ŽUPLJANIN: FBiH THE ONLY PLACE THAT CELEBRATES DEATH

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 28 /SRNA/ – The Federation of BiH is the only entity in the world that celebrates death, specifically on the wedding celebration of March 1 1992, and even more troubling is that some Western diplomats continue to send congratulations for it, Slobodan Župljanin, President of the Republika Srpska Army Officers’ Organization, told SRNA.

Župljanin welcomed the decision by the Government of Republika Srpska to declare March 1 a Day of Mourning in the entity, emphasizing that it reflects the wishes of all patriotic forces in Republika Srpska.

"Republika Srpska will never mark the so-called Independence Day of BiH, because the celebration of March 1, when a Serb wedding guest was brutally murdered at Sarajevo’s Baščaršija, shows the absurdity of BiH as it exists today," Župljanin said.

He noted that March 1, 1992 serves as a warning of where the Serb people would have ended up if not for the events of January 9 and February 28 1992, and the unbreakable will of the Serb people to never allow anyone else to decide on their behalf.

According to him, the Serb people remember March 1 1992 only for its tragedy, and on that day all Serbs in Republika Srpska mourn the innocent wedding guest Nikola Gardović and the seriously wounded priest.

Župljanin reminded that March 1 1992 was also the second day of an illegitimate referendum on BiH independence, organized against the will of the Serb people.

He added that the Serb population had previously voted in a plebiscite to remain in the Yugoslav state, and that the atmosphere in BiH, then still a Yugoslav republic, was on the verge of boiling over.

He also said that the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of BiH, in which the SDA held the most seats, declared independence on the same day based on the referendum results in which Serbs had not participated. This was a key trigger and prelude to the bloody war in BiH.

"Therefore, Republika Srpska will never celebrate the so-called Independence Day of BiH, but we will eternally preserve the memory of all Serb victims and empathize with their families. This is a day of sorrow and mourning, and it will be observed in peace, with grief for the innocently killed," Župljanin concluded.

The Government of Republika Srpska declared March 1 a Day of Mourning in recognition of the tragic events of that date in 1992, which were a precursor to the outbreak of the tragic conflict in BiH.

In the part of the Federation of BiH with a majority Bosniak population, March 1 is marked as the so-called Independence Day of BiH, because it was the day when the illegitimate referendum on independence and secession from the SFRY took place. Serbs in Republika Srpska remember March 1 for the murder of a Serb wedding guest in Sarajevo, which was also the trigger for the outbreak of the war.

This tragic date is not celebrated in Republika Srpska; instead, November 21 is commemorated, the day when the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH was initialed at the US air base Wright-Patterson near Dayton, marking the end of the civil war in BiH.