Izetbegović: Croatian President showed disrespect towards BiH

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, with her statements about BiH in the past few days, showed disrespect towards BiH and its leadership, believes member of the BiH Presidency Bakir Izetbegović, writes Patria.

Namely, Grabar-Kitarović presented very harsh and inaccurate information about the number of BiH citizens returning to BiH from the so-called Islamic State, stating that it is "thousands of fighters" and that BiH represents a danger to Croatia. She also added that BiH is not an emancipated country and even ventured into commenting on Islam in BiH, calling it "radical".

Izetbegović stated that all leaders in the region should think twice before commenting on the situation and problems in neighboring countries.

- It is not good to call BiH an unemancipated country, to comment on the clothing of Bosniak men and women, to exaggerate the problem of so-called Islamic extremism in BiH, for example, to add two zeros to the number of returnees from foreign battlefields... 46 people from BiH returned from the Syrian battlefield, meaning a few dozen, not a few thousand as claimed by the Croatian president - said Izetbegović.

- Our security services are actively and successfully dealing with this problem, exchanging data and experiences with competent services, including those in Croatia. Ustasha extremism is also flourishing in Croatia, and Croats are going to foreign battlefields like Ukraine, a memorial plaque with a Nazi salute was unveiled in Jasenovac, the public was surprised by some photos with extremist banners, so we from BiH avoided commenting on such phenomena... I hope that President Grabar-Kitarović will act similarly in the future, i.e., take care of her own backyard, and leave the care of ours to us - said Izetbegović.

Otherwise, the sharpest reaction to the statements of the Croatian president about BiH came from the BiH Minister of Security Dragan Mektić, who called all statements malicious and nonsensical.

Otherwise, Grabar-Kitarović spoke about BiH again today in Rijeka, softening her rhetoric, and said that she would not "bicker" through the media about the number of those returning to BiH from ISIS.