Reis Kavazović: Let us learn from the past and turn to the future

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Commenting on today's decision of the Appeals Chamber of the Hague Court regarding officials of the so-called Herceg-Bosna, the reisu-l-ulema of the Islamic Community in BiH, Husein ef. Kavazović, told MINA:

- The verdicts of the Hague Court are a unique historical opportunity that we must not miss, an opportunity to face the past, to condemn the policies that brought so much evil and suffering to all people in these areas. We must not miss this opportunity. We must do it for the sake of the victims and for the future of our children.

It is obvious that the political elites themselves cannot agree on what happened in the nineties. They themselves have not taken political or moral responsibility for what happened and have not led to a return of trust. That is why we need foreign arbiters, and we see that apart from the Hague Court, we have no one to help us reach a common truth, a truth without which there is no reconciliation.

We cannot learn from our mistakes if we claim they did not happen. That is why I once again appeal to everyone not to equate entire peoples with the deeds of criminals and policies that divided us and created ethnically «clean» areas. These days, those policies are being judged, not the peoples. But the peoples, together with their elites, must clearly distance themselves from them.

We must seize the historical opportunity, take a lesson from the past and turn to the future, always putting the victims first, not their executioners - said reisu-l-ulema Kavazović today.