On Thursday, the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Sefik Dzaferovic, went to pay tribute to the victims of Vukovar on the 30th anniversary of the suffering of that Croatian city. Dzaferovic’s move, although welcomed in Croatia, greatly disturbed some centers of power in our country.
Change of Dzaferovic’s symbolic paradigm and interethnic relations in the region, especially in recent years, was obviously a thorn in the side for some domestic “opinion makers” or their party bosses for whom warming relations between Bosniaks and Croats is neither desirable nor acceptable.
The false context that Dzaferovic was “brought” to Vukovar by Plenkovic‘s government was staged quickly, and Vecernji list went so far that only an hour or two later they asked the Prime Minister’s Office to comment on how someone obviously undesirable to structures in Mostar appeared in the Vukovar column.
“Neither the Prime Minister nor anyone from the Government invited Mr. Dzaferovic to the 30th anniversary – the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Vukovar. Anyone could come to Vukovar and the Column of Remembrance and express respect for the victims,” pointed out Marko Milic, spokesman for the Croatian government.
A series of texts and reactions followed, and a member of the BiH Presidency was reprimanded for a statement made only a day earlier in Jablanica, while marking the anniversary of the formation of the Fourth Corps of the Republic of BiH (RBiH)Army, where Dzaferovic said there were no mass graves and camps behind the Army.
Regardless of what they thought about that statement, knowing that he had stated something like that before, it is quite clear that it was not the cause of the attack on his presence in Vukovar. The main “problem” probably lies in creating a different narrative that could lead to solving problems that are not directly related to the events of the 1990s.
Apart from the media and comments on social networks, the Croatian Association of Detainees in BiH also announced that the participation of the member of the Presidency of BiH from the ranks of the Bosniak people, Sefik Dzaferovic, in the Column of Remembrance in Vukovar was hypocritical.
“Dzaferovic had the audacity to go to Vukovar only a day after he denied the crimes of the Bosniak Army of RBiH against the Croats of BiH. As members of the Croatian Association of Homeland War Detainees in BiH, we strongly condemn the hypocritical and evil statement of the first Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, ” it was announced.
Relations between Bosniaks and Croats in past years and months have reached the highest negative levels in two decades and attempts to resolve the Gordian knot by amending the Election Law obviously make some people in the country nervous. Also, there are other topics that make Dzaferovic‘s move problematic for those to whom the established paradigm suits and for those who fear that there is the potential for better relations between Zagreb and Sarajevo even without the HDZ and Dragan Covic.
E.Dz.
Photo: bljesak.info
Source: Klix.ba
