Bosniak national community in Zagreb, On Monday, February 8, 2016 opened the exhibition “Look, Iran” and hosted a panel discussion dedicated to the current political situation in the Middle East.
Among those present were Mr. Stjepan Mesic, former president of the Republic of Croatian, dr. Zlatko Hasanbegović, culture minister in the Croatian government, Milan Bandic, mayor of Zagreb, hfz. Aziz ef. Allili, imam of the Islamic community of Zagreb, dr. Esad Prohić, former ambassador Croatia in Iran and many others.
At the beginning of the program, vocal chore of the Bosniak national community “Bosana” performed three traditional Bosnian songs.
Mayor Milan Bandic then adressed the audience commenting on the importance of this photo exipition as a good opportunity to be a part of modern Iran in Zagreb. President of the Bosniak national community for the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County, B.Sc., Mr. Dzevad Jogunčić as moderator of the program and the official representative of the BNZ welcomed the participants. He also gave a gift to Mr. Bandić.
Zeljko Žutelija and Mladen Bićanić, refered to the to the artistic and documentary value of the photos of Dražen Dizdarević. The author himself, Drazen Dizdarevic addressed the audience, saying that these photographs would show life, dynamism and serenity of the modern Iranian man.
In the second part of the program, a discussion on the topic “The current political situation in the Middle East”. About topic spoke Mohammed Ebrahim Taherian Fard, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Croatia and Zlatko Dizdarevic, journalist and former diplomat.
Ambassador Taherian in his speech recalled the genesis of the emergence of extremist militant groups in the Islamic world in the last few decades, underlining the role of the West and major powers.
Since the begining of the Taliban influence, said Taherian, this scenario repeats itself in the establishment of various paramilitary groups that operate on multiple fronts in different parts of the world, and in the wake of the interests of the world’s great players. Ambassador Taherian is the second part of his statement, mentioned the recent nuclear deal between Iran and the Group 5 + 1 and added: This agreement opens the way for the strengthening of the fight against extremism. In recent decades, extremism is used as an obstacle in the way of the spread of Iranian influence in the region, but now this issue is completely outdated. Iran is no threat a threat to regional stability. On the contrary, over the past 37 years has always emphasized the need for peace and stability. The discourse of changing regional political map, which followed the great power of West and their regional allies yielded only violence and extremism, and the international community recognizes the importance and role of Iran.
Zlatko Dizdarevic, journalist, publicist and former bosnian diplomat in his speech referred to the causes of the decades-old Middle East crisis and thus the current events in this part of the world. In this context, it is particularly noted that the Western powers in the Middle East over the past hundred years pursued a policy which was mainly focused on two objectives: to more easily control the local resources and exploit them, and how to prevent internal social, political and economic development of local companies. Dizdarevic recalled the decades-long Palestinian problem as another stumbling block, but the action of some Islamist political ideology prone to violence. He also pointed out the lack of analytical and objective reporting of events in the Middle East, especially the one approach that would include finding answers to the question “Why?”. Dizdarevic is in this respect recalled the Syrian crisis and NaCN in which the media often report on the local events. Biased and neanalitičan access to the basic characteristics of those reporting in which, for example, these days is trying to create the image of Syria; Russia and Iran as the aggressor and the factors of ethnic cleansing in those areas.
Dizdarevic is finally pointed out that the unilateral international system collapses and the scene we have new rearrangements that could result in new or biplarism and multipolarism, where on one hand we have countries such as Russia, China, Iran, etc., And on the other the United States and its Western but also Middle Eastern allies. Dizdarevic is a special word of criticism was the regional policy of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, underlining that we have just recently witnessed an entirely irrational adventure of the Turkish leadership that could have destabilizing consequences for the whole region and beyond.
