On a visit to Ankara, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic will seek Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s support for Bosnian Croats’ plan to change Bosnia’s electoral law to give them more political power.
Grabar Kitarovic will use her meeting with her Turkish counterpart Erdogan on Tuesday to try to enlist his influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina to support electoral reforms advocated by the Bosnian Croats.
Grabar Kitarovic’s office told N1 TV on Monday that the two presidents will talk about the role of Croatia and Turkey “in encouraging Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina to engage in dialogue and agreement on key issues, in particular on the issue of amending electoral legislation which is at this moment of utmost importance”.
Bosnian Croats want election legislation amended to ensure that predominantly Bosniak communities elect a Bosniak representative, while Croat ones elect a Croat representative.
This would involve dividing the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Federation entity into ethnically-based electoral units.
After the Croatian National Assembly, a body that brings together all the Bosnian Croat parties, proposed the amendment to the law in April last year, the Bosnian Constitutional Court ruled in July that the proposal did not damage the ‘vital national interest’ of the Bosniak people.
From the beginning, top Croatian officials have supported the amendment to the election law to secure the better representation of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Now Grabar Kitarovic plans to organise a trilateral meeting between top-level representatives of Croatia, Turkey and Bosnia to resolve the issue.
For more read the full of article at The Balkaninsight
