My second job has been to try to use my power to create institutions of a modern state that could enter the European Union, and there was very little time. The door was closing, and I wanted to get Bosnia through before it shut.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The one indication that I got that I was doing the right job in Bosnia was that at different periods of time all the factions came down very hard on me.
I am hopeful that no one will forget what happened in Bosnia.
Bosnia is a complicated country: three religions, three nations and those 'others'. Nationalism is strong in all three nations; in two of them there are a lot of racism, chauvinism, separatism; and now we are supposed to make a state out of that.
Bosnia is under my skin. It's the place you cannot leave behind. I was obsessed by the nightmare of it all; there was this sense of guilt, and an anger that has become something much deeper over these last years.
There's probably one more story about Bosnia that I'd like to do, because I spent a fair amount of time on the Serb side of the lines, which isn't apparent in the other books.
We Bosniaks would for sure fight for integrity of Bosnia.
I built Kosovo for 10 years.
Let's make a deal with the Serbs. Neither history nor emotion in the Balkans will permit multinationalism. We have to give up on the illusion of the last eight years... Dayton isn't working. Nobody - except diplomats and petty officials - believes in a sovereign Bosnia and the Dayton accords.
We would like Serbia to become a member of the European Union as quickly as possible.
I never wanted an independent Bosnia. I wanted Yugoslavia. That is my country.