In eastern Herzegovina there is more crying and sorrow than there is joy

A Bayram Interview: Husein ef. HODZIC, Chief Imam for Eastern Herzegovina

IN EASTERN HERZEGOVINA THERE IS MORE CRYING AND SORROW THAN THERE IS JOY

BOSNJACI.net: Esteemed ef. Hodzic, thank you for responding to our invitation for a discussion. We are hours away from Kurban Bayram and I ask you to try and remember the first Bayram in Trebinje, or the one after the Dayton and the one today, in terms of how Bosniaks celebrate Bayrams.

HODZIC: Bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim. Our complete gratitude belongs to Him, Allah Almighty. To Him belongs our complete subservience and loyalty. Our greatest example is His dearest, and peygamber, Muhammed s.a.v.s.

Supported by the forces of the international community stationed in BiH, Muslims, Bosniaks, originally expelled from Trebinje and Eastern Herzegovina, gathered at the end of the winter in 2001, in Trebinje, in the organization of the Mufti of Mostar after many years of absence, to see their homes, pay homage at the burial sites of the deceased and to mark Kurban Bayram.
Bayrams feel lonely just like us, the Muslims of this area

BOSNJACI.net: Seven years have gone by and there must have been some difficult times...

HODZIC: Whenever I, as Imam in Trebinje, near this seventh Bayram, and this Islamic holy day arrives, I remember the events of 2001 in Trebinje. That was the start and hope of Muslims that the lost peace would be returned to them and that they would be on the receiving end of satisfaction for the enormous injustice which had been inflicted upon them earlier in these areas of the Eastern Herzegovina. In those attempts and hopes we were not rendered hopeless even when vandals obstructed our ceremonies during our installing of the cornerstone for the Osman Pasha Mosque in Trebinje in May of 2001.

Today, almost seven years later, we will try to briefly explain our predicament in these areas and the circumstances which rule in this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We think that your initial question about Bosniaks celebrating Bayram in Eastern Herzegovina is a little on the heavy side for these conditions and for these areas, which will further be revealed during our conversation. Bayrams arrive here by way of God’s Grace, they are noted and remembered. However, I think if Bayrams and Ramadans in Eastern Herzegovina could talk about their impressions and the attention given them and the way they are celebrated, then they would say that they feel lonely just like us, the Muslims of the area. During Bayrams we Muslims feel more like crying and being sad, rather than to celebrate. This is not to blame Islam or the faithful in Islam, but the catastrophic socio-political reality, primarily; for example, insecurity among non-Serbs, and then complete lack of any human rights here. Still, we are content and proud of our own realization and feelings that Allah has given us to live and work here. To be a Muslim and to celebrate Bayram here is a great act of ibadet. To spite and resist the enemy here is certainly a way of struggle upon the path of Allah, we pray to Him, Allah, that we be seen and that they feel jealousy toward our efforts and sabur. For somebody else, say, from Sarajevo, it is a non issue if he, upon leaving his apartment or house, sees a bag full of garbage in front of his door. But if in Trebinje, by the entrance door, on the ground exactly underneath the words “Majlis of the Islamic Community”, you see a large bag containing all kinds of garbage, then you find more reasons to worry, feel helpless and feel humiliated as a person and as a community.

BOSNJACI.net: We are interested to hear about the return and presence of Bosniaks, Muslims, following the avalanche of war, and about the times they were expelled?

HODZIC: The presence of Muslims in Trebinje and Eastern Herzegovina is negligible, except during annual vacations. Their feeling for their birthplace does not diminish. If they are not here during this Bayram then they are here in their hearts and souls and that is significant. Some fifty of them have sent, again, their kurbans to institutions, including in Trebinje, so that their brothers and sisters who have returned can be merry and have a feast with the meat of kurban, and to fill the freezers of the local “Imaret”. Majlis of the Islamic Community of Trebinje has, for years, headed by the Imam, coordinated this gift giving.
Repatriates have no rights and are forced to suffer all kinds of insults and humiliation

BOSNJACI.net: Earlier, in the context with Bayram, we mentioned repatriates and those who have not yet returned.

HODZIC: We can freely say that we sincerely feel for both. Both are in a subjugated and unenviable situation. On the one hand, they have been short-shifted in their existence, work and living in the place of their origin. In my visit to Australia, I have spoken to the people of Trebinje and have openly and seriously told them that I felt sorry for the state they are in. And those others, who have returned, have no rights and are forced to suffer all kinds of insults and humiliation, and to live mainly in poverty as have-nots. Their economic prospects are hopeless and unsustainable.

BOSNJACI.net: How is health and education?

HODZIC: Health is a story upon itself, and the education, “luckily”, is not needed as we have no young generation and offspring. This category in Eastern Herzegovina, although small in numbers, has no possibility or hope that someone’s care, help or protection will arrive, be it societal, national or religious. They are left to their own devices before hordes of wolves, in likeness of humans, fervent nationalists and monsters, and increasingly more, from the institutions who are cheered by the energized government in Banja Luka, the local authorities, both legislative and executive, and their institutions.
Humiliation of non-Serbs by Serbs


BOSNJACI.net: We have written about having an open apartheid upon Bosniaks in this part of BiH.

HODZIC: This is absolutely correct. When we look at Trebinje and Eastern Herzegovina then we find out, and also advise the relevant authorities, about this being an area and a place where for years, year in and year out, incidents of humiliation of non-Serbs, primarily Muslims, is on the increase, in many ways, some of which are known to the public at large, and as you have also published in your web magazine, that Trebinje is at the forefront of those activities in this part of Herzegovina.
Pilfering of our possessions

BOSNJACI.net: Tell us about the problems of the Islamic Association...

HODZIC: As far as the Islamic Associations in Trebinje, Gacko, Bileca,... we face the biggest problems from institutions of those cities where, constantly, the same ones attempt to hide, oppose, pilfer or destroy the possessions of our associations. That is exactly so... all these examples are present. That is pilfering, and I think that it is an understatement for the conditions, the enormity and the kind and the modality of pilfering.

BOSNJACI.net: Have you pointed out to the Rijaset of the Islamic Community these examples which you mention here?

HODZIC: We have, for years, written to the Rijaset of the Islamic Community, as well as to the Vakuf Directorate in Sarajevo, and issued warnings about the pilfering of our vakuf lands, houses, apartments in Trebinje and RS. We have not received any response that we expected to receive. But when that phenomenon arrived, recently, before the courts, and the Parliament in the last instance, about bringing forth a decision about pilfering, the Rijaset of the Islamic Community held an extraordinary session and issued the statement that it issued. But that is referred to being

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