SREBRENICA IS A PART OF REPUBLIKA SRPSKA, THE CONSTITUTION MUST BE RESPECTED

SREBRENICA, AUGUST 14 /SRNA/ - Vice President of the Srebrenica Municipal Assembly Radomir Pavlović told SRNA that this municipality is a part of Republika Srpska, which was established by the Dayton Constitution of BiH and this legality must be respected.

"That is how it was agreed in Dayton. Bosniak politicians, as well as associations and media under their mentorship and patronage, have been trying for almost 30 years to secure special rules regarding the status of the Srebrenica municipality, which is unacceptable because it undermines the constitutional order and the provisions of the peace agreement reached in Dayton," warned Pavlović. Regarding the recent Bosniak initiative seeking a "special legal and administrative status" for the Bosniak Memorial Center in Potočari, Pavlović says the question arises as to where the reverence for the victims, which no one disputes, ends, and where politics begins, along with the abuse of victims for the illegal overthrow of the constitutional order of BiH. He points out that the current legal status of the Potočari Memorial Center was created by High Representatives Wolfgang Petritsch and Christian Schwarz-Schilling, by imposing laws a few days before the expiration of their mandates and departure from those positions. However, says Pavlović, these imposed laws did not change the borders and sovereignty of Republika Srpska, which would be completely unacceptable and unconstitutional. He emphasizes that the Bosniak cemetery in Potočari should be protected like any other, but it cannot have immunity from the valid legal regulations of Republika Srpska. "As a public institution that exists and operates on its territory, it is subject to the verification of the legality of its operations, and this is no attack or pressure, as the director of that institution Emir Suljagić points out, wanting to divert attention from the reasons for the verification through a media hunt and false accusations that it is a matter of pressure and a threat to Bosniaks. Even the questioning of individuals does not mean a verdict, because if the operations are legal, then there is no need for fear, and the accusations coming from Suljagić and Bosniak war associations are condemnable because they falsely and tendentiously present every control and insistence on respecting the law in public as a threat to Bosniaks," Pavlović believes. According to him, this is a pure lie that creates a gap and distrust, and damages inter-ethnic relations in Srebrenica, which the competent security authorities should also deal with. "Serbs and Bosniaks in Srebrenica live freely and have equal rights, and those who should contribute to building trust, such as Suljagić and Bosniak war victims' associations, most of whom do not live in this place, are causing unrest and disrupting peaceful life in this environment," assesses Pavlović. He concludes that any special status for any location and space would be an attack on peace and the constitutional order of BiH and could cause conflicts, new divisions, and distrust, instead of reconciliation and coexistence in this peaceful town and BiH in general.