News in English     | 07.01.2020. 15:25 |

Rais Kavazović reacts to the latest statements of Patriarch Irinej

FENA Press release

SARAJEVO, January 7 (FENA) - Raisu-l-ulama of the Islamic Community in BiH Hussein effendi Kavazović issued a statement today in response to the statements made by the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Irinej after meeting with a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik at the Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) in Belgrade, when he said that "there are no borders between Serbia and Republika Srpska. They must not and they do not need to exist because this is one nation, with one language spoken and all the shared values.”

“I cannot be joyful that the holiday of the Orthodox faithful is being misused for political purposes, which is why I was forced to react once again to send a message of peace and communion in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the whole region. But before that I would like to reiterate the congratulations I sent to His Excellency, Metropolitan Hrizostom and Orthodox Christians on the occasion of Christmas, in which I expressed hope that this year would bring peace and prosperity and that we will preserve the spirit of tolerance with a joint commitment.

It is regretful that I have been put in the position that on a holiday like this, I have to react to the speeches of Patriarch Irinej, who misleads the public with his messages, and brings anxiety to the hearts of other peoples in this region.

I have always believed that holidays are an opportunity to express love and respect for one another, not to foster divisions among nations, even within members of the same faith. Our neighbors and fellow Orthodox believers are celebrating their biggest religious holiday in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina these days, and not just in one administrative part of the inalienable territory of our homeland. The times for the messages of this kind have passed long ago. These messages are very striking and they arouse anxiety and call for disrespect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is my duty to express my displeasure in situations where this is necessary, especially because of Muslim faithful living in the smaller entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which genocide was committed that culminated in the 1995 Srebrenica events.

Tens of thousands of Bosniaks were killed, raped and expelled throughout that same territory precisely because of those hegemonic plans whose end goal was, as Patriarch Irinej said, "for parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina to become inseparable from the Serb center". The need for the religious unity of the SPC members cannot imply a single state-political space.

The most benevolent advice we can give to our neighbors in the SPC, and for the sake of the future of our peoples and peace, but also the SPC itself, is not to allow their church to continue to be seen as a political project in this region. This is not good for the future of this part of Europe, and it can hardly have any foothold in pure religious teaching. This new form of phyletism will do no good to the Serbian Orthodox Church, or to other churches and religious communities with which it shares its living space.

All citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Orthodox, Muslims, Jews and Catholic faithful, live in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hold its citizenship and live under its laws, and will continue to do so in the future.

Their only homeland is Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, by clearly defined constitutional and legal procedures, can regulate these arrangements internally. Any other attempt would bring our country back to the 1990s, a period which we all remember but not by anything good. Bosnia and Herzegovina remains an enduring category with clearly defined borders, well known to Patriarch Irinej and myself, and is large enough for everyone, for Bosniaks, for Serbs and Croats, as well as for all its citizens. It was always like this and it will always remain so in the future by the will of God, emphasized in his response Raisu-l-ulama Kavazović.

(FENA) S. R.

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