Bosnian terrorism expert discusses embassy attacker trial, Wahhabis in Syria

University professor Vlado Azinovic has observed that someone has persuaded the "warriors" to go to Syria, a country that they have never seen before. He also warned that it would therefore be even easier to persuade them to fight their "closer" enemies within Bosnia and Hercegovina [B-H], or the region. Azinovic believes that the Sunni-Shi'i conflict that was "imported" among the local Muslim population does not, however, pose a particular threat to the security situation in B-H.

[Mrkonjic] How would you comment on the alleged offer by Mevlid Jasarevic to the B-H Prosecutor's Office for a deal in exchange for statement who he got the weapons to attack the US Embassy from, and the Prosecutor's Office's consequent rejection?

[Azinovic] I find it difficult to talk about this with certainty as it seems that neither the defence nor the prosecution confirmed that this was a negotiating matter, or that such an offer was made at all. The origin of the rifle used for the attack on the Embassy has been subject to investigation. But, unlike everything else that the prosecution wanted to know, and Jasarevic eventually told, he persistently refused to say where he got the rifle from. As far as I remember, he even suggested on one occasion that he bought the weapon from a person of different ethnicity. I have recently heard that he now the claims that he got it from a member of his closer family. In any case, it would be important to determine the origin of this weapon, although this does not have to be vital because this would not necessarily mean that someone gave him or sold him the weapon for the purpose of attacking the US Embassy in Sarajevo. I suppose that the Prosecutor's Office will judge whether this piece of information is important enough to consider negotiating a lower sentence for him.

[Mrkonjic] How do you comment on the threats received by your distinguished colleague Professor Hafizovic? That was frightening, but do you think that there will be more such things in the future?

[Azinovic] I think that the problem is much bigger than this. We have been prone for a long time to a building of a collective consciousness that formerly depended on the ideology, and it now depends on the ethnic and religious identities. In both cases, the internal cohesion of such collectivities is usually preserved by selective and one-sided interpretations of the past and the present, and fantasies about our own identity group being the best, always on the side of justice and the truth, and always indisputably right. "Those who speak differently are responsible for slander and lies, and they will feel our sanction," the Yugoslav communists used to sing judging those who did not share their views and punishing them for now recognizing the same knowledge patterns. Collective identities are usually strengthened by recognizing and punishing its enemies. From that point of view, everything that is of other and different from us is actually the evidence for our own correctness, but also the need for something that is "ours" to defeat "theirs." Every individualism is a threat for the collective cohesion and needs to be suppressed. This is, unfortunately, the context in which we could comment on what happened to Professor Resid Hafizovic, an excellent intellectual and scholar. The threats against him also constitute threats against others who may also want to resist the dictatorship of single-mindedness. What is particularly interesting in this case, in my opinion, is that the threats against Professor Hafizovic were partly condemned by those who often favour and encourage the development of consciousness generating such threats. There have been frequent debates within the Islamic Community in B-H about the "import" of the Sunni and Shi'i divisions among the local Muslim population.

[Mrkonjic] Has this now become a serious matter, one that could encourage aggression, and could it be related to terrorist activity and threat?

[Azinovic] The Sunni-Shi'i rifts, and their long and often bloody history, as well as their reflections on the Muslim relations in the world, constitute a complex matter of which we first became aware at the end of 1980s, but particularly during the past war when the interests of Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two most important proponents of this conflict, started overlapping in this region. It seems that the actions of several local players have recently made the Shi'i teaching more prominent here. Moreover, some of the Iranian organizational models functioning under an illusion of democracy, but in fact under strong control of the Islamic Revolution guardians, have been very appealing for some formal and informal structures in B-H, which have tried to copy this model here. But, whatever this is, I do not think that it will have the direct security implications that you referred to.

[Mrkonjic] Tens of Wahhabis from B-H have allegedly joined wars in the Arab countries. How come they can be so openly trained in B-H, and who, in your opinion, is financing their training and recruitment?

[Azinovic] I have not so far received any confirmation that individuals or groups that you mentioned are in fact being trained in B-H. Such allegations have been made by individuals who claim to be terror experts, but I think that the relevant security agencies do not have information that could confirm such claims. It was reported and documented that several tens of Bosnian nationals left for Syria over the past months to fight on the side of various opposition groups against the regime of President Al-Asad. This has indicated several potentially alarming issues. First of all, if it was possible to persuade someone from B-H to go and fight against enemies in Syria, a country that these "warriors" were probably not able to show on the map earlier, how difficult would it be to persuade them to start a battle against much "closer" enemies, if needed, in B-H, or the region? Secondly, by leaving for Syria, these people tend to get in contact with persons who are linked with international groups or organizations and become, or stay, more or less parts of these networks even after they return to B-H. Furthermore, the return of ideologically radicalized persons with combat experience could make it likely for them to use this experience here, if necessary. And, as if this was not enough, in a country like ours, with an almost completely fallen system of moral and ethical values, which is dominated by a lack of political responsibility, by corruption, incompetence, and nepotism, it is very likely that a part of the public here, particularly the younger generations, will see "our veterans from Syria" as the social role models, someone to look up to and follow. I am not sure that we have strong enough corrective mechanisms - either values, or the social and security measures, to fight such a process, if it expands and becomes stronger.

Source: Dnevni list, Mostar