, banned the seventh regular convention of MNVS. In explanation of this decision it is stated, among other, that the "Muslim leaders had planend to proclaim autonomy of Sandzak and instead of the name Muslim, to introduce the name Bosniac".

Tensions were relieved only after Sulejman Ugljanin held a press conference the day after and concerning the accusation that he had planned proclamation of autonomy of Sandzak said that it was "pure nonsense" and that proclamation of autonomy could not be "a unilateral act". The thesis about proclamation of autonomy of Sandzak was launched and "elaborated" mostly by the regime media which exploited to the utmost certain awkward formulations of some political personages close to the List for Sandzak. For example, the correspondent of Vecernje novosti from Novi Pazar, Miroljub Niciforovic, writes as follows: "After departure of the SDA extremists from power, who were getting ready to proclaim some kind of autonomy in the region of Raska, and maybe even a state, many in this part of the country are relieved. Regardless of the fact that Ugljanin enjoys support of a large number of Muslims in Novi Pazar, his latest moves and announcement that he would demand 'independent Sandzak' worried all the inhabitants of the region, especially the Muslims who have a well-developed business enterprises..."

Apart from the wish to proclaim "independent Sandzak", the forcibly overthrown represetatives of municipal authorities were also accused of having pursued personnel policy according to ethnic priorities from the very beginning, guided solely by party interests, of having refused to finance material expenses of elementary and secondary schools, and contrary to the law and the municipal statute, of having "changed the network of local communities". Concerning the accusation that all the newly-appointed personnel had been brought from the SDA, Dr Fevzija Muric, discharged chairman of the Novi Pazar municipal assembly said that "the government does not even know who is in power in Novi Pazar". He listed all the officials who were appointed by them and who were not from the SDA, because of which there had been "large protests of the members and sympathizers of this party because they believed that we were currying favour with other parties, even the SPS". As concerning refusal of the municipality to finance expenses of elementary and secondary schools, it was said that this decision was reached solely because they had established that directors of these schools were spending this money for other purposes, which is best proved by the miserable state these schools are in, and that the assembly has formed a special commission which would "determine where, what and how they should work". In connection with the accusation of having changed the network of local communities it was stressed that with this action the government of Serbia had put itself above the Constitutional Court when it had proclaimed the decision of Novi Pazar municipal assembly contrary the Constitution and the law.

In the presidency of MNVS and the coalition List for Sandzak - Dr Sulejman Ugljanin, they proclaimed the decision of the Government of Serbia unfounded and illegal, which "suspended the democratic will of the citizens and introduced police dictatorship". When it was announced that "legally elected municipal offices and representatives of the authorities chosen by the will of the citizens would continue work, but in a different form", the question of establishing parallel authorities was opened, or rather of Kosovoization of Sandzak, which just spoke in favour of the opinion that the whole scenario was conceived with the aim to provoke the Bosniacs to boycott the forthcoming elections and by doing it to improve the position of the frightened Socialists. President of the SDA, Rasim Ljajic, pointed that out in his first reaction, by saying that "Milosevic in this way wishes to make himself appear as the only protector of interests of the local Serbs which may be a good election trump card and that he wishes to give the Bosniac parties an argument to boycott the forthcoming elections and by the 'Kosovo model' enable the SPS to win all the seats in the parliament which belong to Sandzak". There were no reactions of the representatives of the SPS and JUL, who were either "at meetings" or replied simply with: "I have no idea"! Only the Serb Radical Party readily reacted by expressing that they consider introduction of emergency measures in Novi Pazar municipal assembly as "one of the most efficient means for preventing secessionist aspirations and pursuing anti-Serb policy".

From among all the developments in Novi Pazar, the regime press was mostly interested in further political destiny of Sulejman Ugljanin, especially after he was deprived of his deputy immunity and after activation of the "old" indictment had been announced which charges him for "threatening territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia", while the opposition press calculated about the agreement between SPS and MNVS according to which everything had been "arranged with the regime in Belgrade which is confirmed by the recent visit of Jovica Stanisic, head of the security service of Serbia to Novi Pazar". This is corroborated by the fact that the newly-established municipal council headed by Husein Licina (SPS) and Budimir Dzinovic (JUL), invited majority of directors appointed by the List for Sandzak to be cooperative and loyal. According to this "agreement", the SPS would draw votes from Sandzak, and Ugljanin reinforce his charisma as the "victim of the regime". Defectiveness of these calculations is in the fact that in the last elections, when speaking of charisma, Ugljanin showed that it was so strong that it did not need any improvements.

Those sceptical ones believe that it is just much ado about nothing. By this they mean the real authorities which the List for Sandzak had during its eight-month mandate. The key problem certainly is not who will clean the streets of Novi Pazar or arrange the park, but whether the Belgrade regime will finally, instead of jeeps full of members of special police units send some other men ready to start a different dialogue.

If one takes into consideration the fact that all major opposition parties of Serbia also failed to react, there can definitely be no reason for optimism. It seems that nationalism will for a long time to come be the strongest pre-election trumpcard.

Enes Dazdarevic (AIM)