Montenegro and the western Balkans are not safe area

A key cause of instability in the Western Balkans is the renewed and strengthened Greater Serbia state project, now implemented by Aleksandar Vucic under the name of the Serbian world. The key victims of this project today are the democratic forces in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro, which are captives of this 19th century big-state fantasy and are distancing them from building stable, multicultural societies, said Aleksandar Radoman, Dean of the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature at Cetinje.

At the opening of the second Cetinje Forum at the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature (FCJK), he pointed out that the implementers of this ancient policy are today trying to challenge the sovereignty and territorial integrity of in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are today trying to challenge the sovereignty and territorial integrity of these countries. In Montenegro, he added, territorial integrity is not being challenged, at least for the time being, but Montenegrin identity is being denied and the environment is being created for a fundamental identity transformation of society, which should result in a reconfiguration of the country. “If this fails, the ground is being prepared for the implementation of a backup plan for the saoization of Montenegro”, Radoman said.

“That is why forums for dialogue such as the Cetinje Forum are so important today, and why I am particularly pleased that we have gathered here in Cetinje outstanding experts on the situation in the Western Balkans from different backgrounds. I believe that our discussions during these days will be an important link of networking and exchange in order to build a broad movement of resistance against the strengthening of far-right ideas in the region. From this point of view, it is important to appeal to the international public to pay attention to the processes in the Western Balkans and in Montenegro, because this is not a safe area. The experience of Ukraine and the Middle East is a dangerous warning, which raises the question of whether this could be the Western Balkans tomorrow”, said Radoman.

Adnan Čirgić, professor at the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature (FCJK) and member of the Montenegrin PEN Centre, assessed that Montenegro, as he said, is drowning for the fourth year in a flood of anti-democracy and big-state cleronationalism, facing an escalation of problems that were largely turned a blind eye to by the political elite, which restored state sovereignty with the referendum in 2006.

“This week, a new government of questionable European values was established, as Serbia, with the help of its Montenegrin puppets and its church, took power over Montenegro.

Thus, today, following the decision of the pseudo-European party “Europe now”, the distinguished Chetnik voivode (Andrija Mandić), a pro-Russian and Putin supporter, who was convicted in the first instance of terrorism and coup d’état, is at the head of the Montenegrin Parliament,” said Čirgić, stressing that “we must not become accomplices in the silencing of policies and ideologies that aim at our final disappearance. Let this meeting send messages that will encourage others in the legitimate struggle against a post-conquest chauvinism that promotes the revision of history and denies the right to exist to entire peoples and countries”.

He added that he was aware of the limited power that the Writers’ Association could bring to bear in the fight against, as he pointed out, the most powerful destructive force in the Balkans – Greater Serbian nationalism.

According to Roman Jakic, former Slovenian Minister of Defense and former MEP, in recent years there has been a renewed trend in the region towards the creation of large single-national states.

“It is a paradox that the intentions of large Serbian nationalism are aided by some countries of the European Union and the USA. Their completely wrong perception of the objective is to separate the regime in Serbia from the regime in Russia by means of this political-economic support. This is why some in the West are willing to turn a blind eye and give in to the regional ambitions of the regime in Serbia, which is their big mistake,” Jakic said.

The theme of this year’s Cetinje Forum, organized by the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature and the Montenegrin PEN Centre (3-4 November), is “Montenegro and the Western Balkans – Fast to the West or Slow to the East?”.

More than 30 global and regional intellectuals, civil activists and eminent personalities are taking part in the Forum to discuss the paths that lie ahead for Montenegro and the Western Balkans in the coming period, as well as the current situation in Montenegro and the increasing and open, as they put it, interference of anti-European politics in its internal life.

P.J for TheGeopost