KONAKOVIĆ ENGAGES IN MOBBING AND DISCRIMINATION IN THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, DECEMBER 7 /SRNA/ – Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers, is engaging in mobbing and discrimination by challenging the observance of Serb religious holidays and appears to be attempting to steer his policies toward full radicalization, said Milorad Kojić, SNSD deputy of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.

Kojić emphasized that as a high-ranking politician, Konaković should be reducing such forms of discrimination and ensuring they do not occur, but instead, he is doing the opposite, even fueling them. “In this situation, we see that discrimination against Serbs, similar to that of the 1990s when they were even brutally killed in Sarajevo, today occurs in a different form,” Kojić told SRNA. He added that the 1990s discrimination was based on religious and national grounds, and that today Konaković appears to challenge the rights of Serbs employed in the ministry on religious and national grounds, particularly regarding their right to compensation when observing religious holidays. Kojić questioned how the EU and individual embassies in BiH will react, and whether they will respond at all to the discrimination Serbs in Sarajevo have been experiencing for over 30 years. “Most likely, the response will be sporadic or silent, which should not be the case. Given his position, this should, in some way, be sanctioned,” Kojić stressed. Earlier today, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Staša Košarac stated that Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković had decided to challenge the observance of Serb religious holidays in the ministry, effectively denying employees their right to compensation. “We are informed about these occurrences in BiH institutions. It is unacceptable for the Serb people to be denied these rights,” Košarac emphasized.