Škrijelj: When the call for rector is announced, then I will speak about it

After the news agency Patria wrote on several occasions about the election of members of the University of Sarajevo Governing Board and the illegal president Mevludin Mekić, elected by a Commission whose member was Rifet Škrijelj, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Sarajevo, whom we stated was the president of the Commission, Dean Škrijelj reacted.

- I was not the president of the Commission for conducting the competitive procedure for the election of six members of the UNSA Governing Board. My opinion, which was requested by my appointment to the Commission regarding the election, among others, of Prof. Dr. Mevludin Mekić as president of the Governing Board, is based on consideration of the submitted documents and conducted interviews, and represents one vote out of a total of six votes that the Commission had as members in the candidate ranking process - stated Škrijelj.

Namely, the Patria agency received information from multiple sources that Škrijelj, although the president of the Commission for conducting the competitive procedure for the election of six members of the UNSA Governing Board - representatives of the Sarajevo Canton was Abid Fejzić, was actually the "shadow president" and had complete control over the Governing Board members, and promoted Mekić for president of the Governing Board, who concealed the fact that he is a lecturer at the University of Vitez in Travnik, thereby violating the conditions for election and appointment under Article 6.

When asked why he did not react and warn the Sarajevo Canton Government that Mekić teaches at the University of Vitez, Škrijelj said that the appointment was made by the Sarajevo Canton Government and that it is not the right address for this question.

Also, Škrijelj answered the question of whether he aspires to the position of rector now that the Governing Board has problematized the work of rector Muharem Avdispahić, and there is increasingly loud talk about his dismissal.

- The "imaginary" call for the election of rector is exactly that - it does not exist, it has not been announced, so it is frivolous and unfounded to make any statements on this topic, and when it is announced, I am at your disposal for a conversation on that topic. Although in your article of January 8, 2016, you state that my second term as dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is expiring, I inform you that I am only at the beginning of my second term. I also inform you that as deans - members of the Senate, we have not received an act in which the Governing Board seeks the dismissal of the rector of the University of Sarajevo, but rather documentation informing us of unfulfilled obligations and illegal work of the rector, in their opinion - stated Škrijelj.

When asked how long he has known the president of the UNSA Governing Board, Mevludin Mekić, and whether he personally helped him get the position of president of the Governing Board, Škrijelj said:

- I do not understand what importance my acquaintance with Prof. Dr. Mevludin Mekić has for this topic, since I know a large number of people, for a shorter or longer time, which does not affect my behavior towards them nor my support for them, and especially not my professional evaluation of their work. I feel as countrymen both Montenegrins, among whom I was born, and Bosnians and Herzegovinians, with whom I live, Croats, with whom I studied together, as well as all people of good intentions - stated Škrijelj.

The news agency Patria published in its articles that both Mekić and Škrijelj were born in Montenegro and that they know each other, but at no point did we say that this was the reason why Mekić had Škrijelj's support.