After more than six decades, the residents of Biševo near Rožaj want to return the municipality.
President of the Initiative Committee for the initiation and implementation of the procedure for the formation of the new municipality of Biševo by separating it from the existing Municipality of Rožaje Mersudin Foćka Redžović, said that this municipality existed since 1918 and functioned until 1955, when it was abolished.
"The locals and the diaspora of Biševa want to finally get theirs back and decide for themselves what belongs to them. Namely, Biševo, with its rich history, where people of different religions and nations live, throughout history had many famous personalities who, with their ability and loyalty to Biševo and Montenegro, left an immense contribution to the development of their place and the country itself. Throughout history, Biševo has had revolutionaries, national heroes, bearers of the Partisan Monument, it should be noted that the NOR resistance movement against fascism started from Biševo in 1941, as well as that the first highway connecting Montenegro and Serbia passed through Biševo at the beginning 30s of the last century", said Foćka Redžović, who lives and works in Germany.
Good morning Salja Colović he reminded that at the beginning of the 50s, the Municipality of Biševo had about 9.000 inhabitants.
"As an independent municipality, Biševo had its own post office and telephone in 1918, and at the end of the 40s the House of Culture and its cinema, agricultural cooperatives, hotel, textile factories, hospital, elementary school... It should be noted that Biševo during the Ottoman rule, it had its own Pasha-Biševac, who was also the personal son-in-law of Sultan Abdullah Hamid II. At the beginning of 1955, the municipality of Rožaje was founded by merging the municipality of Biševo and the municipality of Ibara, which did not even exist until then. It was then that the municipality of Rožaje was formed on the wings of the history of Biševo and the autochthonous people of Biševo. "And then Rožaje became with the help of Bišev and the people of Bišev, who with their revolutionary decisions contributed to the faster development of Rožaj, until the end of the 80s, when the city became industrially modern and attractive for life," said Čolović.
The residents of Biševo point out that in the last two decades the municipal government in Rožaje has deliberately and targeted the collapse of Biševo and its population, and that during that time almost two thousand residents have moved out of the area.
"With this relationship between the previous and current government, the people of Bišev decided to put an end to this kind of brutal terrorizing of their population. We would like to mention that almost 1.800 people from Biše live in the area of Western Europe and that they want to invest their capital and their projects in their place. As the situation is now, none of them wants to invest in their region, that's why all of us from Biševo are unanimous and determined to restore the status of a municipality to Biševo", said Redžović.
He pointed out that with the arrival of the Bosniak Party in power, that situation worsened.
"The municipality of Rožaje or the 'green building' is perhaps the only municipality in Montenegro where it is not desirable to hear 'good morning', 'good day' or 'goodbye' when BS came to power, but you are only allowed to say 'salam alejkum' and similar greetings. Or if you have to say it, then do it as quietly as possible, so that it is not heard. It is unfortunate, but the truth is that the local government did not lift a finger for its citizens. At the same time, none of them became impoverished, none of their families moved out of Rožaj, they all became rich, settled their families in luxurious apartments, penthouses, state institutions, state faculties... That same BS devalued everyone who is not their member and their janissaries', they turned a city where only those from BS have the right to live. Their voters are more emotionally attached to them than to their loved ones, who had to leave their home and their country precisely because of the Bosniak Party, for which the Bosniak Party even today, when they go to Podgorica, say that they went to Montenegro".
The Municipal Board of the Bosniak Party, in response to questions from "Vijesti", announced that they "do not want to respond to tendentious and malicious claims".
President of the Municipality: Rožaje is a city of multi-ethnic harmony
Responding to the question of whether the request of the residents of Biševo for the formation of a municipality is justified, Mayor Rožaja Rahman Husović reminded that, in accordance with the Law on Territorial Organization of Montenegro, the conditions and the procedure for territorial change, i.e. the establishment, abolition and change of the territory of the municipality, are defined.
He reminded that the opinion is given on the initiative by the competent ministry, along with the assessment of organizational, personnel and technical possibilities.
The first man of that municipality, however, claims that such an initiative is not justified for objective reasons...
Husović pointed out that the statements of certain Biše residents "that in the Municipality of Rožaje you cannot hear 'good day', 'good evening'... but only 'salam alejkum', 'merhaba'"...
"Rožaje and the people of Rožaj are known for their hospitality as well as traditionally good interfaith coexistence, mutual help and understanding. As a place at the crossroads, Rožaje has been called the 'Musafir house' where, only in the last 130 years, members of different national and religious affiliations have found refuge and hospitality. We will quote only some of the statements of distinguished intellectuals: 'Rožajians are the best people in the world' - Nataša Kandić, president of the Fund for Humanitarian Law from Belgrade. This is supported by the fact that President Husović received a high award from the Eparchy of Buda and Nikšić for the work and love shown towards the restoration of the Cathedral in Rožaje, which confirms that multi-ethnic and multicultural harmony lives in Rožaje to the satisfaction of all the citizens of Rožaje.
Therefore, both throughout history and now, the people of Rožajka adhere to the basic constitutional principles related to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as freedom of expression, which is guaranteed to all citizens of Montenegro," the municipality announced.
They add that they are not aware that the people of Rožaj are saying 'I'm leaving for Montenegro', because everyone perceives the state as their own: "In support of that, he reminded that a record 91,3 percent of citizens voted for its independence in the referendum, which gave legitimacy to the state and its territorial and constitutional order".
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