A letter of the editor
A
TWO-YEAR MOURNING DAY |
In the Bible it has been written:
"What has been, it is now and what
will be, that has already been, because
the God returns everything which has
already passed."
We maintain that only our cruel war
reality is refuting the biblical truth.
For what happens in it has never occurred
anywhere, nor can it ever happen.
If it were not so, there would not exist
a need for this letter regarding a
thematic issue of the "Most"
magazine on the occasion of the Old
Bridge second anniversary destruction in
Mostar - a symbol of the town which is,
in addition to impressional arabesque,
our history as well, the bright substance
of the past.
The Old Bridge, and all the other bridges
too, have been demolished by those who
have never been Bosniacs and who have
been driving everything into the ground,
so for them the ancient stone beauty
represented a disgusting and a monstrous
building, since it has been linking the
two banks of Neretva, connecting peoples.
We have witnesses. A mountain of proofs.
Those have been the greatest madmen and
ruffians who, first of all, sowed the
hatred whose live arms have entangled
around people like polyps and who with
their behaviour surpassed the horrendous
terror of the "black berets" in
Chile.
By killing of the Old Bridge and the
other bridges they wanted to disintegrate
Bosnia and Herzegovina - not even
thinking that so disintegrated Bosnia
could bury additionally "their"
state, be it called the greater Croatia
or greater Serbia.
And the Hajrudin's bridge has been the
masterpiece off Islamic building and
cultural heritage, protected by UNESCO,
which in addition to its splendour and
elegance a true, filigree's work of art.
It was the most important monument of the
Herzegovinian capital to which a great
part of history has been related;
- for centuries a promenade and the
dreamland of the Mostar youth;
- a stage in the open air;
- an improvised painter's gallery;
- a natural set for famous films;
- the main personality of many an
anecdotes…
In the World War II, under the Old Bridge
and the other bridges, fascists have set
the chests which brave and courageous
Mostar illegals in the most critical
moment demounted.
In this war as well, in the greatest hell
of the chetnik and ustasha aggression
when it seemed that both the sky and
earth were burning, the members of the
now famous R BiH Army, the defenders of
Mostar, have been going to the bridge
with the intention to sacrifice even
their own lives if the needs be for the
rescuing of the magnificent edifice.
To the perished defenders of Mostar and
to the Old bridge we are uttering our
hatma dova (a translator's note -a Muslim
religious prayer for the dead) and we
dedicate these pages.
It is not our intention to raise the
tensions and put the obstacles in the way
of Federation of the Bosniacs and Croats.
Far it be from us!
We do not want to be the gendarmes of
tomorrow who paint the world of future
with black colours, to go hunting after a
people - God forbid! - and that we put on
to the ones the wreaths of martyrdom, and
to the others wreaths of chastity.
Everything is familiar, everything, if it
has not already been, will be clear.
Love of ours is an oath of old.
One knows: who mostars are, and who
barbarians are.
Our superiority over the brutality and
the destruction is immense, because we do
not talk much about it too, and because
the Bosnianship is the quality and the
goal of living to us.
The thematic issue is a warning to the
ones who have celebrated when the Old
Bridge (set up according to the genial
conceit of mimar Hajrudin, the pupil of
the greatest Turkish builder Mimar Sinan)
has been deadly hit and has fallen into
the river.
Not to mention the ones who in some
Croatian media have been writing out such
obituaries:
"The oldest citizen of Turkey in the
Balkans has drowned - he did not know how
to swim!"
Then a grievance day has been proclaimed
in the city of Mostar, who in its
tempestuous past has smelled out the
firing powder, has listened out the
thunders and storms, has seen out the
burnt-out places and places of execution,
but which has alto sung out the songs and
celebrated out the victories.
When one mourned, he mourned. When one
rejoiced, he rejoiced.
He has been the first in the battle for
freedom and in the voluntary youth
drives, at birthdays, weddings and
funerals.
And he has remained where he is now, in
the heart of the state of Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
A crushed stone of its Old bridge has
fitted into the frame of this magazine.
For insight to the corning and
going…
Let this beautiful stone soul find its
peace
and light be to him this Mostarian and
Herzegovinian God's water Neretva.
Alija Kebo
(prijevod: Dragan Pavlovic) |
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