Dodik on HRT: Bosnian Serb leader advocates for a third entity

(Patria) - SNSD President and BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik was a guest on HRT's Dnevnik tonight, and as announced, the leader of Bosnian Serbs Milorad Dodik threatens to ban the operation of the State Court and Prosecutor's Office of BiH on the territory of Republika Srpska and take over the authority to appoint judges and prosecutors.

When asked if the decision to de facto withdraw from the constitutional and legal order of BiH, made on December 10, could be completed without a new war, Dodik said that war as an option is not foreseen.

- This is not a withdrawal from the constitutional and legal order, it is a return to the constitutional and legal order. When you read the Constitution, you will see that it is an application, we are committed to the application of the constitution and the constitutional and legal order. There have been many deviations in BiH. BiH has not succeeded in coming to life all this time. Regardless of the brazen violation of the constitution by foreigners who hold BiH as the only colony in Europe, Dodik said.

- BiH was not given too much by the constitution, so nothing is being taken away from it. BiH is returning to the constitutional order. It was taken from Republika Srpska, it was taken from the Federation, it was taken from the constituent peoples, all to promote some common institution that has never yielded results, he stated.

The international community is critical of this move. Sanctions are being announced.

- There are many people who understand the situation, even those who threaten sanctions, they understand very well. That's why they threaten sanctions because they have no other answer, they have no constitutional and legal answer, so they can do nothing else but use brute force to maintain the existing violation of the constitutional order in BiH, Dodik said.

The political crisis began after the decision of the previous High Representative to sanction the denial of genocide. When asked what is controversial about that decision and why he does not admit that genocide was committed in Srebrenica, Dodik replied:

- What is controversial is that an unelected foreigner in any country, and especially in an internationally recognized one like BiH, can impose any law. Such a High Representative, in the form of several figures, has imposed 140 laws in BiH. And it seemed that they would no longer do so, but then Inzko returned the old practice of imposing laws. That is the essence as far as we are concerned, an unelected foreigner imposes laws. Of course, we have problems with the essence as well, and the essence is a matter of discussion that should take place in Parliament, to possibly discuss it, but that has never happened, said Dodik, adding that there are those who claim that genocide occurred in Srebrenica and those who claim that it did not.

The institutions of BiH are blocked. The last session of the BiH Presidency was on the verge of a physical conflict. Is there room for building a common state tailored to all three peoples?

- I do not want to join the many illusionists who are trying to maintain this imaginary story about BiH. It had a chance by respecting, above all, the constituent peoples - Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks - and their rights to express themselves at the BiH level. This has been undermined for 20 years. And that's how BiH became malignantly ill. It has no chance of succeeding. Especially when you see at this moment that there are two peoples expressing dissatisfaction with the current state of BiH, and those are Serbs, us, and Croats, who are rightly angry at this system in which they are outvoted. Due to the number of Croats here, the Croatian electoral body, Muslims have the convenience to elect their Croat as they please. Everything that is against Croatia, the Croatian people, and Croatian interests in BiH, Željko Komšić leads the way. I am ready to testify to this anywhere in the world. This is not fair to the constituent peoples. Croats should be allowed to elect their authentic representative, I advocate for such a policy, and that could give BiH some chance. Otherwise, there is no chance, he concluded.

When asked how likely it is that a new election law will be passed by spring, Dodik replied that he thinks it is not possible.

- We have been doing this since 2011. So, if someone truly has so much optimism within them to think it is possible, well, I will be realistic, I don't think it is possible, said Dodik.

- Muslims have trapped themselves in the claim that giving Croats the right to elect their own, Croatian representative to the Presidency means a third entity, and they are supposedly against a third entity. And I still think that without a third entity, there is no Bosnia and Herzegovina. I think that would be fair. And everything can be agreed upon. But Muslims intend to outvote, and Bakir Izetbegović openly says this when he says, not only in the Presidency, but now also in the House of Peoples, which means that they are not there as a political people, Dodik concluded.