Klaudia Tanner duped – scandal surrounding Bosnian soldiers at the military academy

Instead of celebrating the successful completion of his three-year studies at the Theresian Military Academy (MilAk) in Wiener Neustadt, a Bosnian officer candidate quickly embarrassed his home country last Friday.

Before the start of the sponsorship celebrations, the Western Balkans ensign announced that he would refuse to shake hands with Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner. This is not compatible with his faith because she is a woman. “The man was subsequently excluded from both the sponsorship and the festivities,” Colonel Michael Bauer of the federal army confirmed the incident. He also did not receive the traditional academy ring.

The representative of Bosnia had to apologise
Particularly embarrassing for the young Bosnian officer: his country’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Slaven Galić, came especially for the dismantling. He had to make a very embarrassing apology to Austrian domestic politics. In addition to Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner, Chancellor Karl Nehammer was also present the following day.

But how did it happen that an apparently religiously radicalized soldier from abroad could be trained as an officer in Austria? As the “Krone” learned from the affected year group, the man probably completed his training unobtrusively and dutifully for the first two years.

Family pressure as a reason?
But it was only in the last year of his studies that he allegedly entered into a relationship with a woman from a strict Islamic family. His behavior then changed and the woman’s family applied pressure, it was said. The army regards the episode as an “isolated case”: training cooperation with Balkan states without their own military academy will not be shaken.