JOVANOVIĆ: KONAKOVIĆ FIRED AT COEXISTENCE IN BiH

BELGRADE, DECEMBER 2 /SRNA/ - The Bosniak community should distance itself from the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers Elmedin Konaković, whose support for anti-Serbian chanting at the basketball match between the BiH and Serbian national teams represents an attack on coexistence and mutual respect in BiH, Serbian diplomat Vladislav Jovanović told SRNA.

Jovanović stated that Konaković is entrenched in national hatred towards Serbia and everything that is Serbian. He emphasized that people like Konaković harm relations between countries in the Balkans, as well as within BiH itself, which is multiethnic, composed of two entities, and where mutual respect, tolerance, and a culture of coexistence must be developed at a higher level for the peoples to survive together in a single state. "What he is doing is completely the opposite. It is as if he has fired a shot at any form of coexistence, tolerance, mutual respect, and acceptance of others or those who are different," said Jovanović, former Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. According to him, Konaković's statement regarding the anti-Serbian chanting at the Sarajevo match represents a moral and political decline not only for himself but also for the community he seeks to represent. Jovanović emphasizes that Konaković's behavior is provocative and that the Bosniak community he represents should distance itself from him and prevent him from once again offending Serbia, Republika Srpska, and everything that is Serbian. The Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers Elmedin Konaković stated that he will not apologize to the citizens of Serbia for the shameful chanting in Sarajevo at the basketball match between the Serbian and BiH national teams, which he said was justified.