CNAB press release regarding slanderous statements and violent threats

CNAB press release regarding slanderous statements and violent threats

The Congress of North American Bosniaks (CNAB) sharply condemns and protests the lies and misinformation in the text by Goran Maunaga (Glas Srpske, November 23, 2010) who is trying to implicate “a part of the Bosniak movement in North America” into alleged acts of violence against Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) politicians.

CNAB’s Board of Directors would like to use this opportunity to inform all its members, Bosniaks, and Bosnian patriots around the world, as well as the general public in Bosnia and the world in general about alleged threats against Milorad Dodik and Dragan Cavic and to clarify that these allegation must be considered in the context of the well-known Goebbels-like project of hostile Serbian media war waged against patriotic, democratic, lobby efforts of the Bosnian diaspora in North America. These slander attempts are the extension of the same ultranationalist politics of fear mongering and hatred that was utilized during the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina for the benefit of creating a Greater Serbia. This is all being done through a collaborated effort of hate filled Serb ‘journalists’ and bloggers to somehow implicate the peace-loving Bosniak people with acts of violence, obviously contrary to Bosniaks’ core national being, values and beliefs.

Through all of its 10 years of existence, CNAB has advocated for peace and justice through democratic and diplomatic means only. Furthermore, CNAB categorically condemns all violent actions, including any use of anti-democratic means including intimidation and threats to promote ideas, programs, or plans. For this reason, CNAB invites law-enforcement and judicial agencies in Bosnia to seriously investigate allegations of threats against any Bosnian politicians and take immediate and appropriate measures.

This construed campaign is continued by the help of the RS media and is spread further by misinformation over portals such as Serbianna, well-known for its radical, pro-chetnik [Nazi collaborators during WWII] views. Serbianna’s text signed by M. Bozinovich and dated November 24th, 2010 libelously insinuates a connection between CNAB and alleged threats.

It is obvious that the reason for this slanderous and libelous campaign is the recent success of the CNAB and Bosnian patriots in lobbying and advocacy efforts in the USA and Canada. The work of the young, democratic, and modern Bosnian-American and Bosnian-Canadian diaspora is the biggest hurdle for the radical pro-Serbian agenda.

Board of Directors of CNAB wants to draw attention to a continuous process of media, political parties, and government agencies of the smaller Bosnian entity working together with pro-chetnik Serbian immigration to discredit honest work of Bosnian diaspora in the USA and Canada.

We will further utilize the power of truth, and all of our abilities and democratic means in the United States and Canada to make sure that Cosic’s politics of ‘lying in the name of patriotism’ does not take hold in these democratic societies and to make sure that the memories of atrocities committed against Bosniaks do not perish. It is because of our embrace of truth and democracy that we have been successful in opening doors to many well known organizations and government entities such as the U.S. State Department, and the offices of many senators, congressmen, governors, and mayors across the United States and Canada. As a result of these relationships and factual arguments for truth and justice that the Canadian Parliament and the U.S. Congress, as well as many State Parliaments have adopted Resolutions on Srebrenica, and the U.S. government and administration continue to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in their reform efforts.

This success has not been overlooked by the enemies of Bosnia and its people, so they created a plan that they have been implementing for a long time now. First, they tried to negate the genocide and the facts of the aggression, then they tried to minimize the number of innocent victims; after that they enlisted quasi experts like Darko Trifunovic to spread lies; they hacked into pro-Bosnian sites (bosniak.org, bosnjaci.net, chicagoraja, etc); and after all of this did not yield any results, they started spending millions from their budgets to wash away the stains of the Greater-Serbian terrorist ideology. Considering that the truth is priceless, there were unsuccessful in their efforts, so now the smear campaign aimed at discrediting our organization as well as open terrorist threats were made against the Board of Directors of CNAB.

Exactly two months ago, a terror threat was sent to CNAB email address as well as the private e-mail the President of the Board, on 24 September, 2010. Bearing in mind the experience of such ideology of hatred, the CNAB BoD has taken these threats very seriously and has notified the competent authorities of the United States and Canada and relevant Anti-Terrorism agencies. Based on the IP addresses and other information we have discovered where and from whom came the threat from Canada and concluded that it is an attempt by extreme Serb nationalists and activists to frighten and intimidate Bosniaks in order to stop us from spreading the truth about the aggression on Bosnia and the genocide that occurred over Bosniak people and thus ourselves.

Violent threats and slanderous accusations will not stop Bosniaks in promoting the truth about Bosnia, Bosniaks, aggression and genocide. We are fully convinced that the institutions of the countries in which we live in will fulfill their legal obligation to find and punish the writers of the emails which are a disgrace to the democratic societies of the United States and Canada. Instead of violence, these two great nations value the principles of human freedom, democratic ideas and the rule of law. The person(s) who wrote the emails above do not belong in such societies or in the Twenty-first century, but instead will rightfully end up in the landfill of history like their predecessors.

Knowing the plans by Greater Serbia supporters to undermine Bosnian diaspora’s advocacy efforts, CNAB expects further attacks in the near future, from the groups that cherish the politics of hatred and the institutions that condoned and even encouraged the most disgusting, inhumane, and terrorist acts in Europe since 1945, by committing genocide against innocent Bosniaks in the early 1990’s.

The terrorist threats against CNAB, slanderous statements, as well as the entire text published in Glas Srpske, in addition to continuous slander on the Serbianna portal have one goal and that is to offer an excuse to compromise and stall current and future actions to build a unified, democratic, and European society in Bosnia.

CNAB will not allow an intimidation and blackmail to slow down the work to spread the truth about the aggression and genocide committed against Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens by Greater Serbia ideologues.

CNAB will continue to promote the interests of BiH citizens and Bosniaks all over the world.

The truth is on our side and on the side of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a peaceful, democratic and multi-ethnic nation.

Hamdija Custovic, spokesperson for CNAB