Latić: I did more for the defense of BiH than all PEN members

The fact that this ideological regiment accuses me of my alleged absence from Sarajevo is their common place in these 20 years, so they are lying, because I spent most of the war in Sarajevo and they know that very well, said writer Džemaludin Latić in response to the statement of the Management Board of PEN Center that "he ran away and hid while others suffered in besieged Sarajevo", reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

- At the moment when I was outside Sarajevo, I received two of the highest recognitions from the Army of BiH for it. I am a soldier of the Army of BiH, one I received from General Rasim Delić, and the other from Sakib Mahmuljin for my contribution to the defense of BiH. I did more for the defense of this country than all intellectuals, and especially PEN members – states Latić.

Namely, at the general assembly of the PEN Center, Latić, Abdulah Sidran, and Asim Brki were denied membership. Latić stated that it is his right to be a member of PEN and that his works should nominate him for it.

- They have established such criteria for admission that are Bolshevik and, as a prominent philosopher said, inquisitorial. International PEN protected me when I was in prison. It influenced my earlier release from prison. It is my right to be a writer, and when I am persecuted, to be protected like any other writer. My place is in PEN, just like other real writers, not pseudo-writers – said Latić.

He continues to emphasize that the fight for freedom of expression is ongoing, and that PEN Center is an organization of writers, not pseudo-writers of ideological edge.

- With a PEN like this, it is impossible; they are a cruel ideological edge. I knew that, but I wanted to test them and continue my fight for freedom of expression and my national culture. All of us who are dissatisfied with this ideological section will continue our fight. They do not belong in PEN. First of all, because they are pseudo-writers, they do not have works that nominate them to be there. As poets, essayists, and prose writers, we will continue the fight – says Latić, adding that "thanks to a PEN Center like this, apartheid is being carried out against the Bosniak people in BiH, Bosniak children do not have the right to their language, their religious education, their identity."

- We, as writers, and our works about the genocide that happened to Bosniaks cannot be included in required readings and programs in BiH, which is completely contrary to all conventions that this country has accepted. The truth about the genocide is being suppressed in this country. The PEN Center has never said a word about it. Therefore, they are what they are, I am what I am, and I will continue my fight, and they will probably continue their inquisitorial activities in this country – Latić points out to Patria.