The turmoil between Serbia and Kosovo, which we witness every day, inevitably affects all the countries of the Western Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was pointed out at the scientific panel: “Relations between Kosovo and Serbia – A Security Challenge for the Western Balkans” organised by the Center for Balkan Studies of the Science and Research Institute “Ibn Sina”. The opening of the panel went to the Head of the Center for Balkan Studies, historian and researcher Admir Lisica, who said that it is necessary to go back to the 1980s, of the last century in order to see more clearly the misunderstanding between Serbs and Albanians, because that was the period when the Albanians demanded their the seventh republic within the former Yugoslavia. Then, from 1996 to 1999, the conflicts between Albanians and Serbs (from 1998 and official war) continued in Kosovo, and since then there have been a number of attempts by international factors to establish peace and resolve the regional issue. Then, in 1999, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, after the NATO intervention, signed the document according to which Kosovo belongs under the auspices of the United Nations. With this, Milošević begins the process of dissolution of Kosovo. After that, several agreements were signed, whereas now we have the Franco-German agreement, which is one of the last attempts to normalize relations. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, would accept this initiative, as well as the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, but the right-wing forces do not allow him to do so. Therefore, there is an attempt by the international community to establish peace, but it is not clear what kind of peace it will be and what it will bring in the future for Kosovo and the region, Lisica said, adding that the problem of Kosovo is actually the problem of the entire Western Balkans. The French-German plan has ten points, in which it is clearly seen from points one and four that Serbia recognizes the independence of Kosovo according to all postulates. Point 10 also states that all previous agreements must be implemented, which means that the Community of Municipalities with a Serbian Majority should be established – said Lisica. One of the speakers at the scientific panel was the professor of International Relations and Geopolitics Jahja Muhasilović, who stated that the international community’s attitude towards the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is quite fluid and that its position has been changing. He emphasises that initially this position was more pro-Kosovo-oriented because the international community invested a lot in Kosovo, primarily the United States of America, and considered it “their child”. However, due to pressure from Belgrade, that position changed, in the sense of giving support to Serbia and its maximalist demands, because they realized that Belgrade is a much more important geopolitical actor in the Balkans and that it can play a destabilising role, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine and the Russian influence that is present at the Balkans. As for putting the entity of the RS on the same level with Kosovo, the professor says that this is a very dangerous issue and is often emphasised by the official Banja Luka, and mostly by the president of the RS, Milorad Dodik, because he is aware that one day Serbia will have to recognise Kosovo as an independent state and Dodik is trying to create an opportunity for himself to ensure the independence of the RS entity.
Historian Alen Zečević touched upon the events of 1875 in his presentation, and in addition to connecting the context of today, he thematised the increasing connection of the issues of the entities of the RS and Kosovo, which certainly, neither according to legal nor historical principles, cannot be brought under the same level. In an extremely meaningful presentation, he looked at what the aporias of Serbian politics are, and how all these events in the neighbourhood are related to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the context of the security aspect, Ahmedin Škrijelj from Novi Pazar discussed reciprocity as a model of lasting peace for the region. More precisely, Škrijelj underlined that only an equal attitude of Serbia towards all its peoples, including Bosniaks, Albanians and other peoples, brings peace and stability. Therefore, according to his opinion, if communities with the national sign of Serbs are established somewhere, the same must be respected in Serbia. At the end, the sociologist Mustafa Krupalija gave a presentation, and analysed with a sociological approach how Albanians became the majority, what is the role of education, and which other segments contributed to the social structure of Kosovo as we have it today. Also, Krupalija clearly detected problems in the relations between Serbs and Albanians in the previous period and one of the problems he talked about was the certain, open, Serbian nationalism.
