The toxic atmosphere created by government representatives, inciting national and religious hatred, has led to an eruption of primitivism and advocacy of street lynching against Turkish citizens, the Montenegrin PEN Center announced.
"That xenophobia has become an official value of the authorities in Montenegro was shown by last night's devastating scenes from the streets of Podgorica. The poisoned atmosphere created by representatives of the authorities, inciting national and religious hatred, led to an eruption of primitivism and advocacy of street lynching against Turkish citizens. The ideological reshaping of the society we have been living in for half a decade has brought us back to the early nineties. Shout 'Kill the Turk!' Just like on the eve of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, they swarmed Zabjelo last night as a reminder that fascism has largely become vampire-like and has embarked on a new destructive feast," reads the statement from the Montenegrin PEN Center submitted by Sanja Orlandić.
According to them, it is no coincidence that one incident immediately turned into "collective condemnation of the entire nation in the media close to the government."
"Following the statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić that 'Turkey is once again dreaming of the restoration of the Ottoman Empire' and that 'it does not want the stability of the Western Balkans', his political henchmen in Montenegro, such as Milan Knežević, Milivoj Brković and Vladimir Dobričanin, rushed to echo the same tone, spreading fear and hatred towards foreigners. From messages that '110.000 Turkish citizens in Montenegro are too many' to accusations of 'arrogant behavior' and 'neo-Ottomanization', these people are creating an atmosphere of lynching and pogrom, which their media obediently transmit and amplify," the statement states.
The Montenegrin PEN Center warned that this kind of rhetoric is not an isolated incident, but an organized attempt to accustom the public to hate speech, to reshape society in accordance with clerical nationalist patterns, and to declare any diversity a threat.
"Montenegro must not become a training ground for other people's wars and traumas, nor a haven for ideological servants who spread hatred and intolerance under the guise of patriotism. Calling on the leaders of the security sector to take responsibility and ensure the safety of all citizens is, unfortunately, illusory today. In addition to the obvious incompetence and lack of moral scruples, as we have seen many times, the leaders of that sector are ideological twins of those who initiated the lynching last night," it states.
They called on all civil society organizations, representatives of the academic community, and "political forces that care about peace" to act in a synchronized manner to isolate from power those who create an environment of hatred and violence, and to strongly influence the establishment of the rule of law and the sanctioning of all forms of violence.
"We also call on representatives of the international community, especially NATO partner countries, not to turn a blind eye to the manifestations of fascism on the streets of Montenegro, but to put pressure on those parts of the government that are at least formally committed to Euro-Atlantic integration, in order to prevent further escalation of violence and the collapse of basic democratic values," the statement concludes.
A state of siege was in place tonight in the Zabjelo neighborhood of Podgorica, where the police, after Podgorica resident MJ (25) was beaten and stabbed in that neighborhood last night, conducted raids tonight, while on the other hand, numerous residents of that neighborhood, revolted by last night's act of violence, gathered and repeatedly chanted derogatory slogans against the Turks.
A large number of police officers and inspectors were on the scene, and several locations in that part of the city were checked.
A reporter for Television Vijesti reported that three Turkish citizens had even barricaded themselves in a casino after, according to eyewitnesses, a group of locals tried to physically confront them.
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After taking them out of the casino, the police detained two Turkish citizens, and according to unofficial information from Television Vijesti, one of them is suspected of being involved in last night's attack.
After that, the group of citizens began to disperse.
Vijesti reported earlier today that the Podgorica police are searching for three attackers who, late last night, seriously injured and stabbed a Podgorica resident, MJ, in the Zabjelo settlement in Podgorica.
The Police Directorate unofficially told Vijesti earlier today that they are searching for the perpetrators, that they have notified the prosecutor's office about the incident, and that the qualification of the criminal offense is pending.
The injured Podgorica resident claims that he was attacked by Turkish citizens, and he told the journalist what he told the police after he was given assistance in the Emergency Unit of the Clinical Center - that last night he and his friends were on the terrace of a bar in Zabjelo, and that they remained there even when the bar was closed, and that he was attacked then.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić announced tonight that the Government will make a decision tomorrow, following an urgent procedure, on the temporary lifting of the visa-free regime for Turkish citizens.
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