Turkey's President came to Bosnia to send off "anti-European messages" and to tell the EU that Bosnia is in Turkey's interest zone, Professor Enver Kazaz from Sarajevo's Faculty of Philosophy told N1.

“Erdogan came to Sarajevo with the intention to send off anti-European messages,” the professor said in regard to the Turkish President's working visit to Sarajevo and the pre-election rally for the Turkish diaspora across Europe which he held in a local sports hall on Sunday.

Such messages represent a “diplomatic scandal”, Kazaz said.

The Bosniak member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency and leader of the Party for Democratic Action (SDA), Bakir Izetbegovic, met with Erdogan and also spoke at his Sarajevo gathering, expressing support for the Turkish President.

Similar gatherings by Erdogan have previously been banned by several European countries.

For Erdogan, Bosnia is “some kind of territory which he, considering he has a neo-Ottoman fantasy, has some kind of special right to,” the professor said, adding that the Turkish President is currently “isolated” in the international community due to the way he runs Turkey.

“He (Erdogan) changed the Constitution of Turkey and transformed the country into some kind of autocratic Presidents’ state,” he added.

Erdogan did not come to Bosnia to gain votes, but to “defy Europe and help Izetbegovic save his failed politics and promote Sebija Izetbegovic (the wife of Bakir Izetbegovic) as a strong political phenomenon on the political scene,” Kazaz said.

Sebija Izetbegovic has been mentioned as one of the possible candidates the SDA could propose for Bosniak member of Bosnia's tripartite state Presidency in the upcoming general election in the country.

Bakir Izetbegovic is the son of Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnia's first President after the country split from former Yugoslavia.

“God sent Alija Izetbegovic to the Bosniaks, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Turkey,” Bakir Izetbegovic said when he spoke at Erdogan's Sunday rally.

According to Kazaz, the speech was “unacceptable”. Izetbegovic was, he said, “referring to Allah as someone who directly sends prophets every 100 years, citing Hadith (lines from the Qur'an) and declaring one's own father and Erdogan prophets which return faith to certain nations.”

“He (Izetbegovic) brought politics back into some kind of medievel era. It implies giving up the concept of a secular society,” Kazaz said.

But the professor also said Sarajevans ignored Erdogan's visit, which he said was a complete failure.

“They expected Sarajevo's citizens would wave to them, that the whole city would be on its feet. Sarajevo has shown that it does not agree to such politics,” Kazaz said.