Momir Bulatović

Momir Bulatović (; 21 September 1956 – 30 June 2019) was a Yugoslav and Montenegrin politician. He was the first president of the Republic of Montenegro 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 was overthrown. He was a leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro 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 in the siege of Dubrovnik as well as in the Bosnian War. According to Florence Hartmann, Bulatović was subject to an investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but was not charged. He was a defense witness in the trials of Slobodan Milošević, Radovan Karadžić, and Nikola Šainović at the ICTY.

Early life

Bulatović was born in Belgrade as the son of a Yugoslav People's Army (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. When Momir was five years old, the family moved to Zadar 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'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. According to testimony by Nikola Samardžić to the ICTY, a member of Bulatović's cabinet, Bulatović promised Carrington that Dubrovnik would not be attacked. 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 invited Carrington and representatives from Yugoslavia to negotiate a peace accord known as the Carrington plan on 19 October 1991, in The Hague. 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. 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 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. 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 (JNA). 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 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. 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 party split had enormous implications, making a political confrontation between Đukanović and Bulatović inevitable. This manifested in the 1997 Montenegrin presidential election held in October, which Đukanović won by a thin margin. Although the OSCE 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. 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. A close associate, Milan Knežević, said the former president apparently suffered a heart attack. Others, including some prosecutors at the ICTY, saw him as one of Milošević's partners in crime in the 1990s wars in Yugoslavia.