Karleusa to Bosnian minister: I never insulted Bosniaks
Bosnian Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said he will seek a ban on Jelena Karleusa's Sarajevo concert, and the singer fired back publicly and sharply.
- Bosnian Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said on June 18 that he will ask the Sarajevo Canton interior ministry to ban Jelena Karleusa's concert.
- Konakovic claims the singer's performances incite national and religious hatred and that she denied the Srebrenica genocide.
- Karleusa responded on Facebook that she has never said a bad word about the Bosniak people.
- The singer stressed that her grandmother is Bosnian and that she has a large fan base in Bosnia.
Jelena Karleusa hit back sharply at Bosnian Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic, who said on June 18 that he would ask the Sarajevo Canton interior ministry to ban her planned concert in the city. The show is scheduled for August 8 at Sarajevo’s Club Aqua, while the row erupted on June 18, when the minister made his statement. The singer posted her response on Facebook the same day.
Konakovic justified his move by claiming that Karleusa’s performances incite national and religious hatred. The minister also said the singer had denied the genocide in Srebrenica, which for him was reason enough to ask the relevant Sarajevo Canton authorities not to allow the show. The concert is set for August 8 in the Bosnian capital, and after the minister’s June 18 statement a debate quickly spread across both Bosnia and Serbia.
What did Karleusa tell the minister?
The singer did not stay quiet. In a public post she said she had never in her life said a bad word about the Bosniak people and rejected the accusations leveled against her. Karleusa pointed out that her grandmother is Bosnian, citing her personal ties to the region as an argument against claims that she spreads hatred.
In the same vein she said she has a large audience in Bosnia and Herzegovina, fans who have followed her for years and come to her shows. The message was clear: the singer does not see herself as someone who divides people, but as a performer whose concerts bring crowds together regardless of nationality. She held to the position that the accusations are baseless and that politics, not her songs or words, is what lies behind the proposed ban.
A clash between a pop star and a sitting foreign minister is not an everyday event. That is exactly why the statement quickly became the topic of the day, mixing show business, politics and sensitive regional questions all at once.
Will the concert go ahead?
For now the decision rests with the Sarajevo Canton authorities, whom the minister said he would approach. No formal ban had been issued at the time the row broke out, it remained at the level of the minister’s announcement that he would seek one. That means the fate of the show is uncertain and depends on how the institutions that issue permits for public gatherings respond to the request.
Karleusa, for her part, shows no sign of backing down or taking back her words. A singer who has repeatedly found herself at the center of regional controversy answered directly this time too, without softening her tone. The open question is whether the Sarajevo audience will get its concert, or whether political tension will settle the matter before the lights ever come on.
And what about you, do you think the concert should go ahead, or do you understand the reasons the minister gives for opposing it?
