REISU-L-ULEMA MUSTAFA EF. CERIC HAS NO INTENTION TO CAUSE POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 5,2007) - Leader of the Bosnian Islamic Community Reis-l-Ulema Mustafa ef. Ceric has no intention of violating the Dayton Agreement nor to cause political instability in Bosnia, but he does have the right and obligation to perform his mission conscientiously and responsibly, which includes promoting love for the homeland, because loving the homeland is a part of the Islamic faith,Reis-l-Ulema Mustafa ef. Ceric’s Cabinet said in a statement.

Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa ef. Ceric’s Cabinet issued this statement reacting to a Spokeperson of the Office of the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia (OHR) in Banja Luka Ljiljana Radetic's call to Ceric not to violate the Dayton Agreement and cause political instability.

A statement issued by Ceric’s Cabinet underlines that everyone is free to love the country of their choice and so do Bosniaks have the right to love Bosnia as their homeland and to fight for making it a country of happy and successful people.

The statement adds that sensible people find it beyond comprehension that things that are so evidently clear need to be proved, namely that Bosnia is a country of proud people who do not accept divisions along ethnic of religious lines.

Those who believe in multiculturalism, as a high standard of civilised society, have the right to fight for organising the Bosnian state on the principle of equality of all citizens, rather than on the principle of tribal or national divisions, which is simply impossible to implement in Bosnia.

“Bosnia is a country of all its citizens, including Bosniaks,Croats,Serbs and others, to the extent to which they love it as their country and how much they work for it as their homeland”, the statement reads.

OHR described Ceric’s statement given in Detroit,USA, on Thursday as "interfering in the Bosnian Constitution and the Dayton Agreement".

Speaking in Detroit, Ceric called on all present to “support the group led by Tarik Bilalbegovic, which is lobbying in Washington for a new resolution in the U.S. Congress, which has been initiated by the Bosniak-American Advisory Council for Bosnia.

The resolution, among other things, states that "the RS entity cannot exist under its present name, which represents an ethnically exclusive political philosophy of its founders and cements the results of genocide”.