Izetbegović as a member of the BiH Presidency, I can say he takes care of the state, but as the leader of the SDA, nothing

In the second part of the interview published by Sarajevo's Oslobođenje, the reis-ul-ulema of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Husein ef. Kavazović, gave extremely interesting answers to questions about politics. Some of them are reported by the news agency Patria.

OSLOBOĐENJE: How would you describe Bosnia and Herzegovina today? What are the problems, and what are the tasks of the authorities in BiH to try to pull the country out of the economic and political quagmire in which we are trapped?

REIS KAVAZOVIĆ: The time behind us has taught us that Bosnia and Herzegovina has never been a country left to its peoples to define themselves from within. Now it is already a time that imposes another question, which perhaps does not only apply to Bosnia and Herzegovina but, I would say, to all Balkan states from Croatia onwards. It seems to me that they are, together with us, unregulated states. What does that mean?

They will be regulated when they are in the European club. Croatia and Slovenia have already entered, and when these other countries are also in that club, it seems to me that we could then talk about regulated countries. That is how I see BiH today, and that means there is a lot of work ahead of us.

OSLOBOĐENJE: Yes, but that also means that the task of the authorities is to lead us swiftly into reforms.

REIS KAVAZOVIĆ: If we want BiH to be a regulated state, it must be in the club of serious states. And the club of serious states today is the European Union. As long as that does not happen, I believe that BiH will have many, many challenges and many problems. The sooner we solve them, the easier it will be for us both economically and politically.

OSLOBOĐENJE: Are you satisfied with Bosniak politics? I am often criticized when I write that Bosniaks bear the greatest responsibility for BiH, but I truly believe that is the case, despite the lifelong counterargument "Bosniaks cannot do it when Dodik won't allow it."

REIS KAVAZOVIĆ: Well, the observation that Bosniaks bear the greatest responsibility is certainly correct. Not from the aspect that many want to use - Bosniaks are the most numerous. Of course, we all have responsibility for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbs, Bosniaks, and Croats, responsibility towards the homeland. But Bosniaks have an additional responsibility. In this world, in the Balkans, and in BiH, they are still viewed differently.

We are viewed as Muslims. We, Bosniak Muslims, as someone who has lived here for centuries, in this last century we were seen as "marked," as others and different. Precisely because of that, Bosnian Muslims, Bosniaks, must have more patience, must show an enviable level of courage to connect within BiH those threads that have been broken, to insist more on society, to strive more for social values, for society to function. Sometimes, I must say, we must be ready to sacrifice something that will contribute to that. That is why I believe that the observation that Bosniaks have an additional responsibility is correct.

OSLOBOĐENJE: Reis efendija, do Bosniak officials ask you for advice? What would you, for example, advise Bakir Izetbegović as a member of the BiH Presidency, and what would you advise Bakir Izetbegović as the leader of the SDA?

REIS KAVAZOVIĆ: To Bakir Izetbegović, as a member of the BiH Presidency, I can only say one thing, and I believe he also thinks it is important: that he takes care of the state of BiH. That together with the other two members of the Presidency, Dragan Čović and Mladen Ivanić, they look at the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all BiH peoples, and that they show by their example how we should live together here and better than today.

To show how we should agree here for the sake of our children whom we are leading to safety. When it comes to Bakir Izetbegović, the leader of the SDA, I could not say anything to him. Nothing.