Serbian Bosniaks Ask to Change Schools' Names

The vice-president of the Bosnian National Council, Esad Dzudzo, told BIRN that the organisation that represents Bosniaks' interests in Serbia will use all legal means to push its proposal for eight schools in the country's southern Sandzak region to be renamed after prominent Bosniaks, despite opposition from state officials. 

"It is in accordance with Serbian laws, and we sent a letter today [Wednesday] to the presidents of school boards [in the eight schools] and asked them to schedule meetings [of the boards]. Together with the letters, we sent the biographies of all the personalities from our proposal - who the [education] minister has never heard of," Dzudzo said. 

Serbian Education Minister Mladen Sarcevic said on Monday he has never heard of the names that were proposed for the school renamings. 

"[Serbian] citizens can be of different nationalities, religions and perceptions, but we share the same values. So I would ask the question, why not [Yugoslav writer] Mesa Selimovic or [Bosnian poet] Skender Kulenovic?" Sarcevic told Kurir newspaper on Monday. 

He also accused representatives of the Bosnian National Council of the "politicisation of schools". 

Dzudzo however insisted that the minister is the one "who is politicising the situation".

The proposed names for the schools include Bosniak poets and writers such as Muhamed Hevai Uskufi, Ahmed Ali Gurbi and Musa Cazim Catic, as well as a 12th Century leader of Bosnia, Ban Kulin, and Kadija Gluhavicki, the first significant historical figure from the Sandzak region.

Dzudzo insisted that none of the names on the list is controversial to any ethnic community in the country, including Serbs. 

"We had debates and round-table discussions...