Jovanović: I ask Serb leaders in BiH not to defend Serbia the way they have done so far

LDP President and MP in the Serbian Parliament Čedomir Jovanović commented today on the current political situation in BiH. Novinska agencija Patria transmits his address in its entirety.  

-It has become clear that Bosnia and Herzegovina is in a serious crisis and that pretexts for mutual settling of scores are now being sought. If Serb leaders in BiH think they are defending Serbia the way they have done before, I ask them to stop doing that. Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the greatest help to us. After more than twenty years, it would be best if we at least tried to be normal again. 

We will never find enough justice for all those who suffered in the terrible war, and there is no justice that could compensate for that pain. If there is no justice, let there be wisdom in the end, that is what we all need.

The revision is becoming just a pretext for new mutual relations.

Politicians should not deal with law. Revision or the search for justice must not be a reason or justification for new misunderstandings or radicalization of relations in the region. Let judges and legal teams deal with it, but there is no need for radicalization of relations between Serbs and Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina itself.

Everything that Serbia needs, Serbs and Bosniaks also need - and that is peace. We must not allow problems to threaten the fragile peace we have had for more than twenty years. Whoever is in power in Sarajevo, Belgrade, or Banja Luka, faces a problem that destroys everything, and that is a harsh past for which we are all responsible together.

We depend on each other crucially. There can be no normal relations between Serbs and Bosniaks if Bosnia and Herzegovina is as it is, and that is the stumbling block. We have had our heads in the nineties for too long, and when we as a society do not have answers to problems, we remind people of what they have survived, and that is enough to make blood boil and to postpone, for who knows how long, those issues for which we ourselves have no answers.

We cannot afford to lose another second in such an insecure world. We must jointly seek answers to problems that will break the back of both Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina if they remain open for too long. We must be able to think about solutions for the 21st century, not to cling to solutions that will take us back to '95. This is not always easy for leaders to say, but the price paid will only be higher.