Head of Bosnia's Islamic Community Husein Kavazovic expressed discontent over what he said was the “use of Christmas for political purposes,” referring to the messages conveyed from the meeting of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and Head of Serbian Orthodox Church Irinej in Belgrade on Monday.

“I am not happy that the feast of Orthodox believers is misused for political purposes, which is why I am forced to react in order to resend a message of peace and unity both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the whole region,” said Kavazovic.

“All citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Orthodox believers, Muslims, Jews and Catholics, live on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, hold its citizenship and live in accordance of its laws, and this will remain so in the future. Their only home country is Bosnia and Herzegovina, which they can arrange the way they agree in line with clearly defined constitutional and legal procedures,” he stressed, adding that “any other attempt would take our country back to the 1990s of the last century, which we all remember as bad.”

The times of the “messages that spread concerns and call for disrespect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina are gone,” he stressed.

The statement comes a day after the yule-log lighting ceremony in Belgrade on Christmas Eve led by Patriarch Irinej, which was among others attended by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.

Speaking to the believers, Irinej wished for the unity of Serb people to be permanent and that they live in love and mutual respect for each other.

He conveyed a special message to the believers in Bosnia's Serb-dominated part, Republika Srpska, and thanked Dodik for being part of the ceremony at Belgrade's St. Sava temple.

“To extend the greetings to our beloved people in Republika Srpska and say that we all breathe in one spirit and live with one wish to be one – united and as such, as God's people, as people of St. Sava celebrate our Lord, so that Lord protects us and celebrates us in this world and life,” the Orthodox Church leader told the attendees.