The SDAH chief, Semso Tankovic, told a news conference in Zagreb on Thursday that the issue of the duplicated declaration of the nationality of ethnic Bosniaks, who can either declare themselves as Muslims or Bosniaks in Croatia, caused problems in some towns as they could not exercise their rights.
Possible change of the name Muslims into Bosniaks in 25 towns and municipalities would help local Bosniak communities to have their representatives in local assemblies as they would account for over five percent of the local population.
He said that any attempt to put this issue on the agenda of relevant institutions was met with resistance, mentioning the government's National Minorities Office in this context.
The SDAH head urged the Croatian authorities to solve this issue in a systematic way.
If the government shows no will to address this problem, we shall interpret it as a sign that we are not a desirable partner, Tankovic said.
We are aware that the government does not depend on one SDAH member of parliament, he said, adding that SDAH's departure from the partnership would, however, spell erosion of support for the Ivo Sanader cabinet.
He urged the government to make it possible for the ethnic Bosniaks in towns where they make up a larger number of residents to be employed in the police and local administration.
Commenting on the Croatian parliament's voting on financial support to Bosnian Croat war veterans, notably former members of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and HVO dead soldiers' families, Tankovic said he had abstained from the vote.
Tankovic raised the question of assistance which Croatia should offer to Bosniaks, who he said had given their lives for the defence of Croatia. He showed to reporters a list containing the names of 754 Bosniaks killed while defending Croatia.