TOURIST SCHMIDT SHOULD BE REMINDED THAT EVERY PEACE PLAN ENVISIONED THE DIVISION OF SR BiH ALONG ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS LINES

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 4 /SRNA/ - Professor of constitutional law Siniša Karan told SRNA that "tourist" Christian Schmidt should be reminded that from 1991 to 1995, every peace solution envisioned the division of the Socialist Republic of BiH along ethnic and religious lines. He noted that the Owen-Stoltenberg plan even proposed a union of independent states, while the Washington Agreement demanded delineation between the newly formed Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska.

Karan told SRNA that the Dayton Peace Agreement validated the ethno-territorial position of the peoples and created external sovereignty, while all internal sovereignty remained with Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH.

"BiH is a specific multiethnic, asymmetric, confederal-federal loose federation with limited powers and full, ultimate authority and sovereign governance based on the ethno-territorial principle," said Karan, adding that it must not be overlooked that BiH has only as much authority as the entities grant it.

He emphasized that constitutional principles such as parity, consensus, division of competencies, and protection of vital national interests of the constituent peoples and their territories uphold Republika Srpska as a state with strong constitutional capacity and limited external sovereignty.

"Whoever pokes this - pokes Republika Srpska, which has the right, duty, and constitutional obligation to offer constitutional resistance, especially knowing, as we do, that behind all this stands the Defensive-Patriotic War, victims, and suffering for this very idea. The state is the only framework for true defence against a new genocide against the Serb people," Karan explained.

According to him, the dividing line between those who defend and those who undermine Republika Srpska lies in Dayton-based constitutional defence and remembrance of the victims.

"The basis and efficient application of these federal principles is the will of the majority of the people. In contrast, we have disintegration under the `Komšić principle` - where you belong to but don't represent them. In that way, the Constitution is not formally violated, but its meaning and spirit are destroyed, becoming an empty shell and a constitutional zombie. The `Komšićization` of BiH leads to its disappearance and an uncertain future," Karan concluded.