KARAN: SO-CALLED BOSNIAK "MARCH OF PEACE" THROUGH SRPSKA A SERIOUS PROVOCATION AIMED AT DESTABILIZATION

BELGRADE, JULY 6 /SRNA/ - Security expert Ljuban Karan said that the so-called Bosniak “March of Peace,” whose participants pass through Republika Srpska and usually carry wartime Bosniak flags, represents a serious provocation aimed at destabilizing the situation in Republika Srpska and triggering developments that would be to the detriment of everyone in BiH, not only the Serbs, against whom it is directed.

Karan told SRNA that everything, including provocations such as these that do not contribute to peace and stability, is presented as a “March of Peace,” adding that those organizing it would not act in this way if their intentions were well-intentioned. “The narrative is being flipped here, presenting serious provocations as well-intentioned peace initiatives. It is important that the Serb population in the Balkans, especially the Serbs in Republika Srpska, never again be naïve,” Karan said. He reminded that numerous provocations and plans aimed at destabilizing the Balkans, including Serbia and Republika Srpska, had previously been presented as acts of goodwill and peace initiatives. Karan believes that there is an attempt to draw the Bosniak political leadership in BiH into an anti-Serb coalition led by Croatia and Albania, which, he said, has also embraced Albanian leaders from Kosovo and Metohija into a military alliance. “They intend to bring other actors in the Balkans into this joint initiative, which has no good intentions toward Serbia or Republika Srpska. We must bear this in mind, because all of this is happening not only with outside approval, but even at the initiative of external actors,” Karan said. He believes that certain external actors are once again seeking to make use of aggressive political and other groups in the Balkans, having convinced them that a new historical moment has arrived in which they can pursue their territorial ambitions at the expense of the Serb population. “Western centres of power have so far shown no sensitivity, let alone goodwill, when Serbs were threatened, expelled, or even targeted in criminal military operations. They have acted under the slogan, ‘Where there are no Serbs, there are no problems,’” Karan said. He pointed out that there has long been a tendency in BiH to strip Republika Srpska of important jurisdictions, after which pressure on Serbs would be exerted by a centralized leadership like what occurred in Croatia and what is taking place in Kosovo and Metohija. “Those would be pressures leading to the ethnic cleansing of these areas. I believe these are initiatives of that kind, intended first as provocations directed at the Serb people, and later to take the form of intimidation and creating a sense of insecurity,” Karan said. He said that for this reason, initiatives such as the Bosniak “Marches of Peace,” which also pass through Republika Srpska, should not be accepted as something normal, but rather recognized at an early stage as provocations that must be addressed from the outset. “Later, when those intentions and activities, what I would call psychological operations, escalate, it will be too late,” Karan warned. He emphasized that Serbs in Republika Srpska have always recognized such matters in time and that, it seems to him, they are recognizing them again now. “Our task is to warn, to say that we know what this is about, that we will not allow ourselves to naively fall into such traps, and that those involved should abandon this approach, because it leads only to the downfall and suffering of everyone in BiH, not only Serbs, as some intend to bring about,” Karan said.