In January 2001, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yugoslavia agreed to work more closely together again (especially in the fields of trade and transport; to this end, among other things, the formation of an intergovernmental working group) and to set up a “Commission for Truth and Reconciliation” on the causes and course of the war 1992–95. In March 2001, Yugoslavia and the RS in Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded a “special relations” agreement in Banja Luka; Although not a violation of the Dayton Agreement, it was criticized by Croatia as a continuation of the “Greater Serbia” policy.
In February 2000, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a member of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (English abbreviation SEECP, founded in 1996) with five Balkan countries and Turkey was involved in the signing of a charter for cooperation and good neighborliness in Bucharest. At the first Balkan summit of the EU at the end of November 2000, Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with other Balkan states, was granted the status of a potential candidate for accession to the EU (without a timetable). In December 2006, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined NATO’s “Partnership for Peace”. In 2008 a Stabilization and Association Agreement was signed with the EU. On January 8, 2010, the EU lifted the visa requirement for citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nevertheless, the process of rapprochement with the EU initially stagnated, especially due to a lack of constitutional progress. On June 1, 2015, the Stabilization and Association Agreement signed with the EU in 2008 came into force. On February 15, 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for membership in the EU.
Herzegovina
According to bridgat, Herzegovina is the historical area in the south of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sparsely populated, karstified highland through which the Neretva, a 218 km long river that flows into the Adriatic, flows. The main town is Mostar.
Zenica
Zenica [ zεnitsa], city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina, the administrative center of Zenica-Doboj, 324 m above sea level, at the Bosna, (2013) 70,600 residents, as agglomeration 110,700 population (predominantly Bosniaks).
University (founded in 1961 as a faculty for metallurgy, university since 2000), theater; Center of Bosnian heavy industry; large iron and steel works (2003 extensive investments by foreign steel companies).
Bosna
Bosna die, right tributary of the Save in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 308 km long; rises in karst springs on the edge of the Sarajevo basin, flows into Bosanski Šamac.
Tuzla
Tuzla [ Tuzla], town in Bosnia and Herzegovina, within the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina, the administrative center of Canton Tuzla, 232 m above sea level, north of Sarajevo at the foot of Majevica 80 600 residents, as agglomeration of 120 000 residents (mainly Bosniaken); Serbian Orthodox bishopric, university (founded in 1976), theater, museum; Industrial center of Eastern Bosnia with lignite and salt mining, chemical (soda extraction), electrical, construction and food industries, thermal power station; Airport. The Slana Banja spa (thermal springs) is located on the eastern edge of the city.
Banja Luka
Banja Luka, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, capital of the Serbian Republic (“Republika Srpska”), in a convenient location at the entrance of the Vrbas into the slave lowlands, 151,000 residents, as an agglomeration 199,200 residents (mostly Serbs, small minority of Croats and Bosniaks); Seat of a Catholic and a Serbian Orthodox bishop; University (founded in 1975), college of education, business school; Finance; Mechanical engineering, electrotechnical and food industry (including brewery), wood, leather and tobacco processing; in the Trapisti thermal bath district; near Bosanska Gradiška, 50 km north of Banja Luka, airport.
Fort (16th century; museum). The Islamic old town, which was rebuilt after the severe earthquake in 1969, was badly damaged in the civil war in 1993, including the city’s 16 larger mosques. The Ferhad Pascha Mosque (built in 1583, completely destroyed in 1993, under reconstruction since 2001) was one of the most beautiful monuments of Islamic sacred architecture in the central Balkans.
First mentioned in 1494, Banja Luka fell to the Turks in 1528, who made it the seat of the Begs of Sanjak Bosnia in 1533. The decline of the thriving commercial city in the 17th century after the conquest by Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm I. of Baden-Baden (September 4, 1688) and in the Austro-Russian Turkish War 1735–39 (on August 4, 1737 defeat of the Austrians at Banja Luka) was only ended in the second half of the 19th century with the settlement of Austrian military and civil authorities. – In the civil war for the various ethnic settlement areas (1992–95), Banja Luka, which was declared the capital of the »Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina«, which was proclaimed on April 7, 1992, was fiercely contested; after the destruction of many churches in the diocese of Banja Luka as well as numerous mosques and the expulsion of the Croatian and Muslim population (1994/95) took place in the region of Banja Luka (so-called Bosnian Krajina) the settlement of Serbian refugees, v. a. from Krajina and West Bosnia (1995). In the Dayton Agreement (November 21, 1995), Banja Luka was awarded to the Bosnian Serbs.
Sarajevo
Sarajevo, capital of the state and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with (2013) around 350,000 residents. The city has a university and an Islamic college. Numerous mosques, bazaars and narrow streets give the city an oriental character.
Sarajevo was first mentioned in 1415. The murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in what was then the Austrian city triggered the First World War. In the Yugoslav civil war 1992–95, Sarajevo was besieged by Serbian troops and suffered severe damage from fire.
