Peter Handke should apologize to Bosnian victims

On Friday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) sent a letter to Chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee, Professor Anders Olsson, demanding the Swedish Academy to recommend Peter Handke to publicly apologize to the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica and Bosnia. The appeal was also signed by the organizations Women of Srebrenica, Memorial Center for the Genocide in Srebrenica (Potocari), Jews Against Genocide (New York), Helsinki Committee for Human Rights (Belgrade), PEN Center (Sarajevo), Federation of Bosnian Intellectuals (Sarajevo), Confederation of Camp Inmates of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo), the Jewish Association "Hagada" (Sarajevo), and the Croatian People's Council (Sarajevo).

"If Handke is to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the whole world will witness a genocide denier and supporter of war criminals being honored – a slap in the face of the relatives of the victims of the serious crimes in Srebrenica or elsewhere in Bosnia," emphasized Jasna Causevic, STP Expert on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility for Protection. "If Handke is not willing to make a public apology, the committee should demand him to renounce the prize." The statements of the Suhrkamp publishing house according to which its author was "misunderstood" or "misinterpreted" are to be seen as window dressing.

The letter addressed to the Swedish Academy is attached to this Press Release.