KOVAČ: KONAKOVIĆ DISCREDITS BIH AND THE BOSNIAK PEOPLE

BELGRADE, December 2 /SRNA/ - Mitar Kovač, Director of the Euro-Asian Security Forum, stated that the positions expressed by Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Council of Ministers, serve to discredit both BiH and the Bosniak people.

Commenting on Konaković's claim that he sees no reason to apologize for the shameful insults, banners, and jeering during the Serbian national anthem at the Bosnia and Herzegovina-Serbia basketball game in Sarajevo, Kovač told SRNA that it is "regrettable that individuals such as Konaković occupy top positions within the Bosniak political scene and formally represent the Bosniak people." He stressed that the majority of Bosniaks do not share Konaković's views. "Only extremist circles agree with him - circles that would, without hesitation, erase both the Serbian and Croatian peoples," Kovač said. According to him, these groups treat BiH as their exclusive domain and refuse to acknowledge their own responsibility for the events of the civil war, shifting blame entirely onto others. "The facts do not support such narratives, and I hope that politicians of this kind will eventually disappear from the political scene. Above all, they are harming the Bosniak people," Kovač noted. He emphasized that politicians like Konaković make the Bosniak people appear non-credible and incapable of dialogue in the eyes of others. "They only reinforce chauvinism and even neo-Nazi tendencies within certain circles-tendencies that will not prevail among the Bosniak people nor gain majority support," Kovač said. He added that he believes Konaković's statements will meet condemnation not only from Serbs in the region but also from other states, nations, and political parties across Europe. Kovač stressed that representatives of the Serbian people must fully understand messages like those sent by Konaković-messages that shift the entire responsibility for the civil war onto Serbs and demand apologies. "Such statements are improper and dishonorable. Serbian representatives must therefore be very careful about whom they choose to make political agreements with in the future," he concluded. Konaković recently stated that he sees no need to apologize for the shameful insults, banners, and jeering during the playing of the Serbian national anthem at the basketball game in Sarajevo, adding that Serbia and Serbs cannot expect an apology until their representatives meet a number of conditions.