Dark Side of Crescent Moon
Dani, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina, February 15 1999
by Emir ImamovicKalesija has been the Open Cities program since 1997, although only two Serb families have returned and although independent journalist must be protected by SFOR troops, while war heroes are wounded anew in peace. Above all, entertainers from Serbia have arrived into the town, only to face the resistance from the authorities - coming from mosques built with Serbian brick.
Although Islamic architecture and aviation have nothing in common, the first impression striking someone not versed in either topic upon entry into Kalesija, is that airplanes must give wide berth to that small town in north-eastern Bosnia. Simply said: hardly anywhere in Bosnia-Hercegovina can one find higher and stranger minarets, their style far more appropriate for an Arabic country.
Newly built mosques, mostly constructed with brick bought in Serbia, almost outshine with their brilliance the events in Kalesija which have finally initiated the ripping of the cousin-party links in the municipality considered to be a stronghold of the Party for Democratic Action (SDA). This municipality is so specific that Selim Beslagic, the mayor of the neighboring city of Tuzla, in one statement even drew a parallel between Kalesija, Pale and Grude. However, unlike Pale and Grude, about which everything is known, Kalesija appears to have two faces.
One for the foreigners who on December 27 1997 put that municipality on the list of open cities, although since then only two Serb and 100 Roma families have returned. Mayor Enver Jukanovic is not sure whether the Roma [probably Muslims] "consider themselves to be an ethnic minority". The other face is reserved for rare independent journalists who claim that they would have "disappeared" long time ago had it not been for IPTF and SFOR, while the demobilized and disabled war heroes decorated by "Gold Lily" [highest Bosniak military decoration] claim that after WWII even Partisan [communist guerrillas during WWII] cows in Sekovici [nearby Serb majority town] had war veteran pensions while they today receive only $35 a year.
Feral after Milka Todorovic
The "hottest" topic in Kalesija these days is the clash between the municipal authorities, primarily mayor's office, and the only independent medium in the municipality, Radio Feral, founded seven months ago. From day one, the Radio (its motto is "We say what you think") was the object of obstructions, according to its editor-in-chief and one of the owners Fuad Halilovic. The conflict reached boiling point on February 2 when the article with the title Reisolution that goes on, from the previous issue of Dani was read in the show Feral's kiosk. Although the announcer emphasized several times that the author of the article is Senad Pecanin, the phones in the very humble offices of the Radio started ringing as soon as he was finished with the reading of the article.The usual arsenal of threats - bomb, gun, knife, fist - was adorned by the accusations of the editorial board for extreme Serb nationalism and, of course, talk about female members of the employees' families. After all that, Fuad Halilovic demanded from the municipal authorities in his commentary to "rein in their SDA dogs" and stop opposing the transition of Kalesija from "a closed village into an open city". Halilovic, as he said, is convinced that he was threatened by unofficial spokespersons of Enver Jukanovic and asks: "Is this, as they like to say, reintegration of Bosnia, democracy or tyranny?"
Thus, Radio Feral became almost as interesting in Kalesija as the infamous story about the triangle war heroes - Serb singers - self-declared guardians of Bosniak consciousness, conscience and, of course, cemeteries. On January 23, Elvir Kopic and Sefik Selimovic Dzek organized in the local school gym a concert of (to be honest, true ambassadors of kitch) Milka Todorovic, Dragan Saulic and certain Ahmet Alimanovic, who appeared instead of announced Dzej Ramadanovski.
However, the events which preceded the "first concert of entertainers from Serbia" and the later ban on the use of the school gym for all similar activities, issued by cantonal minister Ismet Osmanovic, seriously rile two "Lilies" who now claim that they will continue to organize similar concerts and "invite Dragana Mirkovic, Ceca, Milos Bojanic, Mitar Miric..." "Write that we expect that they will accept our invitation", said Sefik Selimovic, Kalesijan Dzek [Jack] and war phenomenon. Namely, Selimovic entered the war with only one arm and fought for four years in commando units!?
Who Robbed and Who Fought During the War
We found both turbo-folk promoters in Kopic's tavern "Princ" in Kalesija. Visibly angry, they immediately announced a sale of decorations in front of the Kalesija city hall, recently built object, already nicknamed "Kalesijan cathedral". "The price does not matter. We'll take any offer in order to get rid of this trouble," they said, continuing their story and interrupting each other with accusations against the mayor of Kalesija."Jukanovic drinks in the Republic of Srpska, in the tavern 'Peace Valley', he is cordial with the politicians from Srpska; he took the mayor of the Osmaci municipality, Ruzdic, who is a Radical [Serb nationalist] on a tour of Austria; and he forbade us to organize a concert which would have provided enough for us and another 40 demobilized fighters and members of their families. When I asked to be employed at a reception in the city hall, he told me to go shoot at the people, because that is the only thing I know to do. On the other hand, he has an apartment in Tuzla, and in a tavern in Gospic rewards the singer Monika with 1,000 DM. The people here know who fought in 1992 and who looted Kalesija. The Chetniks did not loot our town. The very same Jukanovic was a police chief at the time and he demanded from me to assist in an investigation regarding the illicit drug trade, which is quite common in Kalesija. I do not why, but the investigation was suddenly stopped. Also, add that if something happens to us, the people here will know who's responsible for that. The same individuals who now protect the prostitution in Kalesija. You can check in 'Istanbul' or 'Atlanta' (bars in the village of Vukovije, auth. rem.)," claims Sefik Selimovic Dzek.
Elvir Kopic's story is very similar, although this young man is less bitter: "Above all we support the rule of law, but do not understand which law was broken by our concert. Anyway, what kind of law allows a policeman to stop my car and ask me if I have weapons? For example, the mayor instituted the rule according to which all bars must close after 11pm. And all but mine are open after that deadline, and I have so far been fined with DM 9,600!? Dzek's story about drugs is also interesting. At the time, I was under surveillance. They questioned my friends, searched for evidence of my involvement... As far as the concert is concerned, just ask the people who were there. Many congratulated us on the organization. The authorities slammed school director Tija Mujanovic, and we paid her for the use of the gym DM 400. Two more concerts and she will have enough to fix the roof on the school. They threaten her, and do not dare touch us. I lost my father in the war. I was forced from my home and now do everything with only one goal in mind: to return home. But this is not the first time we have been attacked. About two or three months ago we were wounded in a shooting near the bar 'Zates'. In the end, we were accused of causing the shooting, although we were ambushed. One of the detained participants in the ambush claimed that we had beaten him with our hands and feet. I have only one leg, while Dzek fought in the war with one arm."
Both Kopic and Selimovic hold the local correspondent of Dnevni Avaz, Fahrudin Sinanovic responsible for the trouble around the concert. They accuse him of visiting mosques and putting together a petition against the concert with forged signatures. They claim that Sinanovic misused the stamp of the Veteran's Association, using it to verify the statement that he had composed on his own. These, quite serious, accusations were confirmed by Sead Sehic Seha, an independent councilor in the Kalesija municipal council. He claims that he was present at the dzuma [Islamic prayer] when the signatures were collected.
Independent Councilor's Story
Sehic's wartime and peacetime story is a reflection of all events in Kalesija since the time when this region was one of the least developed in Yugoslavia until the beginning of the downfall of one of the impenetrable Party's [SDA] strongholds. Namely, Sehic in 1989 deserted from the Yugoslav People's Army and escaped to Austria, where he found employment in a Coca-Cola factory. He returned home at the start of the aggression. Soon he was seriously wounded, and after the end of the recovery he founded the local organization of the Veteran's Association. On behalf of the Association, in 1993 he informed Alija Izetbegovic about dark events in Kalesija: smuggling with Serbs, barter of salt for sugar and watermelons, arrogant behavior of the local power brokers... Soon, he was kidnapped. "A car stopped besides me and four men with masks on their faces came out. They put a rag over my face and I only had enough time to recognize a peppermint-like smell before I fainted. I woke up tied up in a room. They beat me for four days. I finally woke up in a brook and somehow made it to a military field hospital. The investigation about the whole incident was suddenly stopped, exactly like the one about another incident in which I was wounded immediately after the kidnapping. Simply, the bullet which hit me was hastily taken out of my body and even more quickly disappeared."After the war, Sehic won 15 percent of votes in the local elections and entered the municipal council as an independent councilor. For all events in the municipality which "can only be helped by Stalin", Sehic accuses chief imam [Islamic scholar, similar to a priest] in Kalesija efendi Enver Alic, the former mentor and political advisor of Izet Hadzic and currently the eminence grise in the municipality. Sehic has this to say about him: "During a random search of Alic's house in 1993, nine tons of flour, and 700 kilograms of other food stuffs were found. At the time, Alic was the president of the local Merhamet [Islamic charity]." Alic, naturally, had an explanation for everything, and the populace slowly forgot about this incident. Other, "hotter" incidents followed.
However, it seems that even the current conflicts may be over-shadowed by new more interesting developments. According to the Kalesijan newspaper Novo Vreme, the striker in the world famous German soccer club "Bayern", Brazilian Giovanni Elber expressed a desire to play the next season in the village of Vukovljani!?
Sead Sehic, independent local councilor
They are capable of anything
"The political situation in Kalesija is illustrated by the election of the mayor. I demanded that the local council secretly vote for two candidates, Jukanovic, who had been proposed by the Coalition [for the integral and democratic Bosnia-Hercegovina, KCDBiH] and another member of the Coalition, in my opinion much more capable and honest Fikret Suljanovic. SDA did not allow a secret vote, because they felt that their candidate would fail. Later, they bought votes: thus, Abdurahman Bajric from the then Social-democratic Party [not a member of KCDBiH] was given an apartment in return for his vote for Jukanovic. In the previous local council the most power was wielded by the imam Efendi Enver Alic, who had promoted the worst Kalesijan nightmare, Izet Hadzic. On order to be able to better control the municipality, he installed his cousin Suljkanovic as a mayor. Suljkanovic is probably the only mayor in Bosnia without college education. When, at the time Kalesija was proclaimed an open city I warned that there are no conditions for something like that, the mayor told me that I do not understand politics. Then, I demanded that the monuments to the [communist resistance] fighters from WWII (all of which had been demolished) be protected I was told that the monuments would be rebuilt in different locations. Also, I demanded the reconstruction of the [Serb] Orthodox church in Dubnica, but was accused of fighting for Serbs. The driving force in the local economy is the sale of municipally owned land, which is mostly bought by the people who collected funds during the war. Most SDA officials have wrapped themselves in the pages from Quran so that they habitually denounce their opponents as apostates. Efendi Alic and those like him are nothing but fascists. They soil my religion - Islam. I will fight against them in exactly the same way I fought the Chetniks, even though they are capable of anything, even assassinations on their opponents."
Enver Jukanovic, Mayor of Kalesija
I Deny Everything
"Ninety percent of the claims published in the media about me are baseless. Even that concert, nothing but a circus, was given way more significance than it deserves. I have never had conflicts with 'Golden Lilies'. I am very fond of them. Also, I never told Dzek to go shoot at the people, nor had he ever asked from me anything apart from salaries, but we are unable to respond favorably to his request. Elvir Kopic was given an apartment, a land plot and a pension. Now, you tell me if he is endangered? As far as my relations with the media are concerned, the biggest problem there is one-sided reporting. I have no problems with Radio 'Feral'. I would rather not comment on the quality of the journalistic work by Fuad Halilovic, but I do know about his character. Also, efendi Enver Alic is a true gentleman and he never interfered with the municipal business, but he in a member of the Executive Board of the local SDA organization in Kalesija."
Translated on 3/25/1999
