Grebo: I respect the flag and coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I have no emotional connection

The current flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been the official emblem since February 4, 1998, when the then High Representative Carlos Westendorp imposed the current flag because the deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina could not agree on a new flag, and the coat of arms was adopted in mid-May 1998, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Namely, an interesting story about the entire process of creating and the meaning of the current flag and coat of arms and their elements was told to Patria by Professor Zdravko Grebo a few months ago, and we are repeating it today.

As he said, he had the opportunity to see the first prints of the proposal for the new coat of arms and the new flag.

- I remember as if it were today, all the variants were yellow and blue. Some were horizontal, then a larger blue line, then a smaller yellow one. In the end, there was also this proposal that we have today as the official coat of arms and flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Not of the republic, but of Bosnia and Herzegovina as it is called after Dayton. And that is this stylized yellow triangle, which should be like a graphically cleaned space of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have this blue background and these two fields are divided by these white stars – says Grebo for NAP.

As he said, he learned that the author of that solution was a Dutch designer, which creates a slight discomfort for him, because, as he said, in all countries that respect themselves and that invoke tradition, national pride, statehood, such symbols must be the product of some local people, and in this case, it was done by a foreigner.

- What is almost caricatural and calls the whole idea into question is that these white stars, which symbolize the European Union, that is, the first and the last one are stars with a handicap. On the flag, the first star has a head and arms, but no legs, and the last one has only legs, and someone told me that this means that these stars permanently circle and flow, and the upper one comes out, the lower one enters, and then they constantly do some work on our coat of arms and flag – said Grebo, explaining this to us while observing the coat of arms in his office.

He added that people's identification with their country is also built through these symbols, adding the anthem to that, writes Patria.

Grebo also added that as a legalist, he accepts and respects the coat of arms and flag of his country, the anthem without lyrics, which is quite a precedent, but he has no emotional attachment.

- No one will ever explain to me why the flag with lilies, which has its roots in medieval Bosnia, bothered anyone. If the lilies are any kind of symbols, then they are more Catholic than Muslim, that is, Angevin, absolutely not Muslim symbols; if they are any symbols, they are Angevin lilies that exist in heraldry – said Grebo for NAP.

He says that in his office, next to the current coat of arms, he also has a flag with lilies.

- The flag with lilies has a foundation, the entire heraldry, the Franciscan armorial can be seen. The coat of arms we had with a sword and six lilies, that was the coat of arms associated with King Tvrtko. And the real Bosnian coat of arms, which can be found in the armorial, has a burgundy background with a crown and an arm bent at the elbow – said Grebo.