MUFTI MUAMER ef. ZUKORLIC REJECTS BELGRADE'S DECLARATION ON SREBRENICA

"WE WON'T ACCEPT THE SREBRENICA DECLARATION WITHOUT THE WORD GENOCIDE"

Head of the Islamic Community in Serbia warned Belgrade that Bosniaks will never accept Serbian apology unless the word Genocide is used in the Parliamentary declaration on Srebrenica.

The Mesihat [head office] of the Islamic Community of Serbia organized a four-day event entitled "Days of Unity of the Islamic community" and reminded Muslims that religious unity is not enough. He urged Bosniak political parties to work for the benefit of a national interest:

"In addition to religious you also need a national unity. What we expect to happen in the upcoming elections is a great opportunity for the Bosniak National Council. Not the only opportunity, to be precise, but a huge chance for realization of a full national unity," said Mufti Muamer-ef. Zukorlic, head of Islamic Community in Serbia. "You have a right to your personal interest, and political interest, but you have no right to betray a national and religious interest for the purpose of gaining political and personal interest."

Mufti Zukorlic warned that the only connection Bosniaks in Serbia have with Belgrade is Genocide:

"Belgrade as a symbol of authority must know that between 'us' - who represent the Bosniak national corpus - and 'them', there is something called GE-NO-CIDE. Something very large and it is called Genocide - something that happened eleven times in the past, the last time in Srebrenica... they committed eleven genocides against us."

Mufti reminded that Belgrade will never gain any support from the Bosniak people in Sanjak, regardless of Serbia's success in splitting the Islamic community into two camps - one controlled by Belgrade, and one democratically elected by its people.

"We want to see what capacity of a national unity we have. Is it possible to achieve national unity under the flag of some party? Let me ask those politicians - and they would say it is not possible... In our overall national friction, there are two flags: one is in Belgrade and one is here [in Sanjak], in the national sense, in the hands of the Bosniak cultural community. And our people are gathered around these two camps. But, I think that Belgrade's camp does not stand any chance. They simply cannot gain support from the Bosniak people in Sanjak. That's not natural."

Mufti sent a loud and clear message to Belgrade that Bosniak community will not accept any Parliamentary Declaration on Srebrenica without the use of proper terminology:

"Let Belgrade prove to us whether they can remove this barrier between us - the barrier called Genocide. How can Belgrade do it? First method is declarative, and the second is practical. The declarative method is the adoption of declaration against the Genocide. God willing. But, if they remove one letter from the word Genocide, let them know we won't accept the Srebrenica Declaration without the word Genocide... Why? If you pay attention, you will notice them saying that the term Genocide does not matter, a crime is a crime. Well, if they don't mind, then use the proper term Genocide. Then, what is the problem? They don't care, and we do care. We want them to use the term Genocide... They are insulting the basics of human intelligence. And that's the insult to the human dignity."

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Full article is available in Bosnian language by visiting the official web site of the Mesihat of Islamic Community of Serbia.