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Your Eminence,

We regard the persistent endeavours of Don Rajko Markovic, parish priest in Stolac municipality, to affirm and maintain the effects of the crimes perpetrated against us through his demand that a church be built on the site of the Carsija mosque in Stolac, as an extreme form of threat to our human dignity and rights.

We do not know whether Don Rajko Markovic is doing so in his private capacity, by way of continuing the policies of his brother, mayor of Stolac municipality at the time the atrocities of the destruction of our mosques and our being driven from our homes were carried out, or whether on the other hand his entire conduct has the support of the official church.

We kindly request you, as the representative of the Pope in our country, to let us know what the position of the Holy See is on this issue.

We have today sent a similar letter to His Eminence Cardinal Vinko Pulji, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, requesting that he too make his position on this issue clear. We cannot believe that the Catholic Church could uphold the activities of Don Rajko Markovic and others like him, but the Church’s silence on this matter has given rise among a large number of our members to the painful sentiment that we are wrong in so believing. We therefore request you to contribute to clarifying this issue in conformity with the need to strengthen confidence and tolerance among the citizens of our country.

We include here the text of our letter to the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cardinal Vinko Puljic, which reads as follows:

Dear Mr Puljic, respected President,

We have no doubt that you are aware of the nature of the atrocities committed
against the Muslim population in Stolac municipality.

The entire Muslim population of that municipality were driven from their homes
in 1993. Many of them were tortured and killed. All the mosques of Stolac were
destroyed at that time. As you know, this was done by the then authorities of
the Croatian Defence Council and Herceg-Bosna, with the direct involvement of
the services and organizations of the Republic of Croatia.

The occasion for our addressing you at this time is the continuing agony of
the people of Stolac and the systematic maintenance and prolongation of the
effects of the atrocities. The destruction of the mosques of Stolac was carried
out in 1993, when the mayor of the unicipality was Andjelko Markovic. At that
time, along with all the other mosques, the Carsija mosque was destroyed, one
of the most significant religious monuments not only of Stolac but of the Bosniac
people as a whole.

When the inhabitants of Stolac began to reconstruct the Carsija mosque, on the
site where it had stood for five hundred years and in its original form, Don
Rajko Markovic, parish priest and full brother of that same Andjelko Markovic
who had incited and overseen the destruction, filed an application for a church
to be built on the site, basing his claim on assertions that are none other
than a justification and prolongation of the crimes previously committed. The
local authorities, who in large part are also perpetuating the situation brought
about by the perpetration of these atrocities, are seeking to support Don Rajko
Markovic in his endeavours. A session of the Town Council has been convened
for 28 June, at which the application will be discussed.

We are convinced that the criminal nature of Don Rajko Markovic’s application
is not in dispute. It remains unclear to us what the official position of the
Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina is on this issue, as well as your
own personal view. We therefore kindly request you to let us know whether the
Church as a whole upholds these destructive attitudes and activities, which
are a threat to the normalization of life in our country. In the assumption
that such cannot be the position of the Church or your personal stance, we kindly
request you publicly to condemn these actions and, if possible, to prevent the
spread of such conduct, which cannot be justified from any standpoint on the
basis of which we can successfully build a joint future for all of us and for
our homeland.

Your Excellency, in looking forward to your understanding and support for our
endeavours to establish human rights and the rule of law in Stolac and in our
country as a whole, we should like to express our readiness to provide you with
further information about the situation in Stolac.

With best wishes,

President of the Association

Dr. Senad Mehmedbasic