Momir Bulatović

Momir Bulatović Момир Булатовић
1st President of the Republic of Montenegro
In office 23 December 1990 – 15 January 1998
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Milo Đukanović
3rd Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
In office 19 May 1998 – 4 November 2000
President	Slobodan Milošević Vojislav Koštunica
Preceded by	Radoje Kontić
Succeeded by	Zoran Žižić
Personal details
Born	21 September 1956 Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Montenegrin (by citizenship) Serbian (by ethnicity)
Political party	SKJ (1980s-1991) DPS (1991-1997) SNP (1997-2001) NSS (2001-2009)
Religion	Serbian Orthodoxy

Momir Bulatović (Cyrillic: Момир Булатовић) (born 21 September 1956, Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia), formerly served as a Yugoslavian and Montenegrin politician. Bulatović became federal President of Montenegro (1990–98) while Montenegro was part of a Yugoslav federation, and also Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1998–2000). He led the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS CG), successor to the League of Communists of Montenegro, from 1989-98. He lives in Belgrade.

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 didn't have enough money to send him there, so he ended up in Titograd.^[1] Upon graduating he continued as an assistant at the same university and soon earned a master's degree.

Political career

In the late 1980s Bulatović's political career surged as he campaigned alongside his ally Slobodan Milošević in a coup against the political leadership of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. Bulatović endorsed actions to protect Serbs and Montenegrins in Kosovo who claimed abuse by Albanian separatists. He advocated close alliance with Serbia due to the historic and cultural links of Montenegro to Serbia. Both he and Milošević endorsed reducing Kosovo's autonomy. In 1988, pro-Milošević supporters overthrew the Communist leadership of Montenegro and Bulatović became leader of the League of Communists of Montenegro.

In the 1990 Yugoslav Communist party's congress, Bulatović supported Milošević's agenda of changing the party's voting system to a one-member-one-vote system which would give a numerical majority to Serbs. Montenegro also supported Serbia in opposing all reforms proposed by Slovenia that were deemed to be intended to devolve power to the republics. The Slovenian and Croatian communist factions abdicated the party in what they saw as an attempt by Milošević to create Serb hegemony in the party. The League of Communists collapsed, Bulatović followed the political changes in the other republics and made Montenegro a multi-party democracy and formed the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro with ex-Communists.

Bulatović served as the president of Montenegro from 23 December 1990 until 15 January 1998. During his tenure, he supported the policies of Milošević of regaining of Serb territories from the separating republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. During the Croatian War, his government endorsed the annexation of Dubrovnik to Montenegro, claiming that it was historically linked to Montenegro.^[2]

He lost presidential elections in Montenegro in October 1997 to former ally, Prime Minister Milo Đukanović, who removed him from the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS CG). A large faction left the DPS CG with Bulatović to form the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (SNP CG). At first they both were strong supporters of Slobodan Milošević but while Đukanović began to criticise Milošević, Bulatović continued supporting him, and was appointed to be federal Prime Minister by Milošević on 18 May 1998, to replace Radoje Kontić. He resigned on 9 October 2000, shortly after Milošević was ousted. Bulatović wrote a memoir called The Rules of Keeping Silent in which he criticises his former allies, including the final president of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marović. After the fall of Milošević in 2000, Predrag Bulatović took over the leadership of the SNP CG and democratised it. Bulatović led a faction away from the SNP CG, forming a new party called the People's Socialist Party of Montenegro.

References

1. Bulatovic @ Balkanskom ulicom; RTS, 28 March 2010
2. The 1991 Siege of Dubrovnik and the Consequences of the “War for Peace”, yorku.ca; retrieved 31 January 2014.