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BLOODY TRADITION
Mar. 17, 2003
By Srdja Trifkovic
The assassination of Serbia's powerful prime minister Zoran Djindjic
outside the main government building in Belgrade last week is an event
of tectonic magnitude, even in a country that has seen more than a fair
share of crises, wars and violence over the past decade and a half.
The sudden death of indisputably the most powerful man in Serbia creates
a power vacuum unlikely to be resolved swiftly or smoothly.
Djindjic was known to his rivals as the "little Sloba" -
an allusion to his political style, similar to that of the former, now
disgraced Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. He recognized power as
the only currency of politics. Nominally a "pro-Western reformist"
and a "democrat," in pursuit of power he was prepared to disregard
constitutional and legal niceties.
Djindjic's political credo was aptly summarized in his message to a
long-time colleague and later foe, Dragoljub Micunovic, whom he replaced
as the leader of the Democratic Party eight years ago: "If you
want immortality, go to church, not into politics."
His flamboyant style and lack of scruples gave him the edge over his
long-time rival and former federal president Vojislav Kostunica. The
latter's meticulous legalism proved to be - for the time being, anyway
- his political undoing. Last month's transformation of Yugoslavia into
a loose union of its last two remaining republics, Serbia and Montenegro,
was widely seen as Dindjic's victory because it led to Kostunica's removal
from office.
Only months earlier, Serbia's failed presidential election was a boon
to Djindjic: The clear winner was Kostunica, but fewer than 50 percent
of voters went to the polls, and the result was accordingly voided.
(Djindjic deliberately engineered the outcome by refusing to remove
an old 50 percent rule from the statute book.) The resulting constitutional
imbroglio enabled Djindjic to continue running the government by default
and to keep postponing the country's long-overdue general election.
By creating an inherently unstable situation in which he could run
Serbia free from institutional checks and balances, Djindjic made the
task of rebuilding stability in the aftermath of his sudden disappearance
from the scene that much more difficult.
The military, to take one example, is widely expected to play an important
role in the present state of emergency - especially since the record
of the police in dealing with political murders is poor - but its top
brass are demoralized and demotivated. Furthermore, it is commanded
by the supreme defense council of Serbia and Montenegro, a body currently
controlled by the Montenegrin separatists from the Party of Democratic
Socialists, which creates a potentially fatal disconnect between the
Army's supposed stabilizing role and its political masters. They may
have a very different agenda of their own.
The immediate question, who pulled the trigger and why, is unlikely
to be resolved any time soon. Belgrade has seen a host of political
murders in recent years, including that of Ivan Stambolic, Milosevic's
predecessor in the post of Serbian president; federal defense minister
Pavle Bulatovic; and top policeman "Badza" Stojicic.
Violent death is something of a tradition among Serbian leaders, including
the legendary leader of its uprising against the Turks, "Black
George" Petrovic (1817), Prince Michael Obrenovic (1867), King
Alexander Obrenovic (1903), King Alexander Karadjordjevic (1934), and
the aforementioned Stambolic.
Some were luckier, but not much: Prince Milos Obrenovic was exiled
in 1842, Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic was deposed and exiled in 1858,
King Milan Obrenovic was deposed and exiled in 1889, and the last King,
Peter II, died in exile during Tito's rule. Two of Serbia's recent presidents,
Slobodan Milosevic and Milan Milutinovic, are incarcerated at The Hague.
Whoever succeeds Djindjic is well advised to keep his or her life insurance
policy well endowed and up to date.
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