{"id":202857,"date":"2026-02-27T23:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=202857"},"modified":"2026-02-27T23:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:15:08","slug":"column-kovacevic-sarajevo-syndrome-or-erecting-a-monument-to-the-occupier-as-proof-that-bosnia-is-the-only-colony-on-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/column-kovacevic-sarajevo-syndrome-or-erecting-a-monument-to-the-occupier-as-proof-that-bosnia-is-the-only-colony-on-the-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"COLUMN, KOVA\u010cEVI\u0106: Sarajevo syndrome or erecting a monument to the occupier as proof that Bosnia is the only colony on the planet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stockholm syndrome \u2013 that\u2019s when a kidnapped person develops emotional attachment and affection for their captor. As of yesterday, there\u2019s a new entry on the list of such psychopathological disorders \u2013 the Sarajevo syndrome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It resembles the first, but is far sicker and more complex, because it is not individual but collective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarajevo syndrome occurs when the majority of citizens of a capital city \u2013 in this case, Sarajevo \u2013 decide to erect a monument to a former occupier who, over 100 years ago, subjugated their country and made it the last European colony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this unprecedented act, descendants of victims collectively renounce their ancestors and celebrate the one who trampled on them and placed them under oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For context, the members of Young Bosnia were not only Serbs fighting \u2013 not for a Greater Serbia \u2013 but for the South Slavic idea of coexistence of all brotherly nations in one state. Bosniaks and Croats also participated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TRIAL OF PRINCIP AND YOUNG BOSNIANS: Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats in the defendant\u2019s seats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside Gavrilo Princip and Nedeljko \u010cabrinovi\u0107, Muhamed Mehmedba\u0161i\u0107, Ibrahim Fazlinovi\u0107, \u0110ulaga Bukovac fought and perished, with one of the movement\u2019s ideologues being the great Ivo Andri\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like if the Black population of South Africa today voted to erect a monument to the leaders of apartheid in the middle of Pretoria, where their grandparents had been imprisoned, raped, and killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SARAJEVO ASSASSINATION: Chaos after the killing of Franz Ferdinand. Police arrest Princip<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is, therefore, a dangerous pathology \u2013 Stockholm syndrome at its mildest in comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even worse than erecting a monument to the occupier are the justifications for it. In media and social networks, apologists claim that the Austro-Hungarians \u201coccupied Bosnia to prevent Greater Serbian hegemony,\u201d an argument that would earn a failing grade in any decent history class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History, which is for some a teacher of life and for others a harsh reminder, says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Alexander Kara\u0111or\u0111evi\u0107, after the Serbian army broke through the Salonika front and ended World War I as the only victorious ally among all South Slavs, did not form a Greater Serbia, even though he could have and was urged by the great powers. Instead, he established Yugoslavia, following the ideas of Young Bosnians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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YUGOSLAV IDEA OVER GREATER SERBIA: Alexander Kara\u0111or\u0111evi\u0107<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In doing so, he absolved all those who had sided with the defeated powers, Germany and Austro-Hungary. The Kara\u0111or\u0111evi\u0107s and Serbia did not punish Bosniaks, Croats, or Slovenes but brought them to the victorious side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, who cares about historical facts? It\u2019s easier to invent a narrative to manipulate the masses in an era when education is increasingly consumed via 30-second social media clips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, Sarajevo and the Federation\u2019s education has been distorted. Generations of children are taught that Ferdinand was an innocent victim, while Princip and Young Bosnians were terrorists who allegedly cost their people dearly \u2013 even though they fought for a state that did not yet exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apologetics continue, claiming Austrians supposedly turned backward Bosnia into a European state, building roads and buildings instead of Turkish cobblestones and mud houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They ignore that the empire built infrastructure not to benefit the locals, but to extract stolen mineral wealth and timber, and to house Austrian officials comfortably, not the population. British and French colonizers did the same in Africa: infrastructure was for exploitation, not education or enrichment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the same people waving Palestinian flags in Sarajevo protest Israeli occupation while celebrating former occupiers with monuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most perverse messages of this narrative is that Gavrilo Princip allegedly killed an innocent pregnant woman. Historical records show that Princess Sophie was collateral damage \u2013 struck by a bullet intended for the military governor Oskar Potiorek. Princip and Young Bosnians targeted symbols of the occupation, as confirmed in trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CRIMES IN MA\u010cVA: Oskar von Potiorek led the units responsible<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potiorek, a year later, committed atrocities in Ma\u010dva and Podrinje, mercilessly killing and hanging civilians who were unarmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering the decision to erect a monument to Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, it becomes clear why, 112 years after Princip\u2019s assassination, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the only colony on the planet \u2013 the only non-sovereign state on the continent, governed by someone who is not its citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Representative, the governor, call him what you will, is functionally no different from the Austro-Hungarian rulers of a century ago or the Ottoman viziers before them. The difference today is that people sip Coca-Cola instead of clacker soda, and drive Audis instead of horse-drawn carriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bosnia and Herzegovina remains occupied, a protectorate as it was in 1878 and earlier. Some refuse to admit it, and worse, they actively work to keep it vassalized and non-sovereign, repeatedly calling on the High Representative to arbitrate disputes, much like kadis or Austro-Hungarian judges of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even some Serbs, who publicly oppose occupation in Banja Luka, through their actions, reinforce Bosnia and Herzegovina\u2019s status as a colony, leaving Republika Srpska as a historical relic in the heart of Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SARAJEVO VRA\u0106A SPOMENIK FRANCU FERDINANDU: Gradsko ve\u0107e usvojilo odluku o podizanju obele\u017eja na mestu atentata!<\/a><\/blockquote>