“Quiet war waged against Bosniaks”

The chief mufti of the Islamic Community in Serbia says “the regime” in Belgrade is involved in a low-key “war against Bosniaks”. “A war is being waged in kid gloves against the Islamic Community and the International University in Novi Pazar,” said Muamer Zukorlic, who heads of the rival Islamic communities in Serbia, the other being the Islamic Community of Serbia. “Quiet war waged against Bosniaks” He told Belgrade daily Danas that the awarding of creditials to this university had been delayed, “while in parallel there is unusual promotion of the state university”. Zukorlic said that he expected Serbia's leaders to “stop treating Bosniaks as a factor of danger for the state, and stop constantly seeking interlocutors among those Bosniaks who would harmonize their rhetoric with the will and interests of the representatives of the government in Belgrade”. “We are asking for the state to accept Bosniaks as a positive resource and a factor of stability in a very important corner of that state,” he said, in reference to the region of Sandzak. “If representatives of the government at last decide to accept Bosniaks as equal and talk to their representatives about open issues, there will be no need for some new big moves from our side.” Zukorlic, who is running on the Bosniak Cultural Community ticket in the forthcoming Bosniak National Council elections, said he would not have dcontemplate such a move “if we lived in normal and stable times, space and system”. “This step confirms that the Islamic Community (in Serbia), the rights of its members and the identity of Bosniaks are endangered,” he continued. The mufti also stated that his participation in the election “can represent a problem for some citizens gathered around the political option of Rasim Ljajic, and exclusively through calculation of interests”. Zukorlic asked Ljajic and another Sandzak Muslim politician, and fellow government minister, Sulejman Ugljanin, “not to touch the basic values of the Islamic Community (in Serbia) and to respect its autonomy”, adding that Ugljanin “has gone too far”, but that Ljajic “could get out”, if his party were to support Zukorlic's list in the Council vote. However, Ljajic's SDP today announced that they would be backing the Bosniak Revival list. Zukorlic also referred to Boris Tadic as his “former friend”, saying that the president has “fallen under the influence of his advisors, who advised him poorly that a mufti with an Islamic Community and a university represents potential threat to Serbia”. Muamer Zukorlic (Beta, file)

“Quiet war waged against Bosniaks”

He told Belgrade daily Danas that the awarding of creditials to this university had been delayed, “while in parallel there is unusual promotion of the state university”.

Zukorlić said that he expected Serbia's leaders to “stop treating Bosniaks as a factor of danger for the state, and stop constantly seeking interlocutors among those Bosniaks who would harmonize their rhetoric with the will and interests of the representatives of the government in Belgrade”.

“We are asking for the state to accept Bosniaks as a positive resource and a factor of stability in a very important corner of that state,” he said, in reference to the region of Sandžak.

“If representatives of the government at last decide to accept Bosniaks as equal and talk to their representatives about open issues, there will be no need for some new big moves from our side.”

Zukorlić, who is running on the Bosniak Cultural Community ticket in the forthcoming Bosniak National Council elections, said he would not have dcontemplate such a move “if we lived in normal and stable times, space and system”.

“This step confirms that the Islamic Community (in Serbia), the rights of its members and the identity of Bosniaks are endangered,” he continued.

The mufti also stated that his participation in the election “can represent a problem for some citizens gathered around the political option of Rasim Ljajić, and exclusively through calculation of interests”.

Zukorlić asked Ljajić and another Sandžak Muslim politician, and fellow government minister, Sulejman Ugljanin, “not to touch the basic values of the Islamic Community (in Serbia) and to respect its autonomy”, adding that Ugljanin “has gone too far”, but that Ljajić “could get out”, if his party were to support Zukorlić's list in the Council vote.

However, Ljajić's SDP today announced that they would be backing the Bosniak Revival list.

Zukorlić also referred to Boris Tadić as his “former friend”, saying that the president has “fallen under the influence of his advisors, who advised him poorly that a mufti with an Islamic Community and a university represents potential threat to Serbia”.