FORTERESSE DE VELIKA KLADUŠA

This fortress (Velikokladuška Tvrđava) looks almost unreal as it resembles a set for a cloak-and-dagger film. It dominates the town of Velika Kladuša (5,000 inhabitants, 81% Bosniaks), 2 km south of the Maljevac border crossing with Croatia. Built in the 13th century and extensively modified by the Ottomans, it is one of the few circular fortresses in the country. Defended by three towers and a central keep, it was captured in 1835 by the Austro-Hungarians after an attempted Ottoman invasion of Croatia. More recently, from 1993 to 1995, it was the seat of the strange little Republic of Western Bosnia. This self-proclaimed independent entity of 176 square kilometres, populated mostly by Bosnians, allied itself with the Serbian Republic of Krajina in Croatia and with the Croatian state, and fought the Bosnian army for three years. Its leader, Fikret Abdić (born 1939), formerly director of Agrokomerc, a large local food factory, was convicted of war crimes by the Croatian justice system in 2002. He was held responsible for the deaths of 121 Bosnian civilians, but served only ten years in prison. Elected mayor of Velika Kladuša in 2016 and implicated in several corruption cases, we can blame him for having recently closed the fortress and the hotel-restaurant it housed. Until the reopening, we must be content to admire it from the cafe-restaurant Medjan located next door.