Without any evidence, justification, or valid arguments, from time to time, venomous arrows, ill-intentioned messages, and unfounded accusations are directed at one of the constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) from our western neighbors.
“Radicalized,” “terrorists,” “Islamists,” “first soap, then perfume”… are just some of the “epithets” used by Croatian officials, experts, and established analysts to describe their neighbors in BiH.
In the context of the cancellation of United States (U.S.) pop star Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna due to the threat of terrorist attacks, Ante Letica was introduced as an expert on security policies and a former operations leader of the Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA), spoke on a Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) program.
However, even though official Austrian authorities have stated that the individuals allegedly planning the terrorist attack have no connection to BiH, Letica made a scandalous statement.
“Europe has been facing, for some time now, its citizens who are second or third-generation citizens of Arab, Muslim, or Bosniak origin, if you will, who have radicalized and are more radical than their teachers,” said Ante Letica.
It would be good if Letica would prove this claim with official documentation, as otherwise, it is just another empty, Islamophobic, shameful, and hostile statement against the people in a country with which Croatia shares over a thousand kilometers of border.
First, because he equates “citizens of Arab and Bosniak origin if you will” and labels them, and second, he should prove the so-called “radicalization of Bosniak citizens.”
By saying “if you will” when referring to Arabs and Bosniaks, equating them, can only be the result of ignorance or primitivism, or sheer impudence. The same applies to the “radicalization of Bosniak citizens.”
When talking about the cancellation of Taylor Swift’s concert, it is worth noting that the alleged accomplice of at least two men who planned the attack is of Croatian origin, not BiH, as confirmed by Austrian authorities.
And when discussing the current situation in Croatia, it should be mentioned that two nights ago, thousands of people in Imotski once again glorified the Ustase, the Ustase movement, raised their right arms, and chanted greetings that, for example, are banned in Germany.
For Letica, this is probably not the radicalization of Croatian citizens. Songs dedicated to the commanders of the infamous Ustase Black Legion, Jure Francetic and Rafael Boban, might be “patriotic,” as is the song “Boj se bije, bije, ustaski se barjak vije” (“The battle is being fought, Ustase flag is fluttering”).
Perhaps it is also patriotic to welcome convicted war criminals, glorify them, celebrate a para-state creation, break up the state, and insult neighbors…
This statement by Letica, and on HRT no less, is as unfounded and offensive as the one made by former Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic in 2016, when she, unprovoked, said that “thousands of fighters” were returning to BiH from the so-called Islamic State and that BiH “has 10.000 Islamist terrorists.”
Croatia’s policy towards BiH is often anything but neighborly. Why is there a need to invent the radicalization of a part of the population of BiH, Bosniaks, and Muslims who have been part of Europe for centuries and who, even in the most difficult moments, have shown that they are civilization-wise above many who today proudly beat their chests as Europeans?
It is also known that a former SOA collaborator confessed that he was asked to transfer weapons to the Stranjani mosque near Zenica.
It should be emphasized that this is also a major failure of HRT, which should take care of its speakers and guests, especially since Bosniaks, whom Letica accuses, make up a national minority in the Republic of Croatia, Klix.ba writes.
