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Incidents that have occurred in recent days in Priboj, a small town on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, have significantly disturbed the Bosnian population in this town. But the Serbian authorities have also reacted.
During Orthodox Christmas on January 7, a group of unidentified youth in Priboj sang “It’s Christmas, shoot the mosques.” A few days ago, a group of Priboj border police officers sang songs calling for the repetition of the crimes of Srebrenica, Vukovar, Novi Pazar and Sjenica. Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against the 12 police officers, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vuiqi shk visited Priboj – to reduce inter-ethnic tensions.
The Minister of Police, Aleksandar Vulin, stated that “there is no place in the MIA for behavior like those in Priboj” and announced that a working group has been formed and that “the disciplinary bodies of the MIA will decide on the punishment of police officers.”
During the session of the Serbian Parliament, Sandzak Democratic Action Party (SDA) MP Enis Imamovic sent a question to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, saying, “not because he trusts them, but to draw attention to how much the institutions encourage and allow the spread of transnational and religious hatred ”. He recalled that the police committed crimes in Sandzak, specifically in Priboj in the 1990s, and that we are now witnessing a resurgence of threats.
Atmosphere of hatred
Some NGOs in Serbia pointed out, among other things, that the months-long campaign in support of war criminals in Serbia, as well as hate speech on social media, led to an atmosphere of intolerance, with Bosniaks being declared unwanted in the area, and In Serbia. They assess the state’s response to such incidents as too lenient or often non-existent, and call on the Serbian state to stop spreading hatred and intimidation of Bosniaks in Sandzak.
President Vuiqiiq’s visit to Priboj is seen by Goran Mileti,, Director of Civil Rights Defenders for Europe, only for certain purposes. “Vucic did not speak in Belgrade about the inscriptions in support of Ratko Mladic and the glorification of criminals. “While going to Priboj, he can not fix all this now,” Miletic told DW.
stereotyping
The mentioned incidents should be seen as part of the general social atmosphere, which has been created for many years, says for DW, Sonja Biserko, chairwoman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia.
“This atmosphere has been created primarily by the state-controlled media, but also by the part of the academic community that constantly promotes these stereotypes about Bosniaks in Serbia, as well as about Muslims in the Balkans in general. There has never been a breakdown of these stereotypes, but they are ignited when necessary. “The project of the ‘Serbian world’ has definitely gained momentum and has been updated, because it is estimated that the time may have come for it to be realized,” Biserko told DW.
Dodik’s support
The events in Sandzak and the attitude of the Serbian government towards this part can in no way be separated from the attitude of Serbia towards Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, and ultimately neither from the attitude towards Milorad Dodikut, emphasize DW interlocutors. Goran Miletic believes that Serbia’s relationship with Bosnia and Herzegovina has never been “worse”.
“The only thing that comes from Serbia is that it is committed to the Dayton Agreement. “But on the ground everything is different.” Serbia is not playing a constructive role, because it has fears as before the war in BiH. As for Dodik, he would not say or do anything that is not supported by Serbia. For those who do not believe this, it should be noted that Dodik is present in almost every opening of a factory, bridge or anything else in Serbia. “The message is that Serbia stands unreservedly behind everything that happens in BiH,” said Goran Miletic.
“The factor of peace and stability”
Sonja Biserko adds that “Sandzak has long been perceived as part of the ‘green transversal’, which includes Turkey, Northern Macedonia, Kosovo, Sandzak, Sarajevo, and this thesis largely determines the attitude towards the Muslim population in general. On the other hand, there are opinions that Vuiqiiq went to Priboj, “only to appear before the international community as a factor of peace and stability,” said the chairwoman of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia.
“On the other hand, all those right-wing and nationalist organizations are supported, which disrupt stability and increase tensions in the region on a daily basis. It can be said that this manipulation has been successful with international actors in the past years, but the space for manipulation has now been reduced with the arrival of the new American administration “, says Sonja Biserko.
Extremists
The director of Civil Right Defenders for Europe Miletic states that after the benevolent attitude towards the graffiti for Ratko Mladic, “it was seen that these groups have the support of the authorities”. This was seen even after the “last vandal” attack on Pride info center, which is only a few steps away from the Serbian presidency. Authorities have not taken action against the perpetrators of the attacks, Miletic explained.
Goran Miletic notes that the first step in Vucic’s methodology is an artificial division “where human rights activists are presented as extremists, who are opposed by other extremist groups and he presents this as a conflict between the two extremes”. While Vucic comes out at the end and presents himself as a moderate politician who solves problems. “We have known this methodology since the time of Milosevic, who wanted to be much better than the radicals.But it seems to me that this way of governing can not last long, concludes Goran Miletic./ DW
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