Konaković: No Hamas letter in BiH MFA system, ironing out details of two laws

(Patria) - Elmedin Dino Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, addressed the media after a session of the Council of Ministers of BiH. Konaković spoke about the state-level coalition meeting, but also touched upon the latest attacks in Gaza.

Let us remind you, two European laws were agreed upon, the Law on Courts and the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering, which should be adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH by the end of the month. Certain progress has also been made regarding the Election Law.

“We have set deadlines by the end of this month for these matters to be completed, with, of course, additional discussion on some details. It seems to me that everything is going in a much better direction. It was not planned for it to be at today's session, but at one of the next ones, or even an extraordinary session. Our deadline is until the 30th/31st of this month. However, the devil is in the details. Now we have to discuss the details, it's time to iron them out. This is the essence of the story, someone always has to compromise. We have to make compromises to reach solutions that are crucial for BiH. There is still stubbornness on both sides, there are still topics we disagree on,” said Konaković.

Then, speaking about the seat of the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH, he said:

“My BiH is whole, I experience every part of it. The seat in Banja Luka incurs unnecessary costs. We will let experts draw a conclusion and present us with a compromise solution. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I have often been told that we only need to make a small effort to get the law on courts, the law on conflict of interest, and that would be 100 percent of what is required of us at this moment. We agree that foreign judges should leave, but we disagree on when that should happen. Our position is that it should be before the EU doors. We don't want it immediately because we think it would destabilize the judicial system. Even when we exchange harsh words publicly, we still talk. And that is the most important thing.”

When asked by an N1 journalist, Konaković also commented on the recent conflicts in the Gaza Strip.

“I am not one of those who use the story of Gaza for political daily purposes, as some politicians and some media outlets do. I have never hidden that I am on the side of the fight for a solution called two states. I support Palestine's efforts to maintain its sovereignty and have its own state, and I expect it to go in that direction. I am against the occupation of Gaza, I am against the killing of civilians in both Israel and Gaza,” said Konaković.

Some media outlets reported that Hamas leader Ismail Haniya sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Elmedin Konaković, seven days ago, asking for help for Palestine. However, Konaković denied this.

“There is no Hamas letter, there is no letter in the BiH MFA system. I speak loudly about such individuals in your profession to distinguish between professionals and mercenaries. Željana Zovko accuses Komšić of being a radical, I refrain, and they are crossing red lines by a lot. Hamas should not have done that, there is no justification for killing civilians. I am a member of the Army of BiH, proud of that period. We fought against that during the aggression. That is our strength and our right to talk about it to everyone. It bothers me that some journalists and politicians are used for daily political purposes, it is too expensive and not humane. I don't believe we have a consensus on this issue, but in this case, I don't want to observe such a process. I weigh my statements carefully. Despite all the suffering, my primary interest is BiH. We must be careful about what we do. We who have survived such suffering have the right to appeal for them to stop as soon as possible, for the long-standing conflict to be resolved peacefully,” concluded Konaković.