Borisav Jovic
Encyclopedia
Borisav Jović (born 19 October 1928) is a former Serbia
n communist
politician, who served as the Serbian member of the collective presidency of Yugoslavia
during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He graduated from the University of Belgrade
's School of Economics
.
during the 1980s and 1990s, and helped Milošević attain power during the Anti-bureaucratic revolution
in Serbia. He served as chairman of the presidency of Yugoslavia from May 1990 to May 1991. In his book Poslednji dani SFRJ (Belgrade, 1995), Joviċ describes how in late June 1990, following the electoral victory in Slovenia
and Croatia
of non-communist forces, he proposed to Milošević and federal defense minister Veljko Kadijević
that they "throw Slovenia and Croatia out of Yugoslavia" through the use of force, while retaining hold of Serb-populated sections of Croatia, a proposal that Milošević agreed to. Shortly after that meeting Jović began implementing the strategy that led to the end of the federal Yugoslav state. Jović is perhaps best known for helping to negotiate the Brioni Accord in early July 1991, which gave Slovenia its independence after the Ten-Day War
.
Near the end of his mandate in the rotating presidency, he blocked his successor, Stjepan Mesić
, a Croat, from taking the presidency, thereby violating the Constitution
. In mid-1991, with the tensions leading to the Croatian War of Independence
rising in Croatia, he attempted to enact emergency powers to the Yugoslav National Army
which would effectively enable the army to take control of the country and reverse the effects of the first free democratic elections which had elected independence-advocating governments in the republics of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, Macedonia
and Slovenia, leaving only Serbia
and Montenegro
committed to union. A vote of 5 out of 8 members of the Presidency were required, and Serbia had under its political control votes of Serbia, Montenegro
, Vojvodina
and Kosovo
and presumed that the Serb delegate representing Bosnia and Herzegovina would vote for the plan. The plan backfired, however, because the Bosnian Serb delegate, Bogić Bogičević
, refused to vote for the plan.
In the 1995 BBC documentary The Death of Yugoslavia, Jović described to interviewers his perception of the events that took place that eventually resulted in the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars
. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283181/ During this interview (Part 2, "The Road to War"), as well as in his testimony before the ICTY, Jović described the actions of the Yugoslav leadership that led up to the formation of the Bosnian Serb Army. Jović says these actions were decided in a private discussion he held with Serbian President
Milošević. According to Jović, he realized that Bosnia and Herzegovina was about to be recognized by the international community, and since Yugoslav People's Army
troops were still located there at that point, their presence on Bosnian territory could have led to the FRY being accused of aggression. To avoid this, he and Milošević decided to move all JNA soldiers originating from Serbia and Montenegro back into Serbia and Montenegro, and to move all JNA soldiers originating from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this way, every Bosnian Serb was transferred from the Yugoslav army to what became the newly created Bosnian Serb Army. In the film, Jović also revealed that Yugoslavia promised to pay all the costs, as the Bosnian Serb government could not afford the costs on its own.
Jović viewed the liberal reformist former Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Marković
as being responsible for destroying the country and being a puppet of the capitalist west. Jović, when President of Yugoslavia, commented
Jović's conclusion on Marković's role
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
politician, who served as the Serbian member of the collective presidency of Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He graduated from the University of Belgrade
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
's School of Economics
University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics
The University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics is one of the educational institutions of the University of Belgrade, Serbia. The building is located in the city center of Belgrade...
.
Career
Jović was a close ally and advisor of Serbian communist official Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
during the 1980s and 1990s, and helped Milošević attain power during the Anti-bureaucratic revolution
Anti-bureaucratic revolution
Anti-bureaucratic revolution as a term, refers to a series of mass protests against governments of Yugoslavian republics and autonomous provinces during 1988 and 1989, which led to resignations of leaderships of Kosovo, Vojvodina and Montenegro, and the capture of power by politicians close to...
in Serbia. He served as chairman of the presidency of Yugoslavia from May 1990 to May 1991. In his book Poslednji dani SFRJ (Belgrade, 1995), Joviċ describes how in late June 1990, following the electoral victory in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
and Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
of non-communist forces, he proposed to Milošević and federal defense minister Veljko Kadijević
Veljko Kadijevic
Veljko Kadijević is a former General of the Yugoslav People's Army . He was the Minister of Defence in the Yugoslav government from 1988 until his resignation in 1992, which made him de facto commander of JNA during the Ten-Day War in Slovenia and the initial stages of the War in...
that they "throw Slovenia and Croatia out of Yugoslavia" through the use of force, while retaining hold of Serb-populated sections of Croatia, a proposal that Milošević agreed to. Shortly after that meeting Jović began implementing the strategy that led to the end of the federal Yugoslav state. Jović is perhaps best known for helping to negotiate the Brioni Accord in early July 1991, which gave Slovenia its independence after the Ten-Day War
Ten-Day War
The Ten-Day War or the Slovenian Independence War was a military conflict between the Slovenian Territorial Defence and the Yugoslav People's Army in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence.-Background:...
.
Near the end of his mandate in the rotating presidency, he blocked his successor, Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan Mesić
Stjepan "Stipe" Mesić is a Croatian politician and former President of Croatia. Before his ten-year presidential term between 2000 and 2010 he held the posts of Speaker of the Croatian Parliament , Prime Minister of Croatia , the last President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia , Secretary General...
, a Croat, from taking the presidency, thereby violating the Constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
. In mid-1991, with the tensions leading to the Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
rising in Croatia, he attempted to enact emergency powers to the Yugoslav National Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
which would effectively enable the army to take control of the country and reverse the effects of the first free democratic elections which had elected independence-advocating governments in the republics of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
and Slovenia, leaving only Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
and Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
committed to union. A vote of 5 out of 8 members of the Presidency were required, and Serbia had under its political control votes of Serbia, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
and Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and presumed that the Serb delegate representing Bosnia and Herzegovina would vote for the plan. The plan backfired, however, because the Bosnian Serb delegate, Bogić Bogičević
Bogic Bogicevic
Bogić Bogićević is a Bosnian statesman of Serbian ethnicity. He was the first office-holder in Second Yugoslavia at the federal level to be democratically elected; as the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Presidency of Yugoslavia during the late 1980s to 1991.Bogićević is famous for...
, refused to vote for the plan.
In the 1995 BBC documentary The Death of Yugoslavia, Jović described to interviewers his perception of the events that took place that eventually resulted in the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283181/ During this interview (Part 2, "The Road to War"), as well as in his testimony before the ICTY, Jović described the actions of the Yugoslav leadership that led up to the formation of the Bosnian Serb Army. Jović says these actions were decided in a private discussion he held with Serbian President
President of Serbia
The President of Serbia is the head of state of Serbia. Presently serving as the head of state is Boris Tadić. He was elected with a narrow majority of 50.31% in the 2008 Serbian presidential elections.-Authority, legal and constitutional rights:...
Milošević. According to Jović, he realized that Bosnia and Herzegovina was about to be recognized by the international community, and since Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
troops were still located there at that point, their presence on Bosnian territory could have led to the FRY being accused of aggression. To avoid this, he and Milošević decided to move all JNA soldiers originating from Serbia and Montenegro back into Serbia and Montenegro, and to move all JNA soldiers originating from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this way, every Bosnian Serb was transferred from the Yugoslav army to what became the newly created Bosnian Serb Army. In the film, Jović also revealed that Yugoslavia promised to pay all the costs, as the Bosnian Serb government could not afford the costs on its own.
Jović viewed the liberal reformist former Yugoslav Prime Minister Ante Marković
Ante Markovic
Ante Marković was a statesman of the former Yugoslavia. He was the last prime minister of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.- Early life :...
as being responsible for destroying the country and being a puppet of the capitalist west. Jović, when President of Yugoslavia, commented
The general conclusion is that Ante Marković is no longer acceptable or reliable to us. No one has any doubts in their mind any longer that he's the extended arm of the United States in terms of overthrowing anyone who ever thinks of socialism, and it is through our votes that we appointed him Prime Minister in the Assembly. He is playing the most dangerous game of treason.http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:4dbR3PnBr6gJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/031120IT.htm+site:www.un.org/icty/transe54+%2B%22Ante+Markovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=20&gl=ca
Jović's conclusion on Marković's role
He was no doubt the most active creator of the destruction of our economy, and to a large extent a significant participant in the break-up of Yugoslavia. Others, when boasted of having broken up Yugoslavia wanted to take this infamous role upon themselves but in all these respects they never came close to what Markovic did, who had declared himself as the protagonist of Yugoslavia's survival http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:4dbR3PnBr6gJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/031120IT.htm+site:www.un.org/icty/transe54+%2B%22Ante+Markovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=20&gl=ca