Letter to Mayor Koldža: Why Was No Veteran Invited to the Opening of the Memorial Centre Trg heroja

The Association of Resistance Organisers and War Veterans Trg heroja Sarajevo sent a protest letter to the Mayor of Novo Sarajevo Municipality Nedžad Koldža, the Coordination of Veterans' Associations Novo Sarajevo, and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs of the Sarajevo Canton Muharem Fiši. The Patria News Agency publishes the letter in full.  

-We address you with this protest letter on the occasion of the opening of the Memorial Centre at Trg heroja, on 16 May 2016, with the following explanation.

As you know, the Association of Resistance Organisers and War Veterans was formed at Trg heroja and has been active since 2013. We consider it, to say the least, improper that representatives of this veterans' association were not invited to the opening of the Novo Sarajevo Memorial Centre.

Namely, the members of this association are direct participants and witnesses of the war events from the past defensive war, and this does not need to be proven.

Furthermore, the members of our association directly participated in the defence of Trg heroja. It is known that the residents of this local area self-organised and united in the defence of this part of the city immediately at the beginning of the aggression. It must never be forgotten that in the defence of this part of the municipality, many young people, members of our unit, gave the most precious thing, their own lives. A large number of our members suffered severe injuries and have permanent physical disabilities. Likewise, it is evident that a large number of civilians and children perished during the aggression. The square did not change its name to Trg heroja without reason, a name that testifies to the heroic defence of the city of Sarajevo.

Those who do not know these historical facts or forget them make such unforgivable mistakes that, at the very least, insult the veteran population from Trg heroja.

We supported the initiative to establish the Novo Sarajevo Memorial Centre and consider the establishment of such a centre, which will preserve the tradition and truth of the city's defence, justified. We are proud that this centre is located precisely at Trg heroja, where that defence of the city had special historical significance.

On that occasion, we responded to the call of the Novo Sarajevo Municipality to collect museum artefacts and other material evidence that will testify to these historical events. The association responded to the call and provided original photographs from that period, without compensation, because we believe we are obliged to contribute to such a project.

We hoped that we would, at the very least, be invited together with members of other veterans' associations to the ceremony on the occasion of the opening of this Memorial Centre. The organiser did not consider it necessary to invite a representative of our association to the opening, and, as we have learned, the other veterans' associations also did not receive an invitation.

We consider this act a provocation by the organiser and an unseemly act that cast a shadow over such an event. It is offensive that the fighters who directly participated in the defence were not participants in this event.

We believe that this gesture by the organiser clearly indicates that this event was misused for political purposes and for the purpose of self-promotion.

The patriotism and courage of the fighters in the past war showed that the interests of individuals can never be placed before the interests of the collective or society. With our bodies and bravery, we defended this country; we did not allow dark forces to take over these areas.

Likewise, we will not allow anyone now to desecrate these bright historical days and our participation in this way and to privatise the historical events from the past defensive war.

We noticed this attitude towards the defence also during the marking of the formation of the unit, which we moved by one day because of you, to 20 April 2016. On that occasion, we intended to present you with a Certificate of Appreciation for your support in the work of the veterans' association. You did not respond to our invitation, and we presented the certificate to a representative of the municipality. Subsequently, we noted that you ignored this significant date of ours and that you were in Zenica at the same time.

We take this opportunity to inform you that the postponement of the date of marking our unit's formation will never happen again and that in the future we will not specifically invite representatives of municipal authorities to this commemoration of ours. This also applies to the next significant date of the Novo Sarajevo Municipality, which is the Battle for the „11 Plavih“.

We have informed the Coordination of Veterans' Associations Novo Sarajevo of this position of ours and have requested that this issue be raised at the next meeting of veterans' associations.

We have received support from this coordination, and we will send a copy of this letter to other veterans' associations from the territory of Novo Sarajevo.

Finally, we inform you that we have already lodged an oral protest with the Service for Veterans' and Disability Protection of the Novo Sarajevo Municipality, the Office of the Mayor of the Novo Sarajevo Municipality, and the Office of the Minister for Veterans' Affairs of the Sarajevo Canton.

The media will also be informed of this position and protest of ours, and we will seek their support. Likewise, we will send a call for support to veterans' associations and organisations from the area of the city of Sarajevo.

Our future actions will be agreed upon and coordinated with other veterans' associations that have already noted that the authorities have no understanding for veterans' problems and their needs, states the protest letter signed by Sead Sefić, President of the Association.