Parties strongly condemn raising interethnic tensions

The Party of Democratic Action most strongly condemns the placement of the so-called memorial cross on Zlatište above Sarajevo, which represents an unprecedented act of provocation, the party announced, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

- We consider the placement of the cross on the site from which, during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, innocent citizens of Sarajevo were killed, including a large number of children, to be shameful. This anti-civilizational and illegal act grossly insults the victims, their families, and all citizens of Sarajevo, as well as the Christian symbol of compassion itself. We demand that the competent municipal authorities urgently and without delay remove the cross from Zlatište! We also demand that the international community take all measures to remove that cross from the place where it was placed - the statement said.

The SDA considers that such provocative behavior represents an unacceptable abuse of religious symbols that raises interethnic tensions, which could lead to the endangerment of citizens' safety.

REACTION OF SBB - FAHRUDIN RADONČIĆ

After the cross was placed on Zlatište today, the SBB most strongly condemns this type of provocation and abuse of religion for pre-election purposes. It is obvious that Milorad Dodik, lacking economic results, like some of his cronies in Sarajevo, is seeking salvation from electoral defeat in the politicization of religion, moving away from the field of economic facts.

Stoking fear among citizens, raising interethnic tensions and anxiety are already seen scenarios that repeat in BiH before every election. Citizens should know that the Dodik-Izetbegović-Lagumdžija government is internally very united. This, among other things, is shown by the recent joint dismissal of BiH Security Minister Fahrudin Radončić. Now they sow fear, and after the elections they plan to continue their joint plunder, which they hide behind smoke screens of alleged concern for their people or religion.

The illegal act of placing the cross should be sanctioned by legal means. After October 12, the Federation of BiH and the Republika Srpska should be taken over by new authorities, which will care for all citizens, economic development, employment, and which will have to remove the unacceptable illegal construction, which includes the mentioned spite-cross on Zlatište.

This, after all, is deserved by the 11,541 killed civilians, including 1,600 children, who perished in the besieged Sarajevo and who were mercilessly shot and shelled from that same Zlatište. 

FORUM OF YOUTH SDP BIH 

The Forum of Youth SDP BiH was taken aback by this morning's scene on Zlatište near Sarajevo, where, out of the hill, unprovoked, two welded pipes sprouted, allegedly representing a Memorial in the form of a cross.

Although the scene is so tragicomic that it is difficult to react seriously to it, we are obliged, out of piety towards the victims of the four-year siege of Sarajevo, to most strongly condemn this latest, but we believe not the last, pre-election circus of Milorad Dodik.

“It is truly pathetic that politicians use the pain and suffering of our fellow citizens to collect cheap political points. There is no luck for those who build their electoral success on human misery!”, said on this occasion Aldi Halilović, Secretary General of the Forum of Youth SDP.

Before the local elections in 2008, Dodik promised the construction of a church, and then assessed that he would get enough votes even without investing in the church, so before the general elections in 2010, he revived the story, and in 2012, before the local elections, the construction of the cross was announced again. Before these elections, he was apparently seized by panic, realizing that power was finally slipping from his hands, and he panicked, welded two pipes overnight and ordered their placement on Zlatište.

We remind you, while Dodik welds pipes to collect a handful of votes and plays the 'great Serb', another Serb, the president of the Main Board of SDP BiH and Vice President of the Federation of BiH Svetozar Pudarić, launched an initiative to build a monument to innocent Serbian victims brutally killed at Kazani near Sarajevo.

Instead of supporting that initiative and humanely paying due respect to the Serbian victims, Dodik, with his crossed pipes, pays homage to those who killed civilians of all nationalities from the hill and trivializes innocent victims.

We hereby call on all political and non-governmental entities to condemn this and similar moves by people who are losing power and ground under their feet.