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VJESNIK ( Zagreb )

How Mufti Smajkic Imagines Bosnia-Herzegovina

By Alenko Zornija

The messages that Mostar Mufti Seid Effendi Smajkic relayed in his
statement
on the occasion of the big Muslim holiday of Bairam are shocking. The clear
anti-Semitic and anti-Christian statement of the highest Muslim religious
official in Herzegovina would have passed unnoticed had Hercegovacke Novine
not published the transcript of this address, that is, this Bairam sermon.

Effendi Smajkic uses every opportunity to talk about "the difficult
position of Muslims in the world," clearly provoking anti-US and anti-Jewish
sentiments,
which are not strong present in Bosnia-Herzegovina (B-H). On this occasion,
Effendi Smajkic clearly accused the Jews of being responsible for
everything that is happening in Jerusalem.

'Peaceful' Resolution for Mostar

"Just take a look at Jerusalem now. Why are all these things happening
in Jerusalem? Because the Jews are in power and not the Muslims.
The Christians were in charge of this region during the Crusades and for
100 years they waded in blood. There will only be peace in Jerusalem when
the Muslims take control, because the others do not know how to establish
control. They do not have any measured response, and they cannot act
tolerantly and culturally," the effendi said.

What is even more scandalous is that he also proposed a similar "peaceful"
resolution for Mostar. According to Smajkic's views, only if this town
was governed by the Muslims, that would suit everyone! He opposed the
unification of the town on the Neretva River, obviously alluding
that this would lead to Croatian domination, in which case the
Croats would again start establishing concentration camps.

"We have been the hosts in this town 450 years and everyone felt
comfortable. What does change of the structure mean? It means that from nice hosts,
who welcomed everyone and allowed everyone to express themselves in any
way they wanted, we are now being dominated by those who till yesterday
burned and destroyed ," Smajkic said.

He also opposed the building of Catholic religious objects and he talked
about the cross raised on the Hum Hill, above Mostar. "Do you see that
cautioning cross up on the Hum? Will we return to 1991 now? Take that down!
Slim chance it will be taken down from there, because they are already
preparing to build a large, a huge church up there," Smajkic said.
He also said that the Catholic Church and Caritas, together with the
international community, had worked on expelling the Muslims from Mostar
during the war.

This 57-year old effendi is known for making such "inflammatory"
statements. But it seems that these are the most severe and most
provocative statements to date. This reaction of his might have been
provoked by (High Representative in B-H) Paddy Ashdown's decision
regarding the reorganization of Mostar and the recent promotion of a
book on the collaborators of the former Yugoslav State Security Service
in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Seid Smajkic is mentioned as one of the
collaborators.

Smajkic graduated from the Faculty of Islamic Law and Arab Language in
Baghdad. During communism he was an imam in Toronto. It is believed that
most religious officials who were allowed to go abroad during communism
had to agree to some form of cooperation with the then Yugoslav secret
services.

In some interviews Smajkic tried to present himself as a peaceful religious
official, and on one occasion he said that everyone should "nurture the
spirit of tolerance." But even on those occasions he took the chance to
express his belief that B-H had lived through its best days when Muslims
were in power and that good neighborly relations were characteristic of
life in B-H at that time.

It will be interesting to see whether any of the authorities will react
to Smajkic's latest statements. In one similar case, charges were filed
against a mufti from Gorazde who said at the funeral of a murdered Bosniak
woman: "All criminals should leave Bosnian land."

There were no reactions to any of the other similar incidents. One such
example is the imam from Zavidovic, who said in front of the people
gathered at a funeral that: "all crosses should be smashed and all pigs
driven out. "

It seems that the radical declarations of some Muslim religious officials
are becoming more and more frequent. Recently Mustafa Effendi Ceric,
leader of the Muslim community in B-H, openly stated that, the
Bosniak Muslims, because they are the most numerous community
should dominate in the government of B-H.

Lately relations between the Catholic and Muslim religious leaders have
been very poor, especially because of the suspicions that it is precisely
Effendi Ceric who is most responsible for the non-signing of the agreement
between the Vatican and B-H, which would have regulated the position
of the Catholic Church in this country and through which the church would
have finally received a legal status in B-H. As a result, Bosnian
Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljic froze his membership in the
Interreligious Council, a body that is composed of the leaders of the
Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, and Jewish communities in B-H.

Religious officials are supposed to contribute to establishing peace
among the B-H population. But it seems that this is not the case now.
Effendi Smajkic's statement is the best proof of this.

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