IZ in BiH tells HNS: You are provoking with 'Islamic terrorism'

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through its Public Relations Office, reacted to the statement of the citizens' association "Croatian National Assembly" which attempts to link the terrorist attacks in France with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The statement says that it is difficult to find a reasonable explanation for such constructions and that the HNS statement actually reveals the true intentions of the bearers of retrograde and anti-European policies in these regions, and that the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot overlook them lightly.

"Those who have uttered these slanders against our faith and people should know that we have heard them," the statement from the Public Relations Office reads, adding:

"Any form of generalization is unacceptable, as are unsuccessful attempts to rewrite history and truths about the character of the war in former Yugoslavia established before international courts. Bosniaks have no need to prove their Europeanism to anyone, nor their relationship to Islam. As Bosniaks and as Muslims, they are a self-aware people, and no one, neither from the West nor from the East, will teach them European or Islamic values.

We understand the use of the phrase 'Islamic terrorism' in the HNS statement as a deliberate provocation. Because, as Pope Francis also stated on this occasion, it is unacceptable to link Islam or any religion with violence or with the actions of a small group of extremists. The problem of terrorism and violent extremism is a global challenge, and no state or society has been spared from its evil. The best proof of this is the recent terrorist attack in Zagreb.

Muslims are the biggest victims of global terrorism, and therefore the Islamic Community will fight against all forms of extremism in the hope that forces that do not promote mistrust, conflict, and hatred will prevail in other religious and national groups as well," the statement from the Public Relations Office of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina concludes.