Momir Bulatović ( sr-cyr, Момир Булатовић; 21 September 1956 – 30 June 2019)
was a Yugoslav and Montenegrin politician. He was the first
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of the
Republic of Montenegro
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
from 1990 to 1998, after which he served as the
Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1998 until 2000, when
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
was
overthrown.
He was a leader of the
Montenegro's Democratic Party of Socialists from 1989 to 1997, when he split from DPS after a conflict with
Milo Đukanović.
During his mandate as President of Montenegro within Yugoslavia, he oversaw the engagement of Montenegrin reservists in the
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...
in the
siege of Dubrovnik
The siege of Dubrovnik ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, opsada Dubrovnika, опсада Дубровника) was a military engagement fought between the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Croatian forces defending the city of Dubrovnik and its surroundings dur ...
as well as in the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
. According to
Florence Hartmann
Florence Hartmann (born 17 February 1963) is a French journalist and author. During the 1990s she was a correspondent in the Balkans for the French newspaper ''Le Monde''. In 1999 she published her first book, ''Milosevic, la diagonale du fou' ...
, Bulatović was subject to an investigation by the
ICTY
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...
for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but was not charged.
He was a defense witness in the trials of
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
,
Radovan Karadžić,
and
Nikola Šainović at the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...
.
Early life
Bulatović was born in Belgrade as the son of a
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...
(JNA) officer who originated from Montenegro. The family lived in the
Voždovac neighbourhood. Due to the nature of his father's job his family frequently relocated throughout
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
. When Momir was five years old, the family moved to
Zadar
Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ser ...
in Croatia, where he completed his primary and secondary education.
In 1975 the 18-year-old Bulatović moved to
Titograd to study at the
Veljko Vlahović University
The University of Montenegro ( cnr, Универзитет Црнe Горe / Univerzitet Crne Gore) is a national public university of Montenegro.
Its central administration and majority of constitutive faculties are located in the country's cap ...
's
Faculty of Economics. According to Bulatović, he wanted to return to Belgrade for university studies, but his family did not have enough money to send him there, so he ended up in Titograd.
Upon graduating he continued as an assistant at the same university and soon earned a master's degree.
Anti-bureaucratic revolution (1989)
In November 1988, while working as an assistant at the
Faculty of Economics in Podgorica, Bulatović was named coordinator of the
League of Communists of Montenegro.
After the
anti-bureaucratic revolution in January 1989, Bulatović was promoted to the presidency of the League of Communists of Montenegro.
With the
breakup of Yugoslavia
The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
, Bulatović became President of
Yugoslavia's Republic of Montenegro, serving in that position from 23 December 1990 to 15 January 1998. During his tenure, he was a loyal ally to
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...
, and oversaw the Montenegrin reserve of the
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...
in the
Croatian and
Bosnian wars.
In the 1990 Yugoslav Communist party's congress, Bulatović supported Milošević's agenda of changing the party's voting system to a one-member-one-vote system which would give a numerical majority to Serbs. Montenegro also supported Serbia in opposing all reforms proposed by Slovenia that were deemed to be intended to devolve power to the republics. The Slovenian and Croatian communist factions abdicated the party in what they saw as an attempt by Milošević to create Serb hegemony in the party. The League of Communists collapsed, Bulatović followed the political changes in the other republics and made Montenegro a multi-party democracy and formed the
Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) with former communists.
President of Montenegro (1990–1998)
Siege of Dubrovnik (1991)
On 1 October 1991,
Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington
Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton, (6 June 1919 – 9July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secretary ...
came to
Titograd and asked Bulatović if
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...
was in danger of an attack by the
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...
.
According to testimony by Nikola Samardžić to the ICTY, a member of Bulatović's cabinet, Bulatović promised Carrington that Dubrovnik would not be attacked.
Just a few hours after meeting Carrington, Bulatović attended a meeting with several generals of the Yugoslav People's Army, including
Pavle Strugar
Pavle Strugar ( sr-Cyrl, Павле Стругар; 13 July 1933 – 12 December 2018) was a Montenegrin general in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) who was found guilty of war crimes for his role in the siege of Dubrovnik.
Biography
Strugar ...
, after which Bulatović told Samardžić that "30,000
Ustashe are coming from Dubrovnik to seize the
Bay of Kotor
The Bay of Kotor ( Montenegrin and Serbian: , Italian: ), also known as the Boka, is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated around the bay. It is also the southernmost part of the hi ...
", and that a response was urgent.
Bulatović ultimately participated in ordering an attempted annexation of
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...
to Montenegro, additionally claiming that it was historically linked to Montenegro. After the war ended, Bulatović claimed that the attack on Dubrovnik was "the only way to prevent the conflict from spreading into Montenegro", but also asserted that the military gave the government of Montenegro "false information".
Carrington's proposal (1991)
The siege of Dubrovnik, in addition to war crimes committed, had enormous consequences for Yugoslavia's international standing. The
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lis ...
invited Carrington and representatives from Yugoslavia to negotiate a peace accord known as the Carrington plan on 19 October 1991, in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
. The proposal of a "loose federation of independent states" was a non-starter for Milošević, who preferred a centralized Yugoslavia with institutional powers in Belgrade. Bulatović, to the shock of Milošević and his own party members, agreed to Carrington's terms and even signed a draft of the plan during an overnight session of the
Montenegrin parliament on October 17, arguing that it would secure Montenegro's interests and end the
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...
. Bulatović's signature potentially guaranteed Montenegro's legal right to secede from Yugoslavia, resulting in an almost explosive rift with the Yugoslav leadership in Belgrade.
Borisav Jović contacted Bulatović about his support for the Carrington plan in disbelief, asking him if he had been paid off by the Croats, Austrians, or Italians. Bulatović claimed that the Carrington proposal offered Montenegro the
Prevlaka peninsula, and that it guaranteed Montenegro would not be subject to
sanctions. Furthermore, Montenegro was allegedly offered a large amount of aid from the West with Italian foreign minister
Gianni De Michelis telling Bulatović that he "wanted to chart an independent course from Belgrade." In a follow-up session of the Montenegrin parliament on 24–25 October, parliament and party members ratified Bulatović's signature on the Carrington plan, making the accord more imminent.
However, in a sharp turn, the Narodna Stranka (People's Party) called for an emergency session in the Montenegrin parliament, during which Bulatović was accused of treason.
Milo Đukanović defended Bulatović in the parliamentary hearing. Bulatović tried to make his own case, telling the parliament members "if servility and acceptance of everything coming from Belgrade is the criteria for good governance in Montenegro, then this nation doesn't need a government, elections, or political parties." Subsequently, Bulatović was invited to a meeting with Milošević and Jović in Belgrade; Bulatović described the meeting as "very explosive". As a result of the meeting, Milošević added a clause to Bulatović's Carrington commitment, such that a republic could decide to stay in Yugoslavia through a referendum. This resulted in the
1992 independence referendum, where voters in Montenegro decided to remain in
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Muslim communities in Montenegro
With the war raging in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulatović faced the first serious threat of "spill-over" in the summer of in 1992, when Muslims in
Pljevlja
Pljevlja ( srp, Пљевља, ) is a town and the center of Pljevlja Municipality located in the northern part of Montenegro. The town lies at an altitude of . In the Middle Ages, Pljevlja had been a crossroad of the important commercial roads an ...
were subject to intimidation and violence. On 6 August 1992, a local warlord named Milika "Čeko" Dačević walked into Pljevlja's police headquarters to ask that a vehicle which was seized be returned to his personal envoy, threatening to "declare war" on Pljevlja.
Although Bulatović described Dačević as someone "who hardly can be characterized as sane",
over half of the police force turned themselves over to Dačević during his custody, essentially turning over the police station to Dačević's militia.
In addition to the stand-off with Dačević, his militia included forces of the Kornjača brothers from
Čajniče, who helped blocked off the town from a garrison of the Yugoslav People's Army.
Duško Kornjača threatened to kill all of the Muslims in Pljevlja unless Dačević was released.
The militia's control over Pljevlja was strong enough that the Yugoslav People's Army garrison in Pljevlja, composed of only 73 soldiers,
refused to confront them.
As a result, on 7 August 1992, Bulatović,
Đukanović,
Dobrica Ćosić
Dobrica Ćosić ( sr, Добрица Ћосић, ; 29 December 1921 – 18 May 2014) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician, writer, and political theorist.
Ćosić was twice awarded the prestigious NIN award for literature and Medal of Pushkin ...
and
Života Panić
Života Panić ( sr-cyr, Живота Панић; 3 November 1933 – 19 November 2003) was a Yugoslav military officer who served as the last acting Minister of Defense of Yugoslavia and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of ...
came to Pljevlja to negotiate with all parties involved.
During the negotiations, a representative of Pljevlja's Islamic community named Hakija Ajanović asked Bulatović to tighten border controls to prevent Serbian paramilitaries from Bosnia entering Montenegro. In contrast, Bulatović had been told by the police that "the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina was not possible to secure".
In the end, Bulatović and his colleagues promised the Islamic community in Pljevlja that they would attempt to disarm the paramilitaries and add reinforcements of the Yugoslav People's Army to patrol the town.
To satisfy the militia, Bulatović asked the local Muslims not to seek autonomy, although they had not done so over the course of the meeting.
In spite of Bulatović's reassurances, Pljevlja's Muslim community suffered various incidents, particularly in the village of Bukovica where 6 Muslim inhabitants were killed from 1992 to 1995.
Additionally, the first kidnapping of Muslim inhabitants took place in Pljevlja on February 15, 1993, where Muslim family members were taken to a prison in
Čajniče. After a negotiation leading to the release of Serbian reservists held as
prisoners
A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison.
...
by the
Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulatović announced the freeing of the Bungur family from the Čajniče prison in 1993, crediting Ćosić and
Radovan Karadžić "personal responsibility" for the family's freedom.
In May 1993, Bulatović participated in the negotiations of the
Vance-Owen Plan, held in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
in the presence of Greek Prime Minister
Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Konstantinos Mitsotakis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Μητσοτάκης, ; – 29 May 2017) was a Greek politician who was 7th Prime Minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993. He graduated in law and economics from the University of Athens. His ...
.
Bulatović along with Ćosić and Milošević collaborated in pressuring Karadžić to sign the plan.
Karadžić eventually signed the plan, after which Bulatović traveled with Ćosić and Milošević to
Pale, where they tried to convince
wartime Republika Srpska's parliament to adopt the resolution signed in Athens.
The parliament of Republika Srpska in Pale rejected the resolution in defiance of the Milošević-Ćosić-Bulatović team, and the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina continued for another two years.
Loss to Đukanović and departure from DPS
On 11 July 1997, the national committee ("''Glavni odbor''", abbreviated as "''GO''") of
DPS, formerly the
League of Communists, held a closed doors session after which the committee selected
Milica Pejanović-Đurišić to replace Bulatović as the party president.
The party split had enormous implications, making a political confrontation between Đukanović and Bulatović inevitable. This manifested in the
1997 Montenegrin presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Montenegro, then a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, on 5 October 1997. A second round run-off was held on 19 October 1997. Although incumbent President Momir Bulatović, who was supportive of Yugoslavian Pre ...
held in October, which Đukanović won by a thin margin. Although the
OSCE
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
recognized the result as legitimate, Bulatović claimed that the United States interfered in Đukanović's favor. Bulatović then participated in the mobilization of a large demonstration at Đukanović's inauguration in
Podgorica on 14 January 1998. The protest at Đukanović's inauguration was confronted by the police, resulting in the injury of 44 policemen and four civilians.
On 21 March 1998, Bulatović mobilized a large fraction from DPS CG and helped found the
Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (SNP).
Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (1998–2000)
On 21 May 1998, Bulatović was named the new Prime Minister of Yugoslavia by the country's parliament, replacing Đukanović loyalist
Radoje Kontić.
On 23 March 1999, he signed a declaration of a state of war when
NATO began bombing Yugoslavia.
He resigned on 9 October 2000, shortly after Milošević was ousted.
Later life, death and legacy
Bulatović withdrew from frontline politics in 2001.
His son Boško died at the age of 21 on 24 June 2008 after a short illness.
In 2017, Bulatović took part in protests by the pro-Serb opposition in Montenegro against the country's
NATO membership.
He was last seen in public at the funeral of
Mirjana Marković in April 2019.
Bulatović died on 30 June 2019 at his family's home near Podgorica.
A close associate,
Milan Knežević, said the former president apparently suffered a heart attack.
He was 62.
Knežević, an opposition politician, said Bulatović "left a permanent trace in Montenegrin politics as a man who fought for his beliefs until the last day." Others, including some prosecutors at the
ICTY
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...
, saw him as one of Milošević's partners in crime in the
1990s wars in Yugoslavia.
References
External links
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulatovic, Momir
1956 births
2019 deaths
Politicians from Belgrade
Rovčani
Serbs of Montenegro
League of Communists of Montenegro politicians
Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro politicians
Socialist People's Party of Montenegro politicians
People's Socialist Party of Montenegro politicians
New Serb Democracy politicians
Presidents of Montenegro
University of Montenegro Faculty of Economics alumni
Burials in Montenegro