PRESS RELEASE
IFIMES directors delivered a lecture to foreign military attachés
LJUBLJANA/ROGLA, 29 January 2014 – At the invitation of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, directors of the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana Zijad Bećirović and Bakhtyar Aljaf today delivered a lecture to accredited resident and non-resident foreign military attachés in the Republic of Slovenia.
Director Bećirović presented current events in the Balkan region with a special emphasis on the balance of military power established between individual states in the region. He devoted special attention to the initiatives for demilitarisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Following the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Dayton in 1995, arms control was put in place in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region of South-East Europe, which represents an important factor of stability and mutual trust. The aim of the Agreement was to establish a balance between armed forces of Parties to the Agreement, defining numerous limitations for five categories of conventional armaments: battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, artillery of calibre 75 mm and more, combat aircraft and attack helicopters. Any imbalance in arms and means of combat would be contrary to the provisions of the Agreement and represent a latent threat to peace and stability in the region.
Director Aljaf presented the situation in the Middle East. His lecture was dedicated to security and defence issues in the Middle East and the broader region where the situation is highly unstable due to political crisis in Egypt, the war in Syria and the nuclear programme in Iran. Although certain positive steps have been made, such as the Geneva Agreement between US and Iran, numerous security issues still remain open.
After the lecture IFIMES directors had a dinner with the military attachés and representatives of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia.
Ljubljana, 29 January 2014
