[syndicate] Old Bridge in Mostar is rebuilt

[Andrej Tisma]

Ts, ts ts, what a barbarism to destroy such an old bridge. And who could
imagine that Croats, Croatian army did it. But they did.
Andrej



----- Original Message -----
From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo at reporters.net>
To: <edagro at verizon.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2004 8:44 AM
Subject: [syndicate] Old Bridge in Mostar is rebuilt


> As those who blew the 16th year old cultural monument to pieces now,
> finally, surrendered to The Hague tribunal, and the bridge in Mostar
> is rebuilt in its old glory with help of Turkey, Germany, and
> Croatia, is the Mostar going to follow through by becoming a multi-
> cultural city it once was?
> http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=512234
>
> This is an article I wrote in 1993, when I learned of the bridge
> destruction, shocked by the disappearing image on Ted Koppel's
> Nightline...
> http://balkansnet.org/bridge.txt
>
> An important observation from the first article (by Marcus Tanner):
> "Pre-war Mostar was roughly 40 per cent Muslim, 40 per cent Croat and
> 20 per cent Serb. But the war drove a coach and horses through the
> percentages. Apart from the virtual disappearance of the Serbs, an
> influx of Croats from central Bosnia and the departure of some
> Muslims from the largely jobless east, it has changed the ethnic
> balance. Mostar has a Croatian majority now.
>
> The knowledge of this has turned many former political calculations
> on their head. Until a few years ago, the Muslim east - the larger of
> the two communities for several years after the war - championed a
> reunited Mostar with the Old Bridge at its centre. Now that the
> Muslims have become a minority, enthusiasm for unity has waned and
> the Muslim-led Party for Democratic Action seems reluctant to embrace
> Mr Ashdown's reunified city council.
>
> On the other side, a shift in perception is equally striking. Once
> almost paranoid in their opposition to any contact with the east, the
> Bosnian Croats have shed their fear of reunification now they know
> they could outvote the Muslims in a city-wide election. They no
> longer resent the Old Bridge, for its symbolism has changed. It has
> become harmless - a potential draw for the tourists who once flocked
> to Mostar but have not been seen since the 1980s."
>


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