Twenty-two years ago, on Christmas Eve 2002, a tragedy unfolded in the small Herzegovinian village of Kostajnica. Muamer Topalović, a radicalized Wahhabi, knocked on the door of the Anđelić family, a returning Croat household preparing for Christmas. What followed was a massacre—a cold-blooded execution of Anđelko, Mara, and Zorka Anđelić, while Marinko barely survived with severe injuries.
Fast forward to December 2024, and Europe mourns yet another act of Islamist terror, this time at a Christmas market in Germany. Different places, different times, but the same gruesome thread ties these events together: the deadly ideology of Wahhabism and the system that fails to confront it.
Topalović: The Killer Who Had a Helping Hand
Let’s not mince words—Muamer Topalović wasn’t just a random zealot; he was a walking, talking consequence of systemic negligence. In 2001, he was sitting in a Serbian prison, having been convicted for violently assaulting a taxi driver while plotting to assassinate Slobodan Milošević. Instead of disappearing into obscurity after his release, Topalović found himself at the Bosnian Embassy in Belgrade. There, Željko Komšić, Bosnia’s ambassador at the time and current “president for all citizens,” did the unthinkable: he offered Topalović financial aid for a ticket home.
And home he went—not to turn over a new leaf, but to pick up a gun and kill three innocent people. A diplomatic gesture paved the way for a Wahhabi radical to execute a family on Christmas Eve. This isn’t conjecture; it’s a damning fact.
Komšić: Ambassador of What?
Željko Komšić’s career is built on a rickety tower of moral compromises. His actions in 2001, providing financial aid to Topalović, weren’t just a lapse in judgment—they were a betrayal. A betrayal of his role as a diplomat. A betrayal of the people he was supposed to represent. A betrayal of humanity itself.
Today, Komšić touts himself as a champion of a “citizen-centric Bosnia,” while the ghosts of his past actions loom large. Topalović’s massacre wasn’t just a crime; it was a political failure. The man who now presides over Bosnia’s fragile state enabled, however indirectly, a crime that destroyed a family and sent shockwaves through a community.
Germany: Same Play, Different Stage
Let’s shift focus to the recent Islamist attack on a Christmas market in Germany. The attacker, a radicalized Saudi, drove into the crowd, injuring and killing in the name of the same ideology that drove Topalović. While their paths differ—Topalović had Komšić handing him a ticket home, the Saudi attacker operated solo—the root cause is the same. Wahhabism, an ideology that sees murder as righteousness, and a system too paralyzed to stop it.
Imagine if the Saudi attacker had found his own “ambassador”—someone willing to buy him a ticket, pat him on the back, and send him on his way. The tragedy would have been even worse. Komšić, whether he likes it or not, is the archetype of such enablers.
The Systemic Failure
Both Kostajnica and Germany’s Christmas market are symbols of a larger problem. They reflect the inability—or unwillingness—of governments to tackle the root causes of radicalization. Bosnia, with its post-war chaos and appeasement of extremists, was a breeding ground for radicals like Topalović. Europe, with its misplaced leniency and reluctance to confront extremist ideologies, continues to suffer similar consequences.
And then there’s Komšić, who sits at the heart of Bosnia’s dysfunction. His actions are symptomatic of a system that tolerates the intolerable, that enables radicals under the guise of diplomacy, and that sacrifices the innocent in the name of politics.
Questions That Demand Answers
- Why did Željko Komšić, as ambassador, fund the return of a convicted extremist?
- Why has Komšić never apologized to Croats for his role in enabling Topalović’s return?
- Was Topalović’s hatred for Milošević redirected toward an unprotected Croat family as part of a larger political game?
- Why do Western narratives shy away from acknowledging the ethnic cleansing of Croats in towns like Konjic and Jablanica, while Jajce stands as a testament to Croat-Bošnjak reconciliation?
- When will European leaders confront the enabling of radicals, both in Bosnia and on their own soil?
A Wake-Up Call
The Bloody Christmas Eve of 2002 was a warning. Europe’s Christmas market attacks are the consequence of ignoring that warning. Whether it’s Bosnia or Germany, the failure to confront Wahhabism allows such tragedies to repeat themselves.
Komšić’s actions should be a case study in what not to do. As Europe grapples with rising extremism, Bosnia’s Bloody Christmas Eve reminds us that radicals don’t act alone—they thrive in systems that enable them, in ambassadors who hand them tickets, and in leaders who refuse to confront the truth. /IURKOV/POSKOK/
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