KONAKOVIĆ SEEKS TO “EXPEL” ADVISER WHOSE TERM HAS EXPIRED

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 8 /SRNA/ - BiH Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandar Vranješ told SRNA that, towards the end of his term in office, BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković is seeking with his latest moves to escalate relations with Belgrade at any cost, and that his superficiality is also evident in his intention to “expel” BIA representative’s adviser Danko Maksimović from BiH, even though he has already left the Embassy of Serbia.

Commenting on Konaković’s latest move to declare Milan Dulanović, the military attaché at the Embassy of Serbia in Sarajevo, and Danko Maksimović, the adviser to the BIA representative, persona non grata in BiH, Vranješ pointed out that Maksimović left BiH on August 31, as his term had formally expired. “He was not even able to check whether that man was still at the Embassy, which only shows Konaković’s superficiality and bias, as he is determined at any cost to escalate and damage relations with Serbia,” Vranješ said. Vranješ said he did not know how all of this would end, because Konaković had selectively applied certain rules, and that it would now have to be established how this was carried out and whether it was done in accordance with the relevant regulations. “I am not sure that he did everything in accordance with the regulations, knowing how superficial he is, but we will have to establish that afterwards,” Vranješ stressed. Vranješ pointed out that even before the funeral of General Ratko Mladić, Konaković had been trying at all costs to spoil relations with Serbia, even though Serbia had helped BiH on several occasions. Regarding Konaković’s announcement that he would withdraw all BiH diplomats from Serbia, Vranješ said there was no legal basis for such a move at all, but that Konaković was nevertheless prepared to spread hatred and damage good-neighbourly relations. “That is what he is trying to do at the end of his term,” Vranješ said, reminding that, under the principle of rotation, the next minister should be a Serb. Therefore, Vranješ said, Konaković will not remain minister for much longer, and a Serb will take his place and try to repair what he has damaged. Regarding Konaković’s intention to withdraw most of the diplomatic staff from the BiH Embassy in Serbia, Vranješ said that Konaković cannot recall any ambassador because that falls exclusively under the authority of the Presidency of BiH. “But he cannot recall civil servants either, because they are protected by law and should not be subject to political retaliation. They are protected by the Civil Service Law. So he will not be able to recall civil servants in the way he intends,” Vranješ said. Vranješ recalled that, during the conflict involving Iran, which had bombed the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries, Serbia offered to have its national airline, Air Serbia, evacuate BiH citizens free of charge. He pointed out that, instead of thanking Serbia, Konaković attacked Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Đurić and President Aleksandar Vučić at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum. “That says everything about him, not only as someone unprofessional, but also about his moral character, because the least he could have done was to express his gratitude. All of this happened long before the death of General Mladić,” Vranješ said. Although it may already have been forgotten in Sarajevo, Vranješ cited another example: people in BiH were able to watch the BiH national team’s matches at the World Cup solely thanks to Serbia, specifically Telekom Srbija, which provided the broadcasting rights free of charge so that they could watch the matches. “And yet we are still subjected to this level of hatred from Dino Konaković, and to his unilateral actions that have no basis whatsoever,” Vranješ said.