Hodžić's sharp reaction to Milanović's statements: An inherent prejudice against Bosniaks

(Patria) - President of the Bosniak National Council of the Republic of Croatia, Armin Hodžić, stated at today's press conference, which was called due to the statements of the President of that country, Zoran Milanović, about Srebrenica, that Milanović has an inherent prejudice against Bosniaks and consequently against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that with his latest statement, a red line has been crossed.

As Hodžić said at the beginning of his address, the reason for calling today's press conference is that this council's response would not have been covered, and it was addressed to all institutions – the President of the state, the Prime Minister, the Croatian Parliament, regarding the statements of President Zoran Milanović about the genocide in Srebrenica.

He said that over the past few years, specifically since the last general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina held in 2018, the topic of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been among the top five topics in the Croatian public sphere, and that the topic of Bosnia and Herzegovina has become "perhaps the only agenda of Croatian foreign policy."

"We have heard all sorts of statements that were insulting to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosniaks, and we put all of that in the basket of daily political bickering for the sake of achieving certain political goals, but we have reached a stage where a red line has been crossed, where it is no longer just about a political goal – whether it is the amendment of the Election Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina or something else. There is a civilizational line that none of us should cross. And there are norms to prevent what happened not only in World War II but also on European soil – in Srebrenica in 1995," Hodžić stated.

He quoted Milanović's latest statement about the genocide in Srebrenica:

"That is a serious crime with elements of genocide. That is what the court said, but no court can be holy scripture. Some people took it well, some people or non-humans did not take it well. 5,000 or 8,000 or 80,000 is not the same. It is not the same whether it happens in gas chambers or with machetes. I don't know who such a statement of mine could harm."

Hodžić then elaborated on Milanović's statement.

"Number one is the euphemism for the genocide in Srebrenica – it is not a terrible crime, but it is genocide, and that is not said by Hodžić or Milanović, but by all relevant courts. We come to a situation where Milanović says that no court is holy scripture. Pay attention to what kind of message that is to the citizens of Croatia – what the court says does not have to be relevant. So, we have a message that when it comes to Srebrenica, this court does not have to be holy scripture," he said, adding:

"Those who do not think the same as him are then non-humans, but the most horrifying part of this message is that not every victim is the same. Pay attention to what Pandora's box that opens! Does that mean that if a victim is a Catholic or a Muslim, they are worth less or more than another victim, if it is a male, is it more valuable than a female, if it is older or younger, and so on? A morbid terrain of bidding and trading with victim numbers, with the crime scene, and with the mechanism of carrying out that crime. I listened to that statement several times and could not come to terms with the fact that someone could reach such a level as to start questioning the value of victims of any crime, including this one, which was conceived and efficiently carried out in Srebrenica where more than 8,500 people were killed."

He also emphasized that Milanović's advice to HDZ leader Dragan Čović and member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik "grated on his ears."

"That they should not put pressure to repeal the law banning the denial of genocide. And pay attention, that is not Inzko's law, he imposed it, it is the law banning the denial of genocide, it is an attempt by Serbian rhetoric to soften everything that law contains. His advice is that they should not do that, not because of the problematic nature of what they are doing, but because of the content, because he says if you do that, they will call you fascists, so he cares about their image, he does not care about the consequences of what they are doing. This is a new paradigm of approach in dealing with the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, and it is enough to compare who else has similar rhetoric in the region, including political officials from the RS, and then also Vučić's unofficial spokesperson Vulin," Hodžić stated.

He also noted that in Croatia, until now, there have been no such cases.

"Now we have entered a completely new dimension that worries me, because such trading with the memory of the genocide in Srebrenica for any reason is unacceptable. This is a red line, because soldiers were not killed there, women, children, men were killed there, and to this day, another 1,200 people are still being sought," he emphasized.

He stressed that Zoran Milanović is the first man of the Republic of Croatia and that if such messages come from him, what can we expect in society.

"If I had found myself in Srebrenica in July '95, we would have suffered the same fate as our compatriots, and here we are talking about a neighboring country," he stated.

He concluded that today's reaction of the Bosniak National Council came after a series of statements by Milanović and mentioned "First soap, then perfume," "We are not in Prnjavor"... and that all his statements show a continuity of his thoughts and public messages.

"He has an inherent prejudice against Bosniaks and consequently against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and what I see is that he views Bosniaks as people who are only good for making sausages and ćevapi and that they should not be consulted about anything. From that thought comes this attitude that the victim in Srebrenica is less valuable compared to other genocides and war crimes," underscored the President of the Bosniak National Council.

Hodžić also stated that it is obvious that Milanović does not want to fall out with Dodik and Čović.