BY REINSTALLING MONUMENT TO FRANZ FERDINAND, SARAJEVO SEEKS TO PUSH SERBS OUT

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 27 /SRNA/ - Branislav Princip, the grandson of Gavrilo Princip's brother Nikola, told SRNA that the authorities in Sarajevo most likely have political interests in having, for years, removed traces of his close relative from the city and that, through this, as well as through the latest intention to reinstall the monument to Archduke Franz Ferdinand, they are attempting to completely exclude the Serbian element.

"However, I am not sure how much they can actually achieve in that regard. I also do not understand why, given that the Sarajevo assassination was, in fact, directed against the Austro-Hungarian occupier," Princip said.

He asked why Sarajevo would erect a monument to Archduke Franz Ferdinand when this has not been done either in Austria or in his hometown of Graz.

Princip noted that, after becoming a republic following the Great War, Austria no longer maintained an affirmative attitude toward the Habsburg dynasty.

"Even my grandfather received a scholarship from the Austrian government immediately after the war, despite being Gavrilo's brother. Austria's own attitude toward the Habsburgs and that monarchy after the Great War was not affirmative. So why has this now become relevant for the authorities in Sarajevo to build and reinstall such a monument, I do not know. Perhaps it is their political interest to somehow push the Serbian element out," Princip said.

The Sarajevo City Council recently adopted an initiative to reinstall a monument to the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, near the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo.

The initiative was submitted by the councilors’ caucus of the Party for BiH.

The monument to Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, was removed from the site of the Latin Bridge and destroyed after the end of the Great War and the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.