DODIK: ČOVIĆ'S PHOTO WITH THOMPSON NOT HARMLESS, BUT PART OF USTASHA REHABILITATION TREND

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 19 /SRNA/ – A photograph of Dragan Čović with Marko Perković Thompson is not a harmless entertainment moment but a continuation of the dangerous rehabilitation of the Ustasha ideology and an attempt to dress it in so-called "European values," SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said.

Dodik stated that Thompson embodies neo-Ustasha ideology and promotes policies under which 800,000 Serbs were killed in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/, including 500,000 in the Jasenovac concentration camp, adding that any of his appearances among Serbs causes distress and rejection. If European values mean relativizing Nazi and Ustasha crimes, Dodik stressed, then it amounts to political and historical "Sodom and Gomorrah," with which Republika Srpska wants nothing to do. He noted that many EU countries have banned Thompson’s concerts, and that even performances in his home country create fear among the small number of Serbs who remain there. Dodik said Thompson's recent performance in BiH further raised tensions and deepened divisions and misunderstanding. "Anyone who takes photos, sings, or attends concerts of Ustasha apologists insults the victims of World War II – above all the Serbian and Jewish people, who were among the greatest sufferers in the criminal NDH," Dodik said. According to him, relativizing crimes and promoting Ustasha ideology is not only historical revisionism but an act of open hostility toward Republika Srpska, the existence of which is inseparably linked to the anti-fascist struggle and remembrance of innocent victims. “If it is possible to promote Ustasha ideology under the European flag or with Europe’s silence, then Republika Srpska has every right to build its autonomy on a clear rejection of being part of such a society and such values,” Dodik wrote on X. Controversial Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson held a concert in Široki Brijeg on Friday, February 13, performing the song "Bojna Čavoglave" accompanied by the Ustasha salute "Za dom spremni," which the audience chanted in unison. The performance featured iconography and symbols of the notorious Independent State of Croatia, as well as references to the wars of the 1990s.