Islamophobia as Igor Stojanović's Amoral and Political Habitus

By: Sifet Kukuruz, Legal Expert

The statement by the confirmed Islamophobe Igor Stojanović, in which he calls for someone to explain to him the patriotism of the SDA, which implies readiness to give up 78% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to establish an Islamic republic on 22% of BiH's territory, confirms the continuity of his demonization of Islam and Muslims, and consequently, of everything and everyone connected to Islam in any way.

A Pronounced Islamophobe

Igor Stojanović, now a pronounced Islamophobe, has neither the political nor the moral right to lecture anyone about the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially not to link the religion of Islam and Muslims to anti-state activities.

When Stojanović's statement is abstracted from his relationship with the SDA as a rival political entity, his Islamophobic impulse becomes clear, driving him to, on every occasion and in every way, associate the religion of Islam and Muslims with destructive, and even anti-state, processes.

In his statement, Stojanović does not say that the SDA wants to create its own state on 22% of the territory, but rather emphasizes that it is an "Islamic republic," thus wanting to portray Islam and Muslims as a factor in the disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which they have never been, nor can they be. Stojanović, as a wartime marginal figure and an "unknown hero," could have informed himself about this from Miro Lazović or Mirko Pejanović, true patriots and people who were and remain participants in the most important processes for Bosnia and Herzegovina from the declaration of its independence and international recognition to this day.

Stojanović's Islamophobic statement is simultaneously warmongering and anti-Bosniak; it aims to foster animosity towards Islam among Bosniaks, and thereby lead Bosniaks into internal divisions and sectarianism, and consequently into mutual conflicts.

Stojanović's agenda is that there must be Bosniaks who are Muslims and those who renounce or at least do not publicly express their religious identity, with the former being stigmatized in the public sphere as those prone to dividing Bosnia and Herzegovina and building some kind of Islamic republic.

For Stojanović, only a Bosniak who renounces their religious identity as a component of their national identity is acceptable. The destruction of Bosniak identity appears to be the agenda of Stojanović's post-war political activism.

It has become completely clear that Stojanović can no longer control his Islamophobic impulse. For quite some time, he has managed to do so skillfully, more or less. However, the accumulation of Islamophobic urges in Stojanović is too strong to be contained within the framework of political and moral correctness in the post-war period. Stojanović increasingly resembles a volcano spewing lava that has been accumulating within it for a long time and threatens to completely destroy everything around it.

Whether this new Islamophobic statement is a consequence of the sense of power that has developed in Stojanović due to holding the position of Vice-President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fact that some Bosniaks have shown readiness to abandon the fundamental values of the people from whom they emerged in order to gain power, or the inability to hide his deeply rooted hatred for Islam and Muslims, time will tell.

Hypocrisy and Hatred

Without delving into the political unsustainability of Stojanović's statement, which implies that the party he accuses would agree to a certain percentage of state territory to establish some kind of Islamic state, it is enough to point out that the party Stojanović accuses of separatism, if it truly had such a political program, could have divided BiH as early as the period 1992-1995. That was the "ideal time" to realize such a policy, but it did not happen.

Without delving into the political aspect of such a statement, we must return to its origin - Islamophobia.

It is interesting that Stojanović uses the phrase "Islamic republic" in his public address, which is not accidental in the context of global political processes and events in the world. Such an approach aims to place Muslims in BiH in the context of and connect them with the so-called "Islamic State" operating today in the territories of Iraq and Syria.

Stojanović does this fully aware of the growing Islamophobia on a global scale, but also of the fact that global processes, due to the current constitutional order and the Dayton arrangement, necessarily reflect on the political scene in BiH.

Stojanović's statement is a blatant example of an outpouring of Islamophobic hatred, as it does not correspond to historical facts and represents an attempt to falsify history. It is already clear to everyone that Bosniaks have never, regardless of the political options that have appeared and operated on the political scene in BiH, had a program to create some kind of Muslim state. Among Bosniaks themselves, there has always been enough awareness, political maturity, and responsibility that prevented any potential individual considerations in that direction from being translated into any serious political program.

There can be no doubt that Stojanović's statement has nothing to do with his patriotic feelings, nor can it be interpreted as an expression of concern for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is clear that Stojanović is not bothered by the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina at all; he probably secretly desires such a division. However, what bothers him are Islam and Muslims.

The fact that he does not advocate for a unified BiH is best shown by the fact that neither he nor the politics he represents today has done anything to ensure the execution of the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the Slaven Kovačević case, which precisely ensures the establishment of BiH as a unified state, as it provides for the establishment of a single electoral unit throughout BiH. This judgment closes the door to any division of BiH, and it is precisely Stojanović and the politics from which he originates that are doing everything today to keep these doors open.

Not only have they done nothing to ensure the execution of the European Court of Human Rights judgment in the Kovačević case, but on the contrary, they have greatly contributed to sabotaging the execution of this judgment, and even to completely eliminating this judgment from legal existence.

If Stojanović and the politics he embodies truly cared about a unified BiH, then he and the politics he represents today would have done everything to prevent an appeal from being filed with the European Court of Human Rights against the judgment in the Kovačević case. And they could have done that, if they had had a sincere intention towards BiH and its indivisibility, because they represent the government at the state level.

And it is precisely this Stojanović, while working on dividing BiH, who hypocritically continues to talk about a unified BiH and accuse others of doing what he secretly desires. This is too much even for a political marginal figure like Stojanović.

Ephemeral Figure

Bosniaks must finally understand that the morally and politically suspect Stojanović uses every opportunity to sow discord among Bosniaks and, in doing so, to relieve his soul through outbursts of long-suppressed hatred towards Islam and Muslims, as it has become evident that Stojanović's political and amoral profile exudes the aroma of hatred towards Islam and Muslims.

Bosniaks should finally make it clear to Stojanović and figures like him that they are ephemeral and that only a twist of wartime circumstances and the grossest violation of the Constitution of the Federation of BiH brought them into positions to hold important functions in BiH and to constantly contaminate the political space with their activism, generating fears among citizens and peoples in BiH.

By continuously linking Islam and Muslims with the division of BiH, Stojanović has confirmed that he deservedly belongs among the doyen of Islamophobia.

To link the religion of Islam with the division of BiH actually means to qualify Islam as a destructive idea for BiH, and to portray Muslims as enemies of the state.

That this is a classic and long-suppressed Islamophobic impulse clearly follows from the fact that a religious aspect is constantly included in a political stance aimed at harming another political option, and exclusively the Islamic one.

As much as he wants to inflict political damage on another political party, it is even more important for Stojanović to drag the religion of Islam into political mud and harm Muslims.

Ultimately, it is clear that Stojanović uses his own animosity towards the SDA solely as an instrument to express his Islamophobia. The SDA is not his problem; his target is Islam and Muslims.

Objective political discourse never includes a religious aspect, except when, as in this specific case, there are ulterior motives towards a certain religious worldview and its adherents.

For Stojanović, the division of BiH is apparently a problem only if it includes the existence and practice of Islam, even if it is minimal, but he is not bothered by the division of BiH in general. As already pointed out, this follows from the fact that the politics he represents has done everything, along with the politics that truly divide BiH, to bury the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights whose execution ensures a unified BiH. If he were truly for a unified BiH, it is certain that Stojanović, along with the politics he represents, would have done everything to establish and preserve this unity through the establishment of a single electoral unit throughout BiH.

Those who are burying the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the Kovačević case should not and cannot be trusted, and their political positions cannot be treated as well-intentioned towards BiH and all its citizens.

Confirmation that this is Islamophobia is also the fact that Stojanović constantly drags only Islam and Muslims into political mud, but never Orthodoxy, Catholicism, or Judaism, which he never brings into a political context in the public sphere. He has reserved that only for Islam and Muslims in BiH. He is not bothered by the fact that the politics he represents testifies in the public sphere and contributes greatly to the overall clericalization of public affairs, public institutions, and everything that represents the common good of all citizens of BiH. And while he is bothered by Islam and Muslims, he is not bothered by the consecration of public space and goods belonging to all citizens in BiH by the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Not only is he not bothered by this, but the politics he represents today greatly contributes to and gives a special stamp to these processes.

"Unknown Hero"

Bosniaks, it is time to wake up and not allow yourselves to be demonized by various political scoundrels and marginal figures.

The fact that Stojanović spent the war in Sarajevo as an "unknown hero" and allegedly fought for a unified BiH cannot be a guarantee of his patriotism, nor an expression of state-building consciousness.

Stojanović shows that a sign of political equality cannot be placed between him and, for example, Miro Lazović. While Lazović is an open and confirmed patriot, Stojanović is a hidden wrecker whose destructive political actions the citizens of BiH have the opportunity to witness daily.

Therefore, those who spent the war on the right side of history must be cautious today, even more so than during the war. Not all those who were with them on the right side of history are the same; there is a difference, and some are only showing that difference today. Therefore, be cautious with those like that.

Those who were on the right side of history, you should either carefully watch and protect them, or be very careful and wary of them.

The former certainly include Miro Lazović and Mirko Pejanović, as well as numerous other genuinely patriotic citizens of BiH, while the latter include Igor Stojanović and those who admire his attempts at historical falsification and moral-political perversions.