BJEGOVIĆ: BRČKO EXTREMISM FUELED BY HATE SPEECH SPREAD BY POLITICAL SARAJEVO

BELGRADE, MARCH 27 /SRNA/ - The fact that extremist Bosniaks, waving the wartime flags of the so-called Army of BiH and firing automatic weapons in Brčko, celebrated the victory of the BiH football team over Wales is a direct consequence of the hate speech continuously spread by political Sarajevo, which was further fueled by the statement recently signed by their political and religious leaders, Professor of Security Miroslav Bjegović told SRNA.

He said that those among the Bosniak people who maintain narratives about their dominance and a so-called unitary BiH instead of promoting coexistence and reconciliation with Serbs and Croats should first condemn last night’s disorderly conduct in Brčko, the recent graffiti “Death to Serbs, Bosnia to Bosniaks” in Pazarić, as well as the daily outbursts of hatred against Serb returnees in the Federation of BiH. Bjegović says that this is very unlikely to happen because Bosniak leaders maintain their power precisely through such rhetoric. “Bakir Izetbegović, /Elmedin/ Konaković, and others remain in power by spreading nationalism, and that is how they survive. They only lead the youth toward hatred and rejection of peoples who are not like their people,” he emphasized. Bjegović said that young Bosniaks should, however, be aware that those trying to drag them into conflict would certainly avoid that conflict themselves, and this should serve as a wake-up call. He noted that Bosniak extremism in BiH should not be viewed separately from events in the Middle East and the fact that Iran has called on all Muslims worldwide to wage jihad. “We must not forget that we have their followers and like-minded individuals in the territory of BiH. We also have those, whom we call security-wise ‘sleepers,’ who came from those regions with blood on their hands and were granted citizenship,” he said. Bjegović pointed out that these individuals should have long ago been deported, and the followers of their ideologies sanctioned, but this has not happened, resulting in constant tensions. “Instead, they train at the firing ranges of the joint Armed Forces of BiH. A large part of the Bosniak population is afraid of them, but not a single word of condemnation has ever come from political Sarajevo. Their efforts are aimed at causing harm to Republika Srpska, which, as we can see by various indicators, is now growing stronger,” he said.