Stankovic: Austria must treat the display of the "double-headed eagle" as a symbol of extremism and fascism

President of the Austrian Association of Serbian Folklore, Aleksandar Stankovic, strongly condemns the behavior of members of the Austrian military, the Catholic military parish of the Vienna Military Command, who, in a group photo in uniform, displayed the Albanian greeting "double-headed eagle".

"Such behavior is completely unacceptable and constitutes an insult to the Serbs who have been living and working in Austria for centuries, undermining the coexistence of numerous communities of different cultures in this country. This act must be severely sanctioned and punished. Displaying the 'double-headed eagle' should be treated as glorifying symbols of extremism and fascism, for which there is no tolerance, neither in public nor under the law, and strict penalties are prescribed. On behalf of all Serbs in Austria, I demand that the relevant institutions prohibit the display of this symbol and strongly sanction such behavior", Stankovic explicitly states in the statement.

He adds that immediate action is necessary.

"In the next few days, we will initiate an effort in Austria to treat and ban the 'double-headed eagle' sign, symbolism, and display, just like other racist, fascist, and terrorist symbols. We cannot wait for such an incident to happen again; we must react immediately," he stated.

In Austria, since March 2019, in addition to displaying the Nazi salute, which has been severely sanctioned for decades, the list of prohibited symbols also includes the display and glorification of symbols of the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, Turkish Gray Wolves, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Hamas, Al-Qaeda, the military wing of Hezbollah, and Croatian Ustasha.

The mildest prescribed penalties range from fines of four to 10,000 euros to imprisonment if it is determined that one of these group ideologies is promoted publicly.

The Austrian Association of Serbian Folklore brings together 28 associations, clubs, and cultural-artistic societies from Austria.