Komšić at Reception in Vijećnica: BiH Will Rely on Its Own Strengths and Overcome Challenges

(Patria) - Member of the Presidency of BiH Željko Komšić addressed tonight a reception he organised together with Denis Bećirović on the occasion of BiH Independence Day in Sarajevo's Vijećnica.

Komšić's speech can be read in full below.

"Dear citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

At the end of the last century, faced with a new political reality that emerged after the collapse of communism and the reality of the disintegration of the former common state, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through their political representatives elected in the first democratic elections, on March 1, 1992, embarked on the only possible path at the time, the path of voting for the independence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the path of autonomy and sovereignty.

Historical circumstances and the centuries-old desire for independence merged in the successfully held referendum on independence, which laid the foundations for the international recognition of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Recognition that had to be defended with arms, since our neighbours turned into aggressors who were not ready to accept the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a political and international fact.

International recognition was preceded by our, let's call it, own civic self-recognition, that is, the acquired awareness that in the struggle for the independence of our country we can and must, first and foremost, rely on ourselves and our own strengths.


Photo: Patria

That awareness, in practical terms, manifested itself immediately at the beginning of the aggression when, in response to the moves of secessionists and aggressors, the available republican institutions, and most notably the MUP of the RBiH, reacted decisively in the defence of vital state institutions and the protection of citizens' lives.

The further development of events and the course of the aggression vindicated such a conviction. Our own forces, concentrated in and around the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the supreme command of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, remained our only support in the struggle for independence.

Not only could we not rely on international forces, but the international factor was most often on the side of the aggressor, which was evident through the offered peace plans that did not presuppose Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state, but sometimes as a union of states, sometimes as a confederation, sometimes as anything else but never as an integral state.

Such an attitude of the international factor towards Bosnia and Herzegovina lasted until we formed, organised and structured the Army of the RBiH into a military force capable of conducting the most complex military operations and achieving both tactical and strategic victories.

Only after that, when it became clear that Bosnia and Herzegovina would not disappear, and when it became clear that the BiH Army was an unbreakable factor, only after that could we count on some form of assistance from international forces.

But, let us not lie to ourselves, that assistance was not the result of their international will or favour, but the result of our demonstrated strength in the struggle for the homeland.

All this leads us to a conclusion based on great collective experience, which says that whenever we relied on our own strengths, the result of our struggle was visible and concrete, and whenever we, sometimes in numerous illusions, relied on others in the defence of our lives and homeland, the result was devastating.

And that is why today there must be no dilemma about who we can rely on in the upcoming challenges. We must rely on ourselves, but also talk to everyone, both East and West. Let us talk and cooperate with everyone if it will be of benefit to the homeland.


Photo: Patria

Let us reject all those frequent and malicious objections to our attempts at cooperation or establishing contacts with countries that are undoubtedly friendly towards our homeland.

We do not owe anyone to justify or explain ourselves. We owe only our country and our children, and the only guarantee of our independence is our duties towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Every day we witness anew that the world that existed yesterday, the relations that until yesterday were the foundations of whatever international order, no longer exist.

If we do not change to such an extent, and if the same thread that united us in the defence of the homeland thirty years ago still exists within us, today we must equally be aware that global circumstances are changing, just as they changed at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The echo of these global changes is strongly felt here in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. Therefore, we are celebrating this Independence Day with the never smaller political presence of the foreign factor in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It must be said clearly and loudly that the international community and its role in BiH, as some concrete and effective mechanism, no longer exists. Let us remove it from our political, academic and any other vocabulary, in order to catch the last train of contemporary developments, at least at the level of language and thought.

The reality that follows will be completely different from this post-Dayton era we have lived through.

If we want to catch that last train of reality, we will have to simultaneously find the strength and our own capacities to defend the integrity of the decisions of domestic institutions, both when we like those decisions and when we do not.

The functioning of the state, the system and institutions, as best we know and can, we will have to ensure ourselves.


Photo: Patria

Therefore, when I speak of relying on our own strengths and capacities, I do not mean merely taking up arms at a decisive moment, but rather taking responsibility for our own country.

The time has passed when, due to the non-functioning of this or that institution, one would turn to a foreign ambassador. Even until now, seeking such a babysitter was ridiculous, but from now on it could be disastrous.

However, we in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not an exception in this regard either. The whole of Europe is currently trying to consolidate, precisely for similar reasons.

We are not the only ones who now must primarily rely on our own strengths. The whole of Europe is facing this challenge, which, if it wants its own freedom, will have to pay dearly for it or fight for it, since the great tutor has cancelled unconditional support.

Therefore, our challenges and Europe's are almost the same, and if there is still something called the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it lies precisely in the imperative that both Europe and Bosnia and Herzegovina must deal with themselves.

In this sense, it should be clear to us that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Europe, whatever we think when we say Europe, share the same future, not to say fatalistically, destiny. This should be our most important foreign policy orientation in the future.

In this, after all, I see an opportunity for the healing of both Europe and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the social relations that prevail in it.

Whatever challenges await us, and it is clear they will not be easy, I am sure that Bosnia and Herzegovina will overcome them because we passed our most difficult tests of state self-affirmation long ago, and showed the world who we are and what we are. This state has a reason for its existence and persistence.

It is a natural and social whole, not any kind of ideological or political construct imposed by anyone. That whole, in itself, is characteristically and mentally specific, indivisible and indestructible, like the love of a Bosnian person for their homeland, which has lasted for centuries and will last as long as we exist.

Dear citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, happy Independence Day!"