The protests against the 2019 Nobel Laureate in literature, Peter Handke, have been extensive. At the beginning of November, the Association for Victims of the Genocide and Witnesses held a manifestation outside the Swedish embassy in Sarajevo, demonstrating that Peter Handke was awarded the prize.

Handke's choice is seen as controversial when Handke took a stand for Serbia in the Yugoslav war during the 1990s. He also spoke at former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević's funeral.

In connection with the manifestation, a letter was written by representatives of the survivors' organization Srebrenica's mothers who cooperate with the Association for the Victims and Witnesses of the Genocide. The letter was addressed to the Swedish royal couple who were asked to withdraw the prize, citing that the letter writers believe that Handke is a genocide denier.

"Different ways of looking at Handke"

The answer from the royal house seems to be waiting, but now Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee, has responded.

“We have received the letter with concern and deep sadness. It is clear that we have very different ways of looking at Peter Handke's literary works ”, writes Anders Olsson in the letter that the Cultural News has taken note of.

Anders Olsson also writes that the two parties, on the other hand, agree that they fully trust the Hague Tribunal's assessment that the Srebrenica massacre should be classed as genocide.

"Contradictory and hypocritical"

Murat Tahirović, chairman of the Association for Victims and Witnesses of the Association, is not satisfied with the Academy's response.

“The Nobel Committee writes that they trust the Hague Tribunal's judgment, while at the same time they reward Peter Handke who denies this. It is contradictory and hypocritical, ”Murat Tahirović writes in an email to the Cultural News.

In a 2011 interview, which was re-actualized when it was clear that Handke would receive the Nobel Prize, the author questioned how many were killed during the Sreberenica massacre. He has denied this via the Swedish Academy at the end of October. He writes, among other things:

“Of course, endless suffering has arisen through the genocide, which I have never denied. A suffering that cannot be wiped out by anything. I regret if what I said has conveyed something else. "