Bosniak intellectuals: Elections in Turkey are irrelevant to BiH!

The elections in Turkey will not affect the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in any way, according to intellectuals and university professors from Sarajevo, Šaćir Filandra and Nedžad Mulabegović, reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

- Regardless of the strong, and recently pronounced, emotional and tourist ties between BiH and Turkey, I am deeply convinced that the elections in Turkey cannot influence the political scene in BiH – says Filandra, who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo, for NAP.

The political scene in Turkey has been heated in recent weeks, even though only local elections will be held next weekend. However, it is believed that they will reveal the winners of the presidential elections in August, and the parliamentary elections next year. The impressive rally of the AK Party of current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan, held yesterday in Istanbul, which was attended by more than two million people, also attracted attention in BiH.

However, the president of the Council of Bosniak Intellectuals, Mulabegović, like Filandra, believes that the outcome of any elections in Turkey will not have a direct impact on the situation in BiH.

- It is an internal matter of that country. Turkey has two currents, one is closer to the center-left, while the other is more conservative. Regardless of the results, it should not have a reflection on the events within BiH. I don't think it will affect Turkey's role in BiH either, given that it is about foreign policy, which will not change, as it is in our interest and in the interest of Turkey's position on the international stage – says Mulabegović for NAP.

Filandra points out that Turkey has its specific problems, that it is a country in democratic transition, and that this process will be long and controversial.

- I am convinced that there can be no regression in this process of democratization of Turkish society, regardless of the pronounced tendencies such as the banning of Twitter and then its reintroduction, it is an irreversible process – adds Filandra, emphasizing that BiH and Turkey have completely different problems.

On the other hand, Mulabegović says that the frequent mention of Sarajevo, Bosniaks, and BiH in Erdoan's speeches has both an emotional-friendly dimension and a political basis, given that several million people in Turkey are originally Bosniaks or of Bosniak descent.

- I would not declare myself for or against Erdoan; for me as a Bosnian and a Bosniak, it is absolutely irrelevant – says Mulabegović for NAP.