HDZ's Falsification of the Role of HVO Sarajevo: Revisionists Key Obstructionists for Building a Monument

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Association of Independent Intellectuals „Krug 99“, the Croatian National Council of BiH and the Association of Organizers of Resistance, Retired and Demobilized Veterans of HVO Sarajevo issued a joint press release regarding historical revisionism and the falsification of the role of HVO Sarajevo.

- It is a historically indisputable fact that, in accordance with the decisions of the authorities of the internationally recognized Republic of BiH, on May 29, 1992, the indigenous HVO Sarajevo was founded in Sarajevo, headed by President Prof. Dr. Marinko Pejić. HVO Sarajevo, which included, in addition to Croats, a significant number of Bosniaks, Serbs and members of other peoples, immediately became involved in the defense of the city of Sarajevo and the unified and integral homeland of BiH.

Logic itself warns that the anniversary of the HVO brigade „Kralj Tvrtko“, which was formed in December 1992, cannot be celebrated on May 29, that is, on the day when the authentic HVO Sarajevo was founded in wartime Sarajevo in 1992.

Therefore, on May 29, 1992, the HVO brigade „Kralj Tvrtko“ did not exist at all – it is stated, among other things.

Incidentally, the President of the Federation of BiH, Marinko Čavara, and a high delegation of HDZ BiH also participated in that anniversary. Then we heard Čavara say that everyone defended Sarajevo and that it belongs to everyone, and no one has the right to manage this city in such a way that does not allow the construction of a memorial to members of the HVO.

- Despite the fact that this year as well, a ceremonial academy was held in memory of fallen veterans and May 29 was marked as the day of the founding of the authentic HVO Sarajevo, on May 29, next to the Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity in Malta, organized by Herzeg-Bosnia spokespersons, the 26th anniversary of the HVO brigade „Kralj Tvrtko“ Sarajevo was commemorated, along with the laying of wreaths for fallen HVO fighters.

It is indisputable that holding the second gathering on the same day aims to revise the war past of BiH and Sarajevo, manipulate public opinion, and falsify historical facts.

Therefore, the lamentations expressed that day sound hypocritical, such as the alleged „disappointment that this city of Sarajevo, which presents itself as some universal city, is not able to approve a location to build a monument to the veterans who defended this city“ and that those „who manage this city do not allow a monument to be made for HVO veterans, while they enjoy the fruits of their struggle, their sacrifice“. The truth, however, is the opposite.
 
It is precisely these revisionists who are the key obstructionists and bearers of misconceptions among those institutions in Sarajevo that have already expressed readiness for the construction of a memorial, but in the symbolic sense of all fallen veterans of HVO Sarajevo, both Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, and all confessions. Because the 109 fallen members did not fight under the banner of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, nor is a religious facility in the municipality of Novo Sarajevo an appropriate place for the construction of a monument to the Defense-Liberation War in BiH.

These are, in fact, persistent attempts to strip the legitimizing foundation and historical basis of HVO Sarajevo, misinterpret its symbolism, and erase the names of its founders, who did not support the policy of „Herzeg-Bosnia“.

Historical revisionism has become one of the key mechanisms for building a „new“ collective „memory“ but also for projecting the future, this time focused precisely on Sarajevo. Through the planned falsification of historical facts, the aim is to deny the patriotic/Bosnian-Herzegovinian orientation of the indigenous Sarajevo HVO, that is, its incorporation into the HDZ's ideological framework and historical context – the statement says.