– He broke down ethnic barriers, as the first prime minister in the Western Balkans elected from the ranks of minority peoples – said David M. Carr, a member of the New York City Council from the podium of the famous City Hall in New York, speaking about the leader of the Civic Movement URA Dr Dritan Abazović ahead of the award ceremony.
This was a sign of respect from the New York parliamentary body for everything Mr. Abazović has done for Montenegro and its parliamentary life. Especially regarding the position of minorities, as until his emergence on the political scene, minority peoples in Montenegro could only act as extras in the socio-political play and be a measure for bargaining and creating the illusion of a multi-confessional society as a cover for the political and criminal elites that have occupied the space for three decades.
The Revija Fokus portal was the first to report the news from the scene
That Dritan Abazović received the title of honorary citizen of New York was first reported by the Revija Fokus portal on the night between June 23 and 24, 25 minutes after midnight according to our time, precisely the portal that will be one of the generators of media propaganda, writing more articles about Abazović in two days than they did for all other announcements in an entire week. However, at 3:14 AM Montenegrin time, the announcement was suddenly changed, stating that he was awarded a “ceremonial proclamation.”
The exact reason for the change in the announcement has not yet been explained by the editor of the Revija Fokus portal, Sead Hodžić, who, according to his own words, was present at the ceremony held ahead of Montenegro’s Statehood Day.
To make Hodžić’s entire reporting even more suspicious, the fact that he reported from the same event in 2024, when the Consul General of Montenegro in New York Amer Cikotić received the same recognition as Abazović in 2026, is confirmed by preserved screenshots of announcements from the Revija Fokus portal.
To make matters more bizarre, immediately after the sudden changes in announcements and the launch of a dirty media campaign, the announcement about Cikotić as the recipient of the title of honorary citizen of New York was deleted. Then followed a series of unprofessional, tendentious, and sponsored negative articles, which time will confirm who initiated, supported, and spread them among the diaspora with the aim of harming Abazović.
Only on June 24 in the morning hours according to Montenegrin time was it announced on social media that Dritan Abazović had been awarded the recognition.
Involvement of Vijesti in media propaganda – the peak of hypocrisy
Two days after the activation of the Revija Fokus portal, the media conglomerate Vijesti joined the media-propaganda machinery claiming that Abazović did not receive the recognition of “honorary citizen of New York.” That the obvious hypocrisy and bad intentions reached their peak is confirmed by the fact that Vijesti reported in 2025 from a similar event held in the New York Assembly that Džemal Lanica, president of the Albanian-American Association of Ulcinj, was awarded the title of “honorary citizen of New York.” From publicly available photographs from the Vijesti portal, it can be seen that it is the same recognition that Abazović received this year.
This raises a clear and open question as to why for the Revija Fokus portal since June 2024, Amel Cikotić was an honorary citizen of New York, right up until the night when Abazović received the same recognition, why for Vijesti Džemal Lanica became an honorary citizen of New York in 2025, while Dritan Abazović from 2026 is not, even though he was awarded a nearly identical recognition from the City Council in New York?
The goal is to prevent minority sympathies towards Abazović
This recognition has hurt numerous leaders and self-proclaimed political representatives of national groups who do not want to allow international recognition to anyone but themselves, especially in areas where the largest number of our emigrants live. During their rule, while political-criminal structures ravaged the state, the majority of these emigrants left “in search of bread” to create opportunities for themselves and their families in an environment where their potential and efforts would be best expressed, without pressures regarding which national structure they belong to, which God they pray to, and whether they have a membership card of any of the “acceptable” parties.
It was precisely the warmongering politics and the economic collapse of the state that led to Štrbaci, Bukovica, Lim Action, Kaluđerski Laz, Orlov Let, and ultimately to the emigration predominantly of people from regions where the most shameful pages of modern Montenegrin history occurred. Meanwhile, the role of leaders and representatives of minority parties was reduced to a protocol level, with no chance of even thinking that they could change THEIR country for the better just like everyone else.
The key moment when someone changed the perspective of members of minority nations occurred in 2020, when Dr. Abazović played a key role in the first democratic change of government in the history of Montenegro, resisting all political, criminal, and ideological pressures.
Minorities then de facto emerged from the sheltered background water carriers in key processes, expanded their coalition capacity, freed themselves from the shackles of the past, and became equal players in the decision-making process.
The problem is only of a personal nature for key leaders – that in that process they personally did not have the strength to do it, but that duty fell to someone else.
Until 2020, the sympathies of the diaspora, especially in the United States, were held by the ruling parties, and in the months following, through strong propaganda, spreading false news about the “disappearance of multinational Montenegro,” they tried to preserve that support for themselves, not allowing anyone to peek into that yard.
However, the only one who managed to do that is Dritan Abazović, using diplomatic activities, open and honest communication with representatives of the diaspora and emigrants, which for years has been an eyesore for representatives of the former government and self-proclaimed guardians of national identity.
That is the “catch” of the new wave of propaganda actions against Abazović, trying through cheap manipulations, engaging their media, analysts, and diplomats, to undermine his credibility, authority, and relationship with the diaspora as much as possible.
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