DODIK: SARAJEVO CELEBRATES OCCUPIER, BUT REMAINS SILENT ABOUT CRIMES AGAINST SERBS

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 27 /SRNA/ - Adopting the initiative to install the monument to Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie to the site of the Latin Bridge /formerly Princip Bridge/ in Sarajevo is not a coincidence nor a "cultural project", but rather another shameful political message to the Serb people that the occupier is acceptable, while Serbs alive or dead are not, said SNSD Leader Milorad Dodik.

"Franz Ferdinand was not a `peacemaker,` but one of the representatives of the Austro-Hungarian occupying power under whose boot the people in BiH, especially Serbs, lived without freedom and political rights. Insisting on reinstalling the monument to the occupier while simultaneously ignoring the suffering of the Serb people throughout the centuries is a clear message that foreign rule and guardianship are preferable to freedom," Dodik said in his SRNA statement.

He noted that the Young Bosnia movement members, besides the idea of freedom, stood up against the empire and emphasized that Gavrilo Princip was a nationalist, but not a chauvinist, and 1914 Franz Ferdinand assassination was respected for decades by both Muslims and Croats in BiH.

"The fact that they later destroyed the commemorative plaque to Gavrilo Princip and renamed the `Young Bosnia Museum` to the so-called `Sarajevo Museum 1878-1918,` which is located, ironically, at the corner of Obala Kulina Bana and Zelenih Beretki streets, is characteristic of Sarajevo's Muslims who still mourn for the empire and the occupiers," emphasized Dodik, reminding that historical facts confirm that Princip was not a fascist or an occupier but a fighter for the idea of freedom in his country.

Dodik also reminded that the member of the Academy of Sciences of BiH Muhamed Filipović had previously stated that Gavrilo Princip was a "patriot who rightly saw Austro-Hungary as an occupying and violent force in his homeland".

While the initiatives to reinstall the monument to the occupier Ferdinand are being adopted, Dodik says, Sarajevo remains silent about the suffering of Serbs, the exodus of Sarajevo Serbs, prison camps, and crimes against Serbs, confirming that they consciously choose selective memory.

He asked why that "generous" Sarajevo does not allow Serbs to peacefully and freely pay tribute to the former JNA members who were ruthlessly killed by the Green Berets members in Dobrovoljačka Street and whether they will remember the Serb wedding guest that was killed simply for carrying the Serb flag at a family celebration on March 1.

Dodik stated that this is the picture of today's Sarajevo and pointed out that it is clear that with such provocations, attempts to rewrite history, and relativizing one people's struggle for freedom, there is no room for reconciliation and coexistence.

"The loudest advocates of such initiatives are precisely those who are used to `tying their horse where their master tells them` and are the most willing to give lessons to Republika Srpska, speak of `European values,` while in fact promoting a narrative in which Serb victims are invisible and the occupiers are glorified," Dodik emphasized.

He pointed out that by adopting this initiative, Sarajevo confirmed that it always chooses the symbols of empire and occupation.

"They obviously have no problem glorifying the symbols of imperial occupation, but they have a problem recognizing Serb victims and the truth that Sarajevo, once a multiethnic city, has today become a Muslim town," concluded Dodik.

The Sarajevo City Council has adopted an initiative to install the monument to Austro-Hungarian heir Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie near the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo. The initiative came from the Party for BiH Caucus.