IGK: Independent and Sovereign BiH is the Result of the Patriotic Struggle of the ARBiH

Today, on the anniversary of the founding of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH), the Institute for Genocide Research, Canada (IGK) calls on all citizens and peoples of BiH to pay tribute to all the heroes who gave their lives so that today we could be free. The Army of RBiH was formed and survived as the only official and legal armed force in BiH, whose goal was to preserve BiH within its borders and protect its sovereignty and independence, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Following the idea of Bosnia and the Bosnian spirit as a Bosnian-Herzegovinian response to all challenges of human existence, civilization, society, and state, a response often copied from Europe and the world, the multi-ethnic structure of the Army of RBiH gathered all patriots who together stood on the front line of defense of RBiH, regardless of ethnic, religious, or other differences. They shared the idea of a free and independent state and defended a people whose eastern and western neighbors openly threatened with disappearance and destruction.

The international community, although it accepted the results of the referendum for a sovereign and independent BiH and internationally recognized it, unfortunately did not protect RBiH, the victim of armed aggression and genocide. Instead, the UN Security Council, serving the interests of great powers, not only failed to defend BiH but also denied it the inalienable right to defend itself against aggression and genocide. The victims of genocide, mostly Bosniaks, were, unfortunately, due to their national, ethnic, and religious affiliation, deprived of the right to self-defense by an arms embargo that was illegal and without legal force, because it deprived a sovereign country, a UN member, of its natural right to self-defense. Nevertheless, BiH survived thanks to the brave resistance of its anti-fascist Army. Precisely because it defended the territory, state sovereignty, and integrity of a country that constantly nurtures the idea of Bosnia and the Bosnian spirit, thus giving hope for a better future for humanity and civilization, the Army of RBiH won the war. During the defensive war, RBiH defended itself against brutal Greater Serbian and Greater Croatian aggression. Let science, history, and research institutes remember that the fighters of the Army of RBiH rose up against a conceived and organized joint criminal enterprise and plan for genocide against the citizens of BiH, primarily Bosniaks. They rose as representatives of a vision embodied in the idea of Bosnia and the Bosnian spirit, which can only freely exist in an independent and sovereign Bosnian-Herzegovinian state, against another vision, which was based on the destruction of the idea of Bosnia and the Bosnian spirit.

In such a difficult historical moment, the Army of RBiH did not seek revenge or retaliate in kind for the crimes of aggression and genocide. It demonstrated the highest level of morality and readiness to fight for the highest goals, which remain a universal value, so nobly called the idea of Bosnia and the Bosnian spirit in BiH.

The defensive war was on the verge of complete success in the summer of 1995, precisely because it was defensive, because it did not seek to conquer other territories, but only to defend its own territories and its sovereign, internationally recognized state. When final success was in sight, it was halted by the Dayton Peace Agreement, which legalized the war of aggression against RBiH and the genocide against Bosniaks, and imposed solutions that are not in accordance with international democratic standards. Unfortunately, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian, especially the Bosniak political establishment, did not follow the victorious march of the Army of RBiH. The Dayton Agreement recognized a criminal and genocidal entity called the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, which cannot survive because it is in permanent conflict with the idea of Bosnia and the Bosnian spirit.

Declarations of the legislative bodies of the so-called RS, resolutions of political subjects of the so-called RS only contribute to strengthening the Bosnian stubbornness as a basic, strategic element of the idea of Bosnia. To those who still attack the Bosnian-Herzegovinian state, society, territory, country, to those who deny genocide and aggression and thus try to preserve the legalized results of aggression and genocide, we say, the Army of RBiH is always ready to defend and protect BiH.

We must never forget that the independent and sovereign state of BiH is the result of the patriotic struggle of the members of the Army of BiH. For us who live in freedom, thanks to those great heroes, the obligation remains to build in peace a modern and democratic state of BiH in which there will be no unjust, inhumane, contrary to justice and truth territories legalized by aggression and genocide.

IGK calls on the academic, scientific-research, political, and cultural establishment to preserve the memory of the honorable and brave Army of RBiH, its symbols and traditions, which represent the foundation of the existence of the state of BiH. At the same time, IGK calls on, above all, the youth of Bosnia and Herzegovina to take responsibility for continuing the mission of the Army of BiH, the mission of justice and truth for a unique, sovereign, independent state of BiH.