Čović and HDZ do not renounce the politics of the '90s when war crimes were committed

The citizens' association "Zašto ne" published an open letter regarding the welcome of war criminal Dario Kordić in Busovača, which was attended by Dragan Čović, leader of HDZ, and other party leadership members. The Patria agency transmits the letter in full:

„Believing that the foundation of peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the process of confronting the past and condemning crimes, and that constant vigilance and readiness to fight against ideologies and policies responsible for a hundred thousand dead and a million displaced is the responsibility of all of us, we wish to draw attention to the behavior of the top leadership of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose leaders attended the welcome of convicted war criminal Dario Kordić in Zagreb and Busovača.

By acting in this way, the top leadership of HDZ BiH has confirmed that they are not ready to renounce the political and military leadership that was connected to this party in the 1990s, and for whom responsibility for committed war crimes has been established.

Furthermore, we wish to emphasize that there is clear responsibility of the HDZ BiH leadership for creating an atmosphere in which the physical attack on Professor Slavko Kukić occurred, precisely because of the critical views that Professor Kukić expressed regarding the actions of Dragan Čović and his support for Kordić at the gathering in Busovača.

Such actions are not in accordance with basic civilizational norms, nor with the ideas shared by political movements with a European perspective. Bearing this in mind, we demand that political parties within the European People's Party initiate proceedings for the exclusion of the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH from the structures of the EPP.

We demand that foundations and networks that in any way support the work of HDZ BiH publicly declare their position on this action by Dragan Čović and other high officials of HDZ BiH, and that, if they do not agree with the positions he has taken, they adequately sanction the political party he leads and withhold support until it implements internal party reforms that will show a clear change of course towards one that corresponds to civilizational and civic values of integration, respect for diversity, non-discrimination, and protection of human rights of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and indeed of all Europe.

We consider that distancing and withdrawing support from individuals responsible for war crimes is an indicator of the basic minimum of civilizational values that such a change of course should bring“ – the letter states.

Support for this letter was given by 157 individuals from various spheres of cultural, public and political life, reports NAP. Some of them are Aleksandar Hemon, Marko Attila Hoare, Emir Suljagić, Miljenko Jergović, Melina Kamerić, Srđan Vuletić and others.