The longtime editor of Politika Bosko Jaksic considers as untasteful the use of the death of Oliver Ivanovic for political confrontations, writes today Belgrade daily Politika.
”We could have been at least one day free of that kind of rhetoric, because of elementary respect towards Oliver Ivanovic, so let it continue today at that political level. Even today, it could not wait, than the day when he was killed, we were witnesses of heavy, extremely politicized and insulting statements,” Jaksic told Tanjug agency.
Jaksic says that it is a matter of politicizing the case, but that it is primarily a lack of political culture and even patience.
Asked how he sees the fact that part of the political and public scene qualifies the murder of Oliver Ivanovic as a political murder and that it became immediately a part of a political campaign, Jaksic says that the official statement confirmed that it is an act of terrorism, which gives the political connotation regardless of whether the motives were ethnic, political, vindictive or criminal, personal or of a group, whether it is an attempt to destabilize Serbia or Kosovo…
– It is late now for Oliver Ivanovic, but his tragic death could be the fulfillment of his wishes for the normalization of relations in Kosovo and Metohija, and that is in a way which includes all in the investigation – and Serbian and Kosovo judiciary, and UNMIK and EULEX, but the murder could also be an opportunity for a major cleansing of the Serbian political scene from warlike confrontations, Jaksic says.
Jaksic says that the post-mortem praises of those who had ruined Ivanovic for years had been eerily degrading, and even more banal were acting those defending Oliver’s character and work, that sounded like a pre-election manifest.
His conclusion, Jaksic says, could be that Serbia must do everything to free itself from malignant hate speech and to place all the political and other divisions within the framework of modern civilized democracy. Jaksic thinks this could be a moment to sober up, altough he doubts in it.
Journalist and a former Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) official Zoran Ostojic says that Oliver Ivanovic’s murder is political and that the goal is to destabilize the state of Serbia.
Ostojic therefore considers inappropriate use of this murder for daily political purposes among parties, although it is clear that this act leads to the destabilization of the state, the freezing of the Kosovo problem, and all together means opposing the European future of Serbia.
It does not bring political points and is counterproductive, as citizens, even when they are for the opposition, are aware that the murder of Ivanovic is an attempt to destabilize this area.
“The last two attempts to destabilize the region, last year in Montenegro and a few months ago in Macedonia, failed, and it is obvious that it continues and I would not be surprised that the next one is Bosnia and Herzegovina,” adds Ostojic.
According to him, Ivanovic’s murder does not resemble the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, after which, he says, the foreign policy orientation of Serbia has changed, but says that it has similarities with the murders of former member of the State Security Momir Gavrilovic and journalist Dusko Jovanovic in Montenegro.
“For these two murders were accused those in power, although both assassinations were damaging to them, and not benefiting them. That’s the case in this case. A person from the opposition was chosen as the target, and a well-known personality to people and authorities in Kosovo and Serbia. If the aim, of those who stand behind this, was to accuse the government, the pro-European opposition should not fall for the game,” says Zoran Ostojic.
