|
THE SERBIAN ELITES AND
GENOCIDE
IN BOSNIA
By Sonja Biserko
HCHRS
Ever since the foundation of the modern Serbian state in the 19th
century, but especially since the Congress of Berlin, Serbia's elites have viewed Bosnia
as a territory which could solve all their frustrations over borders. It was, namely, at
that time that they set the goal of gaining access to the sea and expanding living space,
something that could only be had at Bosnia's expense. The idea was that this 'must be
solved by force' because without a sea Serbia was 'without economic breath, without
lungs'. When later the southern Slav peoples united in one state - Yugoslavia - the
objectives of the Serbian elites were more or less achieved. The Serbian elites looked
upon Yugoslavia as their own country, namely an expanded Serbia. Such perceptions of
Yugoslavia reflected the fundamental misunderstanding between the Serbian elites and their
Yugoslav counterparts, which also had their own ideas of how Yugoslavia ought to be
arranged... |
|
|
|
|
