It is morally unacceptable, unstatesmanlike and unneighbourly for Croatia’s presidential candidates to persistently and tendentially argue that there is an increased danger of terrorism in Bosnia and Herzegovina “because Muslims live there”, Bosnia's Security Minister, Fahrudin Radoncic, said on Friday.

The reaction came after Croatia’s presidential candidates, Zoran Milanovic and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, argued that there is an increased jihadi threat specific to Bosnia during their debate on Thursday.

“Placing Bosniaks into such a context, even after the (Srebrenica) genocide which took place, is truly not a neighbourly act,” Radoncic said, arguing that Bosnia is a responsible partner in the battle against terrorism and that the country’s intelligence and police agencies are doing a lot of work on the issue.

“To scare one’s voters with potential terrorism from Bosnia and Herzegovina and to act like someone who protects the EU from us speaks a lot more of the political tendencies in Croatia than of our Muslims here, the Bosniaks,” Radoncic said.

He stressed that terrorism is a global evil and that trying to tie it to one religion, nation or state is unacceptable.

He called upon Croatia’s presidential candidates to “stop with such populism and unnecessary insults to members of a religion which also exists in Croatia and makes the country’s multi-ethnic image more beautiful and better.”