Process of Reconciliation in the Western Balkans and Turkey: a Qualitative Study
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Process of Reconciliation in the Western Balkans and Turkey: A Qualitative Study This project is financed by the European Union Process of Reconciliation in the Western Balkans and Turkey: A Qualitative Study Mirjana Adamović Anja Gvozdanović Marko Kovačić Banja Luka / Zagreb, 2017 Published by: Compex d.o.o. Braće Pišteljića 1, 78 000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina Institute for Social Research in Zagreb (ISRZ) Amruševa 11, Zagreb, Croatia Authors: Mirjana Adamović, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb (ISRZ), Croatia Anja Gvozdanović, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb (ISRZ), Croatia Marko Kovačić, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb (ISRZ), Croatia National researchers: Jasmin Jašarević, Youth Resource Center (ORC), Bosnia and Herzegovina Tamara Čirgić, Forum MNE, Montenegro Nora Ahmeti, LENS, Kosovo Ilija Jovanović, Educational Center Kruševac (ECK), Serbia Irida Agolli, Beyond Barriers Association (BBA), Albania Toše Zafirov, Progress Institute for Social Democracy, Macedonia Varduhi Balyan, Toplum Gönüllüleri Vakfı (TOG), Turkey Reviewers: dr.sc. Danijel Baturina, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law dr.sc. Simona Kuti, Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb Translator: Zorica Škoflek Layout and cover design: Nebojša Đumić Printed by: Compex, Braće Pišteljića 1, 78 000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina [email protected] Circulation: 300 copies This publication has been produced with assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no This project is financed wa y b e ta ke n to r e f l e c t t h e v i e w s of t h e Eu r o p e a n U n i o n by the European Union Content: Introduction ............................................................5 Theoretical framework ..................................................6 Methodology ..........................................................24 Bosnia and Herzegovina ................................................27 Montenegro ...........................................................72 Kosovo ...............................................................100 Serbia ................................................................119 Macedonia ...........................................................159 Albania ...............................................................185 Turkey ...............................................................203 Conclusion and recommendations ......................................224 Contributions .........................................................238 Focus Group Questions .............................................238 Sample structure ...................................................242 Introduction UALITATIVE RESEARCHES HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania and Turkey under the Qproject “Divided Past – Joint Future“. Subject of research involved atti- tudes and opinions of citizens, representatives of public, private and civil sector on peace building and the process of reconciliation as well as the role of civil sec- tor in those processes in the mentioned countries. In line with general objectives of the project, the empirical research goal is to determine opinions and positions of representatives of all four sectors on peace building and the process of recon- ciliation in seven countries whereat the intention was to get responses to specific research questions such as: 1. What is the nature of the relationship between research participants and the pro- cess of reconciliation and its progress in a specific country and region; and 2. how do research participants assess and perceive the role of civil society in the pro- cess of reconciliation and peacebuilding in a specific country and region. Considering that one of the main objectives of the project is the establishment of the Regional Social Lab for Peace and Reconciliation, the research was partly focused on the reception of the idea of establishing cross-sectoral cooperation. This report contains the main findings of the carried out research and it is struc- tured as follows: the first part of the report provides a theoretical framework that contains relevant theoretical approaches to peacebuilding, in particular the concept of reconciliation; the second part describes a research methodology; the third part contains the main research findings by countries; the last, fourth part of the report contains the conclusions and recommendations related to the im- provement of the process of reconciliation and strengthening of the role of civil society in the area of the Western Balkans and Turkey. 5 PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION IN THE WESTERN BALKANS AND TURKEY: A QUALITATIVE STUDY Theoretical framework OLICIES DIRECTED TOWARDS PEACEBUILDING IN THE POST-CONFLICT PERIOD WITHIN ONE society or between states mostly consist of four components that are con- Pcurrently the objectives of these policies: preventing the continuation or escalation of violent conflicts in unstable areas, addressing the source of con- flicts, (re)building social institutions and values (in particular respect for human rights) and (re)building of government institutions and the rule of law (Newman, Paris and Richmond, 2009). These goals necessarily imply the implementation of a range of different activities whose focus and reach largely depend on the social context and the intensity of previous conflicts. Given their characteristics, peace policies are significantly based on the idea of liberal peace building (Mac Ginty, 2010). Liberal peacebuilding involves principles such as liberal democracy, liberal understanding of human rights, market values, joining the globalization flows of the world and secular state. What does it mean? This means that the creation of liberal or democratic peace is based on the idea that states founded on liberal postulates and/or consolidated democracies provide institutional limiting of decisions and behaviours of political leadership to enter into a war conflict. In addition, viewed rationally, they have no interest by entering into conflicts to endanger, and risk established economic and market relations with other countries (Newman, Paris and Richmond, 2009; Doyle, 2012). It is precisely because of the existence of outer interdependence and strong inner-built institutions, that a democratic or liberal state is simply -con sidered as more stable, peace-loving and finding peaceful solutions, in contrast to those non-democratic (Newman, Paris and Richmond, 2009; Doyle, 2012). Of course, this approach has many problematic points, and one of the more im- portant is the question of the transferability of the democratization matrix and the liberal (capitalist) market to post-conflict societies, which in most cases were not part of democratic political systems. The question is to what extent a demo- cratic value system (which in this constellation gets the status of a virtually uni- versal) can be replicated to societies with sociocultural traditions that are not 6 DIVIDED PAST JOINT FUTURE susceptible or initially suitable for its application (Newman, Paris and Richmond, 2009; Chandler, 2013). Moreover, one of the critically oriented perspectives problematizes the relationship of global and local1 actors in peacebuilding, result- ing in hybrid peace, as well as the hybrid policy that allows it (Richmond, 2015). Hybridity signifies the meeting of liberal (in principle external) and local norms, actors and practices that in their interaction create hybrid characteristics both on the structural and cultural plan of the post-conflict society, for example, at the same time coexisting liberal norms and norms opposite to liberal (Bjorkdahl and Hoglund, 2013). Or, for example, it is possible to imagine how at the same time local value patterns dominantly form a relationship towards reconciliation, while international practices and norms are quite successful in finding their way to local economic structures (Mac Ginty, 2010). In sum, hybrid forms of peace represent an intersubjective mediation between -lo cal and international levels, institutions, norms, rights, laws, needs and interests, depending on both power and legitimacy (Richmond, 2015 according to Massey, 1994, 2007: 84), whereby limits of global-local binary are blurred (Mac Ginty, 2010; Bjorkdahl and Hoglund, 2013; Richmond, 2015). A hybrid peace per se that means neither good or bad, says Mac Ginty (2010), is the result of an interplay of four factors that appear in different environments with more or less intensity. The first is the mechanism of coercion for the adoption of liberal peace whose hold- ers often represent arbitrators in deciding on what is “acceptable” in the process of peacebuilding (this can be done, for example, through an inter- national financial system that often finances a conflict of impoverished society, so a part of the financial sovereignty of the state is sacrificed for such benefits, but also through local transmission agents - from the high- est bodies of state and local government to civil society organizations). The second is the work to increase the power of liberal peace, which in fact implies the empowerment of the most important dimensions of liberal peace (security and stabilization, empowerment of the state, democratic governance and free market), whereby the discourse of partnership and cooperation with the institutions/organizations of the post-conflict society is used. The third factor relates to the ability of local actors to