Montenegrin writer Andrej Nikolaidis has compared Serbia to Iran "that issued a fatwa on Indian writer Salman Rushdie."

Serbia sent a protest note to Montenegro over Nikolaidis' journal article in which he said that if explosives should have been used during the recent celebration of the 20 years of Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka, that will be a "civilizational step forward," alluding to the war crimes and genocide upon which Republic of Srpska is established.

Besides writing, Nikolaidis is also one of the advisor to the President of the Parliament of Montenegro and that gives the whole episode opportunity for Serbian government to go after him, and in that way apply pressure on the Montenegrin state. Serbia never fully forgave Montenegro its independence, as Serbia claims Montenegro an ancient Serbian state.

That whole incident is not only about the Nokolaidis' recent article, as he said and noted that Serbian protest note is talking about some of his earlier novels as well.

"It was not just because of the text that the state of Serbia sent the demarche. According to the information I have, the state of Serbia protested, which is even more shocking, against my novel Mimesis that I wrote in 2003. Tell me, who dared in the history of the civilization to protest against a novel? Iran did it by issuing a fatwa on Salman Rushdie," he told Podgorica-based daily Vijesti.

When asked to comment on Serbia's protest note, Nikolaidis said that he believed that "someone has been following him for a long time and everything has been very carefully prepared".

"It also tells me who has been in charge of me since those who triggered all this came out publicly and they are from Montenegro," he said and explained he meant Movement for Changes (PZP) deputy leader Koča Pavlović.

Nikolaidis said that he would not change anything in his text even after strong reactions in both Montenegrin and Serbian public and calls for his dismissal.

Serbian Ambassador in Podgorica Zoran Lutovac handed over the protest note to the Montenegrin Foreign Ministry and Serbia's Foreign Ministry also lodged a protest with the Montenegrin Ambassador in Serbia Igor Jović.

The Montenegrin Foreign Ministry stated on Wednesday that this was Nikolaidis' personal opinion and that it did not reflect Montenegro's official position in any way.

The repercussion in Serbia

According to some Serbian media, Writers Forum of Serbia, whose members include some of the most notable Serbian writers such as Borka Pavicevic, Vladimir Arsenijevic, Philip David, Laszlo Vegel, Nenad Prokic, Sreten Ugricic, issued public statement of support for Montenegrin writer in which they call for the stop of a "hunt of Andrej Nikolaidis."

The writers of Serbia, in its manifesto among other things stated that the Belgrade media criticism at the expense of Andrej Nikolaidis is evidence that the "Serbian political elite did not gave up their hegemonic intentions toward Montenegro, which the Writers Forum resolutely oppose."

Such statements about Serbian intentions towards Montenegro are not the first, but this one cames at the time of political repositioning in Serbia, in light of new upcoming elections when political right and ultra nationalists parties are expected to win.

Good opportunity for the political witch-hunt

Serbian writers support was harshly criticized by most of thee Serbian media, and they especially went after Sreten Ugricic who is also the head of Serbian National Library. Because of the intensity of attacks in Serbia, Ugricic had to issue public statement to repudiate what Serbian tabloids attribute to him.

In the statement Ugricic said that he is "deeply disgusted with the media ruthlessness which, in the shocking way, attributed to me the views with which I could never agree, and I am disgusted with such insinuations. Every reasonable person could conclude that all is a vulgar, malicious abuse in order to increase circulation ... to accuse me of falsehoods and notorious fabrications," the statement reads.

Despite of that, some politicians in Serbia see the current tensions with Montenegro as an opportunity to finish off with ideological and political opponents, and it appears that Director of the National Library is one of them.The first among the opportunists are from the Serbian Socialist party of Slobodan Milosevic.

Current Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic, who is also the President of the Milosevic-formed party and who is notorious for many of his previous statements, has reacted to the newspaper article in which Serbian writers oppose the "hunt of Andrej Nikolaidis" and attacked Ugricic.

At the news conference Dacic said that he can "welcome that [Ugricic could have his own opinion) but out of jail, not from the library," and added that "the directors of public institutions cannot talk that way" alluding to Ugricic signing of the petition.

It is not irrelevant when the Minister, who controls the national police force, issues such statement and places a public figure "in jail" while there is no indictment, no criminal act or even any official accusation against the person. Because of such outrages statements, Serbian Writers Union actually called on the Minster to watch his language.

While Minister Dacic calls on Ugricic to watch what he does as an official figure the Minister, on the other hand, can make any kind of statements publicly, writers wonder.

For us as observers, such Ministerial statements is why question of Serbia being compared with Iran, where laws do no equally apply to everyone and person could be accused and sentenced without trial, is valid.

Some 20 years ago Milosevic issued similar public statements for Kosovo Alabamian leader Azem Vlasi to be arrested and tried for his alleged support of Albanian demonstrators. There was no outrage then, just as there is no outrage now. Judging from such (no)reaction in the Serbian press, things have not changed much since everyone apparently welcomes such calls for public witch-hunt.

On the other hand, the dispute highlights the fact that the writer and director Sreten Ugricic, as public intellectual, is on the political hit list of Serbian ultra-nationalists.

For many observers of the Serbian politics, Ugricic is only one of many to be removed from his position soon because of his very transparent pro-European standards and work.

During his tenure at the library Ugricic managed to establish Serbian National Library as one of the most respected European such institutions, where many world renowned writers visited and presented their works as a surprise to many. As another example, under his leadership Serbian cultural instituion managed to digitize significant portion of Library materials.

Ugricic also traveled a lot in his effort to incorporate Serbian national library into the world's information flows and be recognized within the world's family of national libraries. But many in Serbia don't want Serbia to open and connect with the rest of the world, so Ugricic could easily be a target for those fractions.

The whole episode is ongoing, but as such it could be a litmus test which can point to the future direction of Serbian policies and politics. Is Serbia going back to 1990s when disappearances and killings of writers and other ideological opponents was the norm, or is it going to finally make that long sought step forward and join the club of European and other civilized nations? We are all waiting and hoping that Serbia moves forward.

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January 21, Post Scriptum:

Unfortunately, the campaign against Nikolaidis continues while the Director of the Serbian National Library is removed from his duty by the decree yesterday. It took just 17 hours after the Minister of Serbian Police, Dacic, made his call to get Ugricic off the position where he diligently worked for over a decade. And all because he dared to sign the petition to protect a colleague writer from the political winch-hunt.

Another similar and still developing story is how new film of Angelina Jolly "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is being received in Serbia, even before they saw it.

We should not be surprised if Serbian Minster Dacic soon issues a call for the arrest, or at least the ban of Bob Marley in Serbia, because he publicly admitted that which for the people like Dacic could be interpreted as an invitation for violence.

Sadly, but judging from all of the signs, looks like Serbia again chose to go from bad to worse.