Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia

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Flag of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (1993-95)
Map of Western Bosnia, 1994
Flag of the Republic of Western Bosnia (1995)

The Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia ( Bosnian Autonomna pokrajina Zapadna Bosna ) was one of the four territories that arose during the Bosnian War on the territory of today's state of Bosnia and Herzegovina .

It was almost exclusively inhabited by Bosniaks , but because of political differences it split from Central Bosnia , which was also dominated by Bosniaks , and was under the control of the Narodna odbrana Zapadne Bosne (People's Defense of Western Bosnia) for most of the Bosnian War . Shortly before the end of the Bosnian War , the Republic of Western Bosnia ( Republika Zapadna Bosna ) was proclaimed in 1995 ; however, it was not recognized internationally as a state.

history

In the summer of 1993 there was a leadership crisis in the Bosnian State Presidium, which was partly interpreted by the Western media to mean that the Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović had been deposed. The latter had rejected the negotiations taking place in Geneva on a peace plan that provided for the division of the country, despite the poor military situation for his troops. Fikret Abdić , who was also a member of the state presidency but was a proponent of peace negotiations, then withdrew his loyalty to Izetbegović and achieved a separate peace with the Serbian leaders for his home region in the north-west of the country (around Velika Kladuša ) after he had previously participated in major acts of war Area had prevented.

The main reason for this was probably that this area was on the one hand enclosed by Serbian-controlled areas (the Republika Srpska Krajina on Croatian territory and the Republika Srpska ) and thus cut off from central Bosnia, but on the other hand it housed a large food company, Agrokomerc , whose functions also include the Serbs had an interest, as they obtained a large part of their food from there. The government in Sarajevo, which Abdić now viewed as a traitor, was able to bring the larger city of Bihać , located in the south of this area, under their control, where the commander of the 5th Corps , General Ramiz Dreković , acted as governor.

In the fall of 1993, numerous people were killed in fighting between the divided Bosniak sides. On August 21, 1994, the government troops succeeded in taking Velika Kladuša. As a result, almost the entire population of the area (around 20,000 people) fled to the Serbian Republic of Krajina. From there the rebels managed to recapture the area a few months later.

When the Serbian Republic of Krajina was conquered by the Croatian army in August 1995 , Serbian residents and soldiers fled to Velika Kladuša, whereupon the Croatian army and Bosnian government troops jointly took the area. Abdić was sentenced to a long prison term for his support for the Krajina Serbs in Croatia .

literature