Tuzla professor to pro-Bosnian forces: Stop the calculations and stand in defence of the state!

(Patria) - Professor Maida Šljivić-Mahovkić from the Faculty of Philosophy in Tuzla addressed today's peaceful protest rally organised by Krug 99 in front of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) building in Sarajevo.

- Our homeland is in a moment we can call the culmination of a political siege. While we bid farewell to the outgoing High Representative, we must be aware that Bosnia and Herzegovina today is not under siege by tanks and artillery.

But it is under siege by policies that try to finish what the war failed to achieve: the destruction of the state, the annulment of its sovereignty, and the transformation of state territory into a permanently divided space of ethnic fiefdoms - said Šljivić-Mahovkić.

According to her, the arrival of the new High Representative is a question of the future of this country.

- We tell the international community: we do not need a High Representative who will receive instructions from Belgrade, Zagreb or Moscow, nor one who will be a mercenary of lobbying firms.

We need someone with human and moral credibility who will support pro-European, civic politics, and not further strengthen ethno-national divisions.

We strongly oppose any attempt to weaken the powers of the OHR or to relocate it from Sarajevo.

Certain power centres within the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) are dangerously announcing a reduction of those powers precisely at a time when separatism and ethno-territorial divisions are the most aggressive since the end of the war.

We are not in favour of the OHR's survival because it is the ideal solution, but because at this moment it is a guarantor of peace and the only institution for action in extraordinary circumstances.

The issue of state property is our red line. State property is not and cannot be subject to the political "carving up" of administrative units. The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been unique and indivisible for ten centuries.

The Dayton entities did not bring any territory into the state; they were created on forcibly occupied areas, which was confirmed by the Hague verdicts - said Šljivić-Mahovkić.

She warned that any classification of territory into the category of "property" that can be traded is a secessionist demand.

- If the state is deprived of or its territory is divided, it ceases to exist in the form in which it is recognised in the UN. We will not allow any other "nation-state" to be formed on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina - said Šljivić-Mahovkić.

She then read three demands from which, as she stated, they will not deviate:

1. We demand the establishment of functional mechanisms for the protection of the state, even if that is through the powers of the High Representative;

2. We demand unconditional respect and implementation of all decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. No political option may relativise these decisions;

3. We clearly oppose any territorial division or transfer of competencies from the state to the entities.

- If the OHR leaves Bosnia and Herzegovina without removing the constitutional blockades that are the result of ethnic cleansing and genocide, we will consider that the Dayton Agreement has officially ceased to be valid.

In that case, legally speaking, the only path is a return to the previous state - the Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We call on all pro-Bosnian political actors, both those in power and those in opposition: stop all calculations. Do not be passive observers of your own future. Mobilise your membership and put yourselves in the function of defending the state.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was, is, and will be a state of equal citizens - concluded the Tuzla professor in her address.