WHY HAVEN’T DIPLOMATS AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVES VISITED THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH IN TUZLA?

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, OCTOBER 3 /SRNA/ - None of the numerous diplomats and international representatives in BiH deemed it appropriate to visit the clergy of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God in Tuzla after they received morbid threatening messages.

Their absence at the sites of attacks on Orthodox churches, the clergy, and the Serb people speaks louder than any dry, formal statements of alleged condemnation of the threats, something that a normal human mind can hardly comprehend. Hypocrisy and double standards have become the hallmark of Western diplomats and their envoys in Sarajevo. While visits, meetings, and media appearances are promptly organized for every alleged incident involving other religious communities, there is silence whenever Orthodox believers are threatened. That silence is the loudest and most shameful, as it once again reveals that, for them, equal rights for all do not exist, despite their constant rhetoric, but rather a division into "desirable" and "undesirable" attacks, "white" and "black" scarves, "desirable" and "undesirable" victims. Their indifference to threats against Orthodox clergy is not accidental; it is a continuation of the policy of neglecting and silencing Serbs. This shows that no one from the international community dares to speak the truth and see the real situation in BiH. Radical Islam has penetrated all layers of BiH society, and it is now difficult to eradicate, especially when we have such biased diplomats and representatives of international organizations in Sarajevo, who long ago ceased to be neutral mediators and now openly act as political allies of Bosniak parties. Their bias is evident - while they respond to every decision of Republika Srpska’s institutions with the harshest condemnations, in situations like this, or in the face of blatant violations of the Dayton Agreement and unilateral moves from Sarajevo, they remain silent or even support them. Such behavior is not only unjust but also dangerous, as it undermines the little trust that remains in BiH. The people of Republika Srpska can clearly see that this is not about justice or international law. Those words have long lost all meaning in this region. Here, it is about the political interests of certain centers of power, such as Brussels, London, and Berlin… If they want to present themselves as a factor of stability, they must stop the obvious favoritism toward one side, which is, of course, the Bosniak side, and begin respecting the equality of the three peoples and the two entities. An attack on Serbian churches or clergy is an attack on the entire Serb people and, according to the Dayton Agreement and the Constitution of BiH, an attack on a constituent people whom some persistently seek to reduce to the status of a national minority. Dževad Hasić, previously known for threats and vandalistic intrusions into Orthodox churches, sent a threatening letter from Tuzla prison in which he announced that he would "switch the church bell to vibration." He threatened that he would "convert the priest with the vigil lamp to Islam so that the individual could recite the call to prayer five times a day with the greatest pleasure" and that he would "replace the cross with a crescent and star as in the Al-Aqsa Mosque." At the end of the letter, he also sent the greeting "Allahu Akbar," a phrase that during the previous civil war was associated with the killing, murdering, and raping of Serbs.