Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia



The Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia (Autonomna Pokrajina Zapadna Bosna; APZB), was a small unrecognized proto-state that existed in the northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1993 and 1995. It consisted mainly of the town of Velika Kladuša, its capital, as well as a few nearby villages and fields. It was proclaimed as a result of secessionist politics by Fikret Abdić against the central government of Alija Izetbegović during the Bosnian War. For a short time in 1995, it was known as the Republic of Western Bosnia (Republika Zapadna Bosna).

History
Fikret Abdić was the winner of the popular vote to head the government of Bosnia in 1990 but surrendered to Alija Izetbegović under an undisclosed agreement.

In 1993, according to journalist Anthony Loyd, Abdić decided to try to carve out a little state for himself and succeeded in recruiting enough followers to make his dreams a reality. Abdić was able to hold power over his mini-state by using cult-like propaganda techniques over his followers and Serbian arms and military training.

"'Talking to his autonomist followers was much the same as speaking with cult converts anywhere in the world: a wooden dead-end dialogue hallmarked by the absence of individual rationale and logic.'"

Local residents of Velika Kladuša were reported as treating Abdić with excessive reverence and "were ready to do whatever he said." The economy of Western Bosnia was largely reliant on the Agrokomerc company of Velika Kladuša.

Little is known about Western Bosnia's political system excluding Abdić and most officeholders have faded into obscurity. A 2010 document pertaining to the final judgment of the Zlatko Jušić and Ibrahim Jušić trial held in Croatia, cited the opinion of one witness that the Government of the APZB was "a farce, an ornament" and that it was not consulted with as Abdić himself made decisions regarding key issues. This statement was one of the reasons behind Zlatko Jušić's subsequent acquittal of all war crimes charges. APZB also featured a Constituent Assembly, the Vice President of which was Božidar Sisel.

The Autonomous Province cooperated with Serbia as well as Croatia against the Bosnian government. Abdić's role in undermining the rival authority in Sarajevo was awarded by the governments of Croatia and the Republic of Serbia inside of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Agrokomerc was granted a custom-free trade zone in the Croatian port of Rijeka and free trade with Serbian-controlled territories. Trade between Western Bosnia and Croatia occurred during the Bosnian War.

In 1994, Franjo Tuđman changed his policies towards Bosnia after diplomatic pressure from the United States and the UN Security Council. The Washington Agreement was signed in March 1994. The situation became very unfavourable to the future of Western Bosnia, as Fikret Abdić could no longer count on financial or military help by one of his protectors.

It was militarily defeated during Operation Tiger in June and August 1994, when the territory of Western Bosnia was seized by the Bosnian government troops. Fikret Abdić moved to Zagreb. However, they were expelled later that year with the significant help of the Serbs in Operation Spider, and the APZB was re-established.

The province declared itself the independent Republic of Western Bosnia on 26 July 1995. In August 1995, Operation Storm made it serve as the last line of defense of the Republic of Serbian Krajina in Croatia. The RZB was wiped out completely during the joint Croatian-Bosnian government army action on 7 August 1995. Abdić was forced to flee to Croatia after the operation.

Armed forces
The defence force of the proto-state was the National Defence (Narodna obrana or NOZB). It was militarily dependent of the forces of Republika Srpska.

Aftermath
Western Bosnia's territory was incorporated into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the present-day Una-Sana Canton. Fikret Abdić, who maintained friendly relations with Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, had acquired Croatian citizenship and lived in Croatia in exile.

After the death of Tuđman in December 1999 and the defeat of the Croatian Democratic Union in the Croatian elections of 2000, Abdić was eventually arrested and convicted for war crimes against civilian Bosniaks loyal to the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trial took place in Croatia, where Abdić was condemned to 20 years in prison in 2002. On 9 March 2012, he was released after he had served two thirds of his reduced sentence. In 2016, the citizens of Velika Kladuša elected Abdić mayor.

In June 2020 he was arrested by Bosnia's federal police as part of a corruption investigation which included a number of municipal officials. He was put in pre-trial detention, but was released in late October after his lawyers petitioned the court to allow him to take part in the re-election campaign for the 2020 Bosnian municipal elections in November that year, which he narrowly won with 44.1% of the vote. In March 2021 prosecutors formally indicted Abdić and six other municipal officials on charges of graft related to procurement tenders.