Arbutina: Serbian diplomacy did a great job; relations in the region will be tested

The Srebrenica Resolution is directed against Serbia and the Serbian people, and in the future, it will most significantly affect relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, historian Bojan Arbutina tells Kosovo Online, emphasizing that the voting results show that Serbian diplomacy did a great job.

The resolution, from the moment it was proposed, caused friction in the countries of the region, as Serbia interprets this resolution as a political act, not as a historical fact that corresponds to the historical reality that occurred in July 1995 in Srebrenica, Arbutina says.

"As historians, but also as a people and a state, we recognize the crime that occurred, but we do not recognize that this crime should be declared as genocide because there is not a single element of genocide that would qualify this crime in that way. Certainly, as we have heard from our officials, historians, experts, and lawyers, the adoption of this resolution will indeed open a Pandora's box that will bring countless examples of crimes that have occurred in the past or further back in history to the UN General Assembly and Security Council, and these will have to or should be voted on and declared as genocide," our interlocutor believes.

He asserts that the resolution certainly does not bring reconciliation in the region and reminds that almost the entire surrounding area voted for it, except for Hungary, which was explicitly against it.

"Listening to comments and media texts in the region, we conclude that this resolution, no matter how much they try to individualize it, is still directed against the Serbian people and against the Republic of Serbia, trying to point the main blame for this crime towards the Republic of Serbia and, in some future step, towards Republika Srpska, for which this resolution would serve and possibly for attempts to abolish Republika Srpska," Arbutina states.

In the future, he expects that its adoption will most significantly affect the deterioration of relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The relations between Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina are certainly not good, especially in recent years, when we have witnessed constant pressure on Republika Srpska. And we heard yesterday, the Government of Republika Srpska held a session in Srebrenica, where peaceful disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina was proposed, however, from my perspective, this will not be possible in the near future. So these frictions will have certain amplitudes, either increasing or calming down at some points. As for Serbia, we are certainly not satisfied that Montenegro voted for the resolution, justifying it with their European orientation, because if you are oriented towards something, it does not mean that you have to be dependent on something or that you cannot make independent decisions," Arbutina conveys.

According to him, Montenegro's amendments are irrelevant because they did not lead to a substantial change in the text of the resolution.

"What I also think is important, economic and commercial relations will continue to develop, but these political relations will certainly be put to some kind of test, and we will see in which direction they will develop," he assesses.

The biggest surprise of yesterday's voting, in his opinion, was that only 84 UN General Assembly members voted in favor.

"The projections were that around 100-110 members would vote in favor, which means that our diplomacy did indeed do a great job lobbying not to vote for this resolution," Arbutina points out.

He adds that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they are not satisfied with the results and that their biggest disappointment came from the abstention of the United Arab Emirates, from whom they hoped to receive a positive vote.

"This resolution was adopted, however, we again have more against and abstentions than those in favor, which means that when you have in that constellation of forces less than 50 percent of UN members against or abstained, then this resolution is indeed on shaky ground," Arbutina concludes.