INITIATIVE TO CHANGE NAMES OF SARAJEVO STREETS NAMED AFTER WAR CRIMINALS SOON

SARAJEVO, MARCH 31 /SRNA/ – The Committee protecting Serbs' rights in the FBiH will launch an initiative to change the names of Sarajevo streets named after individuals associated with the Nazi regime and antisemitism, which insults Serb and Jewish victims.

The Committee's chair, Đorđe Radanović, told SRNA they will request changes to the names of streets named after individuals who, during the Second World War, were connected with the structures and policies of Nazi Germany and who were convicted after the war for collaboration with the occupiers. Radanović stated that the cantonal level can initiate the procedure, but that problems may arise at the municipal level. He said that the names of 152 streets in Sarajevo have been changed, and that streets bearing Serb names were renamed even in neighbourhoods with no Muslims or Croats population at all. "Only five or six streets in the entire Sarajevo Canton bear the name of a Serb," Radanović pointed out. He recalled that in 2019 the Committee held a meeting at the US Embassy in Sarajevo on this issue and that absolute support was expressed for the initiative to change the disputed street names. "At that time, before the administration of US President Joseph Biden, a good relationship toward Christianity had begun," Radanović said. He has also recalled there are streets in Sarajevo named after Husein effendi Đozo, Muhamed effendi Pandža, and Osman effendi Rastoder, who were convicted war criminals.