Izetbegović: Campaign against my wife is politically motivated, SDA's position is weakened, politics from Zagreb is also involved

(Patria) - SDA President Bakir Izetbegović spoke out today after the Senate of the University of Sarajevo voted that the Rector of UNSA, Rifat Škrijelj, is obliged to annul the enrollment of Sebija Izetbegović, i.e., her master's degree in medicine. 

Izetbegović stated in a long address that the process of sowing discord and confusion among Bosniaks has been present for decades. In recent years, an important segment of this process has been the compromise of authorities that our people respect. We witness daily attacks on established politicians, the ulema, and well-known defenders.

"The very surname Izetbegović has long been the subject of targeted attacks and disqualifications. Recently, the focus has been placed on my wife, Sebija Izetbegović, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo. The campaign being waged is politically motivated; it is a power struggle and pressure aimed at weakening the SDA's position ahead of the continuation of negotiations on constitutional and electoral law amendments.

The executor of the latest campaign related to the academic advancement of Prof. Izetbegović is the Rector of the University of Sarajevo, Rifat Škrijelj. For entirely political reasons, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb has also become involved.

The affair will last and will have an epilogue in the court in Sarajevo. In the meantime, the public will be exposed to spins, half-truths, and falsehoods. I urge you to recognize the cheap manipulations that underestimate your intelligence, memory, and reasoning power. This time, I draw your attention to only three important elements that preceded the attempt to discredit Prof. Izetbegović.

DOCTORATE

It all began with a statement by Asim Kurjak, a professor at the University of Zagreb, who claimed he barely knew Sebija Izetbegović and was not her doctoral mentor.

It turned out that there is extensive documentation of the cooperation between Prof. Kurjak and Prof. Izetbegović, a series of joint projects, several books with his dedication, and, of course, complete documentation of her doctorate and his mentorship.

Faced with the facts, Prof. Kurjak subsequently publicly retracted his statement. However, that was not the end, as new falsehoods continued.

MASTER'S DEGREE

After the failed attempt to compromise the doctorate, they descended a step lower. The doctorate was no longer disputed, but Prof. Izetbegović's master's degree, i.e., the studies she completed at the Universities of Sarajevo and Zagreb, was called into question. Upon inquiry by Rector Škrijelj, the University of Zagreb responded that there is no record of Sebija Izetbegović ever studying there. Prof. Kurjak joined in again with the same claim.

And then it was established that this documentation also exists – the enrollment list, certificates of completed courses with Prof. Kurjak as part of her master's studies, and finally, the index itself.

In a guest appearance on TV Hayat in early March 2023, Prof. Izetbegović presented three indexes confirming her regular studies in Sarajevo, and then her master's studies in Sarajevo and Zagreb. The index issued by the University of Zagreb contains ten grades, including one from Prof. Biserka Funduk-Kurjak, the wife of Prof. Asim Kurjak.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRESERVATION AND VALIDITY OF DOCUMENTATION

The preservation of documentation was not Prof. Izetbegović's obligation, as the institution that issued the diplomas and study records, not the candidate, stands behind them. In this case, it is the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo, and only this faculty can confirm a student's documents or question them. The Faculty of Medicine also did this in cooperation with the Cantonal Inspectorate for Higher Education. An ad hoc commission formed for this purpose carried out the necessary checks of the documentation, after which the Teaching-Scientific Council of the Faculty of Medicine unanimously determined that Prof. Izetbegović's entire academic path was in order.

If the documentation had not been in order, it would have been impossible for Prof. Izetbegović to first obtain her master's degree under the mentorship of Prof. Šimić, and then her doctorate under the mentorship of Prof. Kurjak. The processes of approving master's and doctoral studies involved the faculty's professional services, teaching-scientific councils, and commissions. Thus, dozens of people. And none of them ever had any objections until Rector Škrijelj appeared 25 years later, who is practically trying to discredit not only Prof. Izetbegović but also all those people, his predecessors, respected professors, and deans from the Faculty of Medicine.

At the same time, no one found it necessary to investigate how her files were found scattered in the basement of the Faculty of Medicine two decades after she obtained her master's and doctoral degrees, and why no one is investigating who came to the Faculty of Medicine and when, and removed her files in preparation for the affair.

Despite all of the above, Rector Škrijelj continued his attack. Ignoring the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo, he stated that "the master's diploma was not submitted to the University and does not exist." At his proposal, the Senate of the University of Sarajevo, on March 6, 2023, by a majority vote of its members, annulled Sebija Izetbegović's master's degree.

Of course, the final decision will be made by the Court. We will await the verdict, as court proceedings are long and slow. The court of public opinion will form faster. And that court should help to remove politics from honorable institutions, to which it only causes harm.

Politics has no place at the University of Sarajevo. Neither Sarajevo politics, nor especially politics from Zagreb," Izetbegović stated.