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164<br />

ChApter 2<br />

the Serbs and in those regions of present-day Croatia which are not<br />

Serbian, in my opinion, they should move to Serbia since they cannot<br />

survive in places where the Croats are a majority and which are under<br />

Croatian rule. A Serb under Croatian rule can only be a slave and live<br />

an undignified life. I also know that no Serb will accept this and that<br />

they will do anything to move to Serbia. Therefore, an exchange of population<br />

is inevitable. 248<br />

What Šešelj openly advocated, Dobrica Ćosić, in his capacity<br />

as president of the fry, discussed with Croatian president Franjo<br />

Tuđman in Geneva in 1993. 249<br />

During the winter and spring of 1992, Šešelj declared that there<br />

were two peaceful solutions for Bosnia-Herzegovina: either it would<br />

be incorporated into a rump Yugoslavia or it would be divided, and<br />

that any other solution would mean war. 250 In other words, if the<br />

Muslims did not want to become part of a Yugoslav federation, Bosnia<br />

would have to be torn apart. He referred to the Drina as a Serbian<br />

river flowing through central Serbia. Regarding the Muslims—the<br />

majority population of Bosnia—Šešelj proposed (before violence<br />

erupted) giving them 18 percent of the republic’s territory around<br />

the Bosnia River. Granting that in principle the Muslims had no<br />

objections to living side by side with the Serbs, he advised them to<br />

talk to the Bosnian Serb Democratic Party or deal with his Radicals,<br />

in which case “there will be no talking.” He was equally unsparing in<br />

his treatment of the Muslims of Sandžak (a region of Serbia next to<br />

Bosnia and populated by Muslims), threatening—just before the war<br />

248 „Ratne novine“, August 18, 1991, in Šešelj, Razaranje srpskog nacionalnog bića, p .296 .<br />

249 Ćosić: “Tuđman and I agreed that it would be sensible and humane for the states to assist<br />

in an organized transfer and exchange of population . People cannot return to their homes<br />

any more . Perhaps we should consider [establishing] special institutions and agencies to<br />

regulate the exchange of property, flats, houses . Somehow we must solve this conflict<br />

between multi-national and multi-confessional communities .” Duga, January 16–29, 1993 .<br />

250 Vojislav Šešelj, Press Conference, 1992 (Belgrade: ABC Glas, 1994) p .52 .

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