Trebinje - A Dalmatian Jewel

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   TREBINJE, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Trebinje is, without any doubt, one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The old town, just a few minutes from the Montenegrin border, is one of
only a handful of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Dalmatian
architecture - most of the others, like Mostar, a bit of a stretch
being considered as such.

Trebinje was founded during the Roman Empire and was on the main road
linking Dubrovnik with Montenegro, Greece. and Constantinople. The city
was built in the same style as other Dalmatian towns with beautiful
Venetian and Dalmatian architecture and inviting, honey-colored Roman
Catholic cathedrals.

Unlike the rest of Dalmatia, however, Trebinje has for the vast
majority of its history been a predominantly Orthodox Christian town.

Before Yugoslavia collapsed, Trebinje was 53 per cent Eastern Orthodox
and 35 per cent Muslim, with sizable Roman Catholic and Jewish
minorities. The city's mosques were destroyed at the beginning of the
war and the Muslim population exiled or killed. Roman Catholics fared
better until the Croatian Army ended the Serbian siege of Mostar and
exiled the city's 15,000 Serbs, at which point reprisal attacks on
Roman Catholics in Trebinje claimed many historic buildings and lives,
eventually driving the rest of the population into exile.

Many of Mostar's 15,000 exiled Serbs settled in Trebinje and the
surrounding area, further consolidating the extreme, nationalist
lifestyle in the town. Many of Mostar's Serbs had helped the Croatian
Army end the Serbian siege, only to be targetted for ethnic cleansing
once they were no longer needed. Their idealism of a multi-ethnic
Bosnia and Herzegovina lost, most were passionately nationalist.

Nationalism actually took hold of the town's exiled Bosniaks and
Croats. Jasmina Hodzic, one of the first Bosniaks to return to the
town, told the press she did so just for spite and that nothing in the
world gave her more pleasure than walking around Trebinje wearing a
veil and praying loudly on the bare earth when the central mosque once
stood.

Slowly - very slowly... very, very slowly - Bosniak and Croat refugees
began to return to Trebinje. Likewise, Serb refugees began to return to
Mostar. Many, both in Trebinje and Mostar, were harassed, beaten,
raped, and even murdered - even though the was over.

Despite this, all three continue groups continued to push. Trebinje has
rebuilt much of its Ottoman-era architecture, including the beautiful
central mosque. It remains a segregated town, with Bosniaks and Croats
living on the East side of the Trebisnjica River and Serbs living on
the West side. Life has, however, been improving. Last summer,
protestors interrupted the wedding of a Serb man and a Bosniak woman at
Trebinje's town hall - spontaneously, a larger group of protestors
gathered to support the wedding.

Despite the pain of reconciliation, Trebinje is still much more of a
success story than Mostar. More than a decade after the war, the city's
Orthodox Church - the largest in Bosnia and Herzegovina - has still not
been rebuilt.

So here is a little look at one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's most beautiful, if slightly tragic cities.

"Make love not war"

Bosniak returnees celebrating: