Neither Erdogan nor (Bosnian president) Bakir Izetbegovic can stop me talking to my friends on social media in Turkey, Greece, Germany or elsewhere,' says Bajraktarevic. President Erdogan blames US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for the 2016 failed coup in Turkey. Someone had accused Bajraktarevic of working for the Gülen movement. The conductor was told the president did not want the choir to participate in a huge concert organised at the end of last Ramadan by the official Islamic Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Recently, he sent an ambassador to Bajraktarevic to deliver a message. But Turkey's current ruler, President Erdogan, seems to dislike the famous Bosnian choir's conductor, Mehmed Bajraktarevic.

They perform songs in many languages, including Turkish. The Sultan Fatih Choir, named after an Ottoman ruler who granted a considerable degree of religious freedom, stands for open-mindedness.

But a number of key questions remain over the future development of this small country with a population of 3.5 million people.Ĭan Sarajevo renew its centuries-old tradition of tolerance and once again become the European melting pot of different cultures and religions? Or does the country risk being caught-up in religious and political in-fighting and as a result remove the long-term possibility of joining the EU? Turkish influence on the increaseĪ growing number of Bosnians dream of reviving the 'golden age' of the Ottoman Empire and today Turkish influence in the country is on the increase.

The Bulgarian EU Presidency will hold a special EU/Balkan summit in Sofia in May which will discuss the enlargement of the Union to integrate Western Balkan states including Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Sarajevo by Zlatko Dizdarević