COMMENTARY BY ZELJKA THE TERRORIST

By Armin Aljovic

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The President of Republika Srpska, an entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljka Cvijanovic stated that she is "very concerned about the rise of Islamic radicalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina" and that it is absurd that no foreign diplomats in BiH are addressing this issue, as well as the return of jihadists. In an interview with Večernji list, Cvijanović stated that "every terrorist attack carried out in the world is somehow connected with Bosnia and Herzegovina, whether it is weapons or documents." She cited the examples of New York and Madrid. 

Although Zeljka Cvijanović is an English language professor, someone who should understand words and sentences, I will take the liberty to complete Professor Cvijanović's sentence to make it more understandable for those who do not know the recent past and present of Bosnia and Herzegovina very well. The statement "every terrorist attack carried out in the world is somehow connected with BiH, whether it is weapons or documents, as was the case with the terrorist attack in New York or Madrid" should be supplemented with "...or in New Zealand, when the terrorist Brenton Tarrant killed about 50 Muslims while they were performing prayers in two mosques in the city of Christchurch, because he was inspired by Radovan Karadžić, the first president of Republika Srpska, now a Hague convict for genocide in Srebrenica and other crimes against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats or Bosnian Serbs who opposed his ideology." Cvijanović sits in Karadžić's chair today and sees no problem in these crimes.

Given that Zeljka Cvijanović did not finish her thought, it is clear that she is not "very concerned about the rise of Islamic radicalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina," for which she actually has such data and now wants to solve the problem of radicalism in the country - rather, Zeljka Cvijanović's statement about the rise of Islamic radicalism in BiH is actually an uncreative attempt by a local politician, like Cvijanović, to join the global waves of Islamophobia in order to gain expensive political points cheaply. According to reports from domestic and international organizations, there is no rise in Islamic radicalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or "viewed as a percentage of the population, it is not a large number...", which is why "none of the foreign diplomats in BiH are paying attention to it." Nevertheless, although non-existent, the story about Islamic radicalism in a country shared by Muslims with other religions is a cheap but effective way to divert the thoughts of hungry voters from their own problems. The danger lies in the fact that at one point such a controlled narrative can lead the entire society into uncontrolled chaos.

The same thesis about the rise of Islamic radicalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been put forward by Cvijanović's coalition partners from the HDZ for some time, in a way that the President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, speaks of 10,000 terrorists on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although these claims have been refuted by both Croatian and Bosnian security agencies. Finally, Cvijanović herself presented the thesis "about the rise of Islamic radicalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina" in Večernji list, which is controlled by the right wing of the HDZ.

While the German Minister of Internal Affairs, Thomas de Maziere, speaks with a radiant face about Bosnian Muslims, the French philosopher Bernard Henri Levy calls Bosnian Muslims the greatest Europeans among Europeans, or while Pope Francis presents Dodik with a charter signed with the Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, Ahmad Al-Tayyib, sending him a signal to abandon futile endeavors and turn to coexistence with Bosniaks, Bosnian Muslims are still just Islamic radicals for Cvijanović. 

This is not the first time Cvijanović has systematically manipulated the public. She came into the spotlight in 2017 after an audio recording between Cvijanović and her colleague, whose identity is unknown, was published. The female voice asks Cvijanović for permission to start the story about the Bosniak language. Female voice: "So I wanted to ask you, can we force that story, that we go..., because we have already recruited Miloš Kovačević to go to the media with the story of the Bosnian/Bosniak language..." Željka Cvijanović: "...well, let him go, of course, who is stopping him, but that's for the academic community to talk about and explain and for a show to be made." After that, teachers in schools in Republika Srpska begin to write down the Bosniak language in report cards, instead of Bosnian. This caused great indignation among Bosniak returnees and occupied the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina for months afterwards. 

The only thing Bosniaks can do at this moment in response to the provocations is to turn even more strongly towards Europe and European friends, leaving Željka to wallow in her own terrorism. Any other response would be counterproductive.