STANIŠIĆ EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR CVIJANOVIĆ: WHO DECIDES ABOUT OUR MONUMENTS WILL TOMORROW DECIDE ABOUT OUR IDENTITY

PALE, JULY 1 /SRNA/ - Member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska Aco Stanišić said he will give full support to the veto of the Serb member of the Presidency of BiH, Željka Cvijanović, regarding appointments to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, stressing that this is an issue that goes beyond day-to-day politics and concerns the identity of Republika Srpska and the Serb people.

"This is not about whether someone will be a member of a commission. This is about who will decide tomorrow about our monasteries, churches, old towns, and everything our ancestors left us. If we remain silent today and allow someone else to make decisions without Republika Srpska, tomorrow it will be too late to complain," Stanišić told SRNA. He stressed that Republika Srpska does not dispute anyone’s right to preserve their cultural heritage, but at the same time it will not allow decisions on Serbian cultural and historical heritage to be made without the voice of Republika Srpska. "A people that allows others to preserve its history and decide what is important to it gradually loses its roots. That is why this is not a struggle against anyone, but a struggle to preserve what our ancestors left us and to pass it on to our children one day," Stanišić emphasized. He added that support for Željka Cvijanović'a veto is not a matter of political affiliation. "Today it is not important who belongs to which party. What matters is whether we will have the right to have our say when decisions are made about our cultural and historical heritage. If we lose that right, it will be difficult to restore it tomorrow," the member of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska said. He said he expects unanimous support from the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. "This is not a struggle for a single mandate or for a single politician. This is a struggle for Republika Srpska to preserve the right to decide on what belongs to it. If we do not protect our own history ourselves, we should not expect others to preserve it for us," Stanišić concluded.