prijava
SARAJEVO, October 15 (FENA) - Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić has sent a letter to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences regarding its decision to award the Nobel Prize in Literature to Peter Handke.
“Having the utmost respect for the international reputation of the Nobel Prize and the scientific and humanistic work of its founder Alfred Nobel, who founded it primarily to spread humanistic ideas and oppose any kind of misuse of science, I believe in the field of literature as well, this way, on behalf of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and myself, I would like to convey to you the expressions of deep disappointment and dismay regarding the decision of the Literary Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to award the Nobel Prize in Literature to Peter Handke,” wrote Komšić in the letter.
It is my opinion, added Komšić, that the Committee had to take into account the entire social engagement of Peter Handke when awarding the award, which goes beyond the sphere of autonomy of literature in general, and as such had to be taken into account when awarding the award.
“I would also like to point out that the moral characteristics of any Nobel Prize candidate are inseparable from the scientific or literary oeuvre of the candidate or prize winner. Peter Handke is not only known to the Bosnian and Herzegovinian public as a writer, but also as a recognized negator of the Srebrenica genocide and crimes against humanity that had been committed during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Komšić said.
Moreover, Handke was particularly prominent in both the wartime and post-war period in the glorification of war crimes and sentenced war criminals, the same war criminals convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
“Therefore, by awarding the prize to Peter Handke, the Committee runs the risk that any subsequent candidate for this prestigious award will in the future refuse to receive the award in order to prevent being placed side by side with the glorifier of the crime of genocide. From all of the above, it is clear that the values that go beyond the scope of literature alone propagated by Handke are in complete opposition to the noble values, moral principles and humanistic postulates represented by Alfred Nobel, as well as many other Nobel Prize winners, who are unfortunately no longer among the living,” wrote Komšić in the letter.
In addition, Komšić added, with this move, the Committee assumes the moral responsibility of being designated as a Committee that contributed to the glorification of genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a genocide that was established by international judicial institutions, in an atmosphere where the wounds of victims of crime have not yet healed committed by the criminals propagated and supported by Peter Handke.
“Therefore, I hereby invite you to visit Srebrenica and other cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Peter Handke's extra-literary role models had committed genocide and crimes against humanity, and after meeting and talking with the victims of genocide and victims of other horrific crimes, I ask you to reconsider your decision,” stated Komšić in his letter to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
(FENA) S. R.
