Bećirović to Vučić: It's time you leave Bosnia and Herzegovina alone, the region needs peace, development, and equal cooperation

(Patria) - Chairman of the BiH Presidency Denis Bećirović reacted to the latest attacks and unfounded statements by the President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and stated:

“Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in Europe where genocide was committed after World War II. This has been ruled by the highest courts of the United Nations (UN).

The Republic of Serbia is the only country in the world ruled by the highest UN court to have violated the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on December 9, 1948. These are legal facts that no one can erase. Lessons should be learned from them and it should not be allowed for genocide to ever happen to anyone again.

A person who publicly claimed in the highest legislative body of Serbia that 100 Muslims should be killed for one Serb cannot lecture anyone on warmongering rhetoric. For me, one Bosniak has always been and will remain equal to one Serb, Croat, Roma, Jew, or any other person.

Similar to the 1990s, Aleksandar Vučić and his propagandists are again inventing unspoken sentences, spreading lies, labeling, slandering, accusing, judging...

Instead of deception and false equivalencies, Vučić should have truthfully and concretely stated what bothers him about my speech at the commemoration of the victims of genocide in Potočari on July 11, 2024.

Does it bother him that I said I respect the Republic of Serbia and its citizens and that I do not equate the regime with the citizens? Or the call for final verdicts of the United Nations courts?

Does the implementation of the Resolution on the International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Genocide in Srebrenica bother him? Why does the call for peace and equal cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia bother him?

Instead of referring to non-existent parts of my speech, Vučić should face the truth and stop undermining the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Europe, and the world know well what the former Minister of Information of the infamous Slobodan Milošević and the current President of the Republic of Serbia was involved in and, unfortunately, is still involved in. Vučić's manipulative strategy and tactics have been exposed, as everyone now knows his propaganda deceptions.

Vučić's Greater Serbian goals are clear. After organizing a Greater Serbian assembly in Belgrade on June 8 this year and adopting a Greater Serbian declaration, no one has any doubts about what the President of Serbia is truly engaged in. The realization of Vučić's declaration would mean the disappearance of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and therefore it must be stopped in the interest of preserving peace.

The declaration flagrantly violates international and domestic law, as well as the sovereignty of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It represents an undermining of the fundamental principles on which the European Union is based and the basic international principles on which interstate relations of UN member states are founded.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is an internationally recognized independent, sovereign, and indivisible state, and this is a permanent fact that no one will ever be able to change again. It would be good for the region if Vučić focused on the internal affairs of the state he represents.

Unfortunately, without any reason or authorization, contrary to international and domestic law, he continuously and increasingly aggressively interferes in the internal affairs of the independent, sovereign, and indivisible state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The question arises what the President of Serbia would do if, for example, one of Serbia's neighboring countries adopted a 49-point declaration concerning Vojvodina and the content of that declaration did not respect Serbia's sovereignty.

Parallel relations cannot be an excuse for Vučić, as the BiH Constitution is clear. The BiH Constitution, which is an integral part of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stipulates that: "Entities shall have the right to establish parallel links with neighboring states, in accordance with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina" (Article III-2 (a).

The Bosnian entity of RS is obliged to consistently respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, just as neighboring Serbia is. The state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Serbia should build good and equal interstate relations.

The future of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia lies in genuine mutual respect and esteem. Whatever Vučić would not wish for Serbia, he should not do to Bosnia and Herzegovina either. It is time for the President of Serbia to leave the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina alone! The region needs peace, development, and equal cooperation between states," stated Bećirović.