The PRICE of INTEGRATION
The Muslims of Bosnia Were Totally INTEGRATED With the Other Ethnic &
Religious Groups in the Former Yugoslavia. Some Even Will Go to the Extent of
Saying That Their LIFESTYLE Was Not DISSIMILAR to that of Christian Croats &
Serbs. What Happened When Yugoslavia Disintegrated? They Got SLAUGHTERED. Why
for the Simple Reason That They Demanded a Separate State for the Muslims
Like Everybody Else Was Demanding for Their Own Ethnic Group. - AB
Bosnian Widow in Church Battle
Monday, 27 August 2007,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6960579.stm
A Bosnian Muslim widow's battle to remove a Serbian Orthodox church from her
land is nearing its end. The BBC's Nicholas Walton visited Fata Orlovic in her
village to find out more
Fata Orlovic's house is easy to find in the village of Konjevic Polje. It is
the one with a large Serbian Orthodox church built in its front garden. Fata
herself is an irrepressible ball of energy, greeting me as she has greeted
other journalists, with a long fusillade of invective about the building.
"I want them to remove the church and I want soil back on this plot of land,"
she tells me, furiously motioning towards what would have been her front
garden. "They can give me money and I'll do it myself," she explains, a smile
breaking out across her wrinkled features.
I do not doubt that she would set about dismantling the church, brick by
brick, were she given the go-ahead.
Tenacious fight
Like many Muslims in the hills of eastern Bosnia, she was ethnically cleansed
from the village during the war in the early 1990s. Her husband was killed and
she was made a refugee by ethnic Serb military aggression. When she returned to
Konjevic Polje in 2000, she was outraged to find the church had been built on
her land.
This was a common feature of the brutal ethnic cleansing that took place
during the Bosnian war. Whole ethnic groups - Muslim, Croat and Serb - were
forced from their homes, and their religious symbols were destroyed. In their
place, new buildings like the church in Konjevic Polje were erected, to
emphasise that a new ethnic and religious group now owned the land.
At the time, Serb refugees from fighting in central Bosnia lived in the
village, but now the original Muslim villagers have returned. Since coming
back, Fata Orlovic has fought tenaciously to have the church removed from her
garden. She encountered bureaucratic resistance and even intimidation, but
stood her ground.
Empty church
For members of the powerful international community in Bosnia, Fata Orlovic's
fight against the church is seen as a test case.
"If she doesn't get the church off her land you will never have a society
that is governed by the rule of law," explains James Rodehaver, human rights
director for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in
Sarajevo. "It would mean a constant process of dealing with political crises
and changes of political will. The legacy of the war would never be resolved."
Now, with the church standing empty after her stubborn campaign, it looks
like progress is being made. Only the more nationalist Serbs still oppose Fata,
and the government of the Bosnian Serb half of the country has said it will
help find a solution.
The next stage will be to find a way to dismantle the church and move it
elsewhere. The process will cost thousands of dollars, and Fata is waiting to
hear when the work will begin.
"It doesn't bother me that it's a church," Fata explains. "It's where they
worship and that is fine. I respect churches as much as mosques. "But if they
want a church they should just put it on their own land instead of mine. I
respect all nations and religions, but I can't respect people building on my
land."
Fata smiles at me again. She knows that her long battle is almost over, and
that her front garden will soon be full of corn and vegetables. Fata's land
will once again be hers.
AB
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"For to us
will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy
Quran 88:25-26)
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