Soldier without An Army and Homeland

Hazim Begovic, Colonel Banished from Croatia

AIM Sarajevo, 21 January, 1999

A few days ago, the police in Split handed Hazim Begovic a court decision on banishment from the republic of Croatia. Since he had no right to appeal, Begovic as a Croatian citizen had promptly to leave the territory of Croatia. Where he has gone and what his new residence will be, nobody knows yet. The curt piece of news on this case says that the banished was deputy minister of defence of B&H, which is correct, but that is not the reason why he had to leave RH, nor was it the immediate cause of his banishment.

The reasons why Begovic was proclaimed "persona non grata" is of quite a different nature and have nothing to do with Bosnia, but with Croatia and former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in Croatia. Hazim Begovic as a colonel of the JNA served in the command of the corps in Knin and he is considered to be responsible for preparation of the rebellion of the Serbs and establishment of the army of "Republika Srpska Krajina".

In mid eighties, Begovic was transferred to Knin and worked there until the end of 1990 when he moved to Sarajevo, more precisely to the Ministry of Defence of B&H. In the Knin corps his commanders were generals Tomislav Trajcevski, then Spiro Nikovic and Vladimir Vukovic, and by the time Ratko Mladic arrived at the head of the corps, Begovic had already gone to B&H.

From mid 1989, the JNA corps in Knin was intensively getting ready to take part in creation of "greater Serbia" and secession from Croatia. After the arrival of general Nikovic to its head, army counter-intelligence service (KOS) was given a special role in preparation of "what was to come", and Begovic was appointed its head in the corps. At the time, along with Serb officers, and apart from colonel Begovic, there was another ethnic Bosniac in the corps, colonel Mesud Hasotic who was removed by Mladic when aggression against Croatia intensified and when the Knin corps of the JNA had to be ethnically cleansed.

Military security authorities in Zagreb had not forgotten colonel Begovic's contribution to aggression of the JNA against Croatia, but they did not instigate proceedings against him until he was at the high post at the Ministry of Defence in B&H. Obviously they were waiting for him to return to Split (where he held an apartment) to open the dossier on his "responsibility in Knin". In the meantime, in 1993 Begovic was evicted from the army apartment and the family of an officer of the Croatian army killed in battle moved into it.

Although he had no apartment, Begovic who had completed military service, continued living in Split. He found a job in a privately owned company because the question of his pension had not been regulated, and lived in a rented apartment with his wife. He was hoping he would be able to move back into his apartment after the Supreme Court of Croatia decided in his favour. It seems to have been "feeble" hope because he was thrown out of Croatia before this court even took his appeal into consideration.

For this story it is especially interesting how Hazim Begovic got to Sarajevo in January 1991. The explanation is highly indicative, especially when one knows that the colonel was nominated deputy minister of defence as cadre of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA)!? In 1991, the post of the deputy minister belonged to the Bosniacs, i.e. to SDA, and minister of defence was Jerko Doko from Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) of B&H, who had come from Mostar completely unknown to the public. President of SDA and president of the Presidency of B&H, Alija Izetbegovic, addressed the then federal secretary of defence of SFRY, general Veljko Kadijevic asking him to name a Muslim officer who could discharge the duty of deputy minister of defence!? The choice of Begovic was a surprise just as that of the anonymity Doko. There must have been excellent Muslim officers in B&H at the time who would have been successful in the job, but the cunning Kadijevic sent Izetbegovic a man from the counter-intelligence service with experience in Knin. This of course could not have been a coincidence and general Aleksandar Vasiljevic, who was head of JNA KOS at the time, must have played the decisive role in this choice.

How minister Doko and his deputy Begovic worked in such an important department is a special topic, but the very fact that they had nothing in common or a joint vision of the future of Bosnia & Herzegovina speaks for itself about their relations and impossibility of any form of cooperation. Being a member of HDZ, Doko received instructions straight from Zagreb, and Begovic's directives arrived from JNA general staff in Belgrade.

The leadership of HDZ headed by Stjepan Kljuic demanded a few times from SDA to relieve Begovic of duty. But although they knew who was instructing him, it was difficult for the proposers from Izetbegovic's party to admit the mistake. An initiative for removal of Begovic was nevertheless launched.

Colonel Begovic was deputy minister of B&H defence for a short time - he had been appointed in January and removed in October, 1991. At the session of B&H assembly when he was discharged, Begovic asked naively what the real reason for his removal was. He could not hear the real reason in public, but Begovic left the post at the B&H ministry of defence, and for a short time he was without a post and then on 31 December 1991, his active military service ended. That whole autumn, while he had not held any post, he walked around Sarajevo as a civilian. What he was doing then and whether he carried out any tasks for KOS in theat period it is hard to tell, but there are doubts about it because Begovic remained in Sarajevo after the war in B&H had escalated and left for Croatia in June 1992. He returned to Split as a pensioner where his wife was living.

Why did this retired colonel want to go to Split by all means when he had known that Croatian ruling party had had a negative attitude to cadre of his rank from former Yugoslavia? Why did he remain in Croatia even after he had been evicted from his apartment? Only Hazim Begovic knows the answers to these questions, just as he knows what and how he had been doing while he had been the head of KOS in Knin corps of JNA, on the eve of the war in Croatia. Maybe he had underestimated security services in Croatia believing that he would not be important enough for them since he had not personally participated in aggression against Croatia. Updating of his dossier was probably helped by those who evicted him from the apartment, certain that his banishment would put a stop to their uncertainty in connection with the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia.

In any case, Hazim Begovic is a man without a homeland now - banished from Croatia and not welcome in B&H. Maybe his next residence will be at some third country, but it certainly will not be FR Yugoslavia, because former non-Serb officers, regardless of their contribution to the cause of "Greater Serbia", are personae non gratae over there.

Ðuro KOZAR

AIM Sarajevo