[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 67 (Wednesday, May 16, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E811-E812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP IN THE BALKANS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 16, 2001

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, news reports from Bosnia and 
Kosovo earlier this month give reason to despair.
  First, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, about 30 people were injured and 
property was damaged during riots in the ``Republika Srpska'' cities of 
Trebinje on May 5 and Banja Luka on May 7. Islamic leaders, Bosnian 
officials and representatives of the international community were 
attacked during ceremonies to lay the first stones of mosques being 
rebuilt where mosques destroyed by Serb militants in 1993 once stood.
  We remember well, hundreds of mosques were destroyed during the war 
as part of the genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing. The apparent 
purpose was to erase the cultural vestiges of the Bosniac population 
which was terrorized and forced to flee. It was not uncommon for the 
local ethnic Serbs subsequently to deny a mosque had ever existed, once 
the rubble had been cleared away. The famous Ferhadija mosque in Banja 
Luka built in 1583 was blown to bits on May 7, 1993. The ceremony 
exactly eight years later was the culmination of persistent efforts, 
including the Helsinki Commission which I co-chair, to get Republika 
Srpska leaders to permit the reconstruction of destroyed mosques, which 
they finally did this year.
  The riots last week demonstrate the continued intolerance in the 
region. Moreover, while Bosnian Serb officials have officially 
condemned the incidents, there are indications that both the Trebinje 
and Banja Luka events were orchestrated and perhaps linked. In 
Trebinje, the police force seemed simply to be not adequate. In Banja 
Luka, though, some believe that the police forces may have been 
involved in plans to disrupt the ceremonies. Radovan Karadzic, the 
wartime Bosnian Serb leader who has been indicted for genocide but 
remains at large, is alleged to have been responsible.
  Meanwhile, in Kosovo on May 6, local Albanians threw stones breaking 
windows and the doors of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Dimitrije 
in the village of Susica. Damage was done inside, and some cash 
offering was stolen. This was only the most recent in a wave of attack 
since the end of the conflict in Kosovo in 1999 in which about one 
hundred Orthodox churches have been damaged or destroyed. Many of these 
incidents have been documented by Serbian Orthodox Bishop Artemije in 
testimony before the Helsinki Commission. Mr. Speaker, there are signs 
that in

[[Page E812]]

Kosovo, too, these attacks are not spontaneous acts of intolerance. 
Unfortunately, it seems that an environment has been created in which 
such acts of violence are not discouraged, let alone thwarted.
  Mr. Speaker, attacks on places of worship are reprehensible, no 
matter what the faith, no matter what the ethnicity of the worshipers. 
These sites are sacred to believers, and important as cultural symbols 
even to many who are not. Orchestrated or spontaneous, these attacks 
must be stopped. The international presence, including peacekeeping 
forces, local law enforcement, political leaders, and religious figures 
across faiths must be part of the solution, not the problem.
  I was particularly disappointed with the response of Yugoslav 
President Vojislav Kostunica, who, while criticizing those who engaged 
in violence, sought to place some of the blame on those working to 
rebuild the mosques in Republika Srpska. He was quoted as saying that 
some churches and mosques should not be rebuilt because they might 
provoke such incidents. Blaming the victim, sadly, has become a norm in 
the minds of too many who could and should, instead, be champions of 
justice.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, let us remember that freedom of thought, 
religion and belief is a fundamental human right, and attacks on 
religious sites are attacks on that right, attacks that must be 
wholeheartedly condemned and hopefully prevented from happening again.

                          ____________________