BOSNIAK DECLARATION SHOWS WHO OPPOSITION SHOULD NOT ALIGN WITH

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, MARCH 21 /SRNA/ – Members of the Association "Creators of Republika Srpska" believe that the recent statement by Bosniak political, academic and religious leaders should serve as a wake-up call for the Srpska opposition to understand who they should not "join hands" with, but instead stand alongside the ruling coalition in defending the vital national interests of Republika Srpska.

The Association told SRNA that the joint civil-religious statement represents yet another attempt to invert narratives, where repeatedly expressed Serbophobia is being replaced with a narrative of alleged Islamophobia and the revival of the so-called Greater Serbian hegemony in BiH.

They noted that this is happening at a time of growing international understanding, including from the United States, for the complex position of Republika Srpska within the "Bosnian melting pot".

"Instead of engaging in self-criticism regarding domestic and foreign Islamic extremism and continuous Western interventionism aimed at creating a so-called civic, but essentially anti-Dayton unitary BiH, prominent Bosniak intellectuals continue to spread fear of Serbs and their leaders in BiH, deepening an undisguised hostility toward everything Serbian", the Association stated.

In this way, they added, the Dayton foundations of the country-based on the equality of all three constituent peoples are being undermined, while an openly Bosniak unitary state is being promoted.

"So, the phrases about a peaceful, nationally and religiously tolerant BiH remain just that, phrases contradicted by everyday reality in which Bosniak extremists instill fear among the population toward Serbs and their political leadership", the Association members stated.

They expressed hope that the list of signatories of the "neo-Islamic declaration", which includes all Bosniak parties from the SDA to the so-called "Troika", will open the eyes of the Srpska opposition regarding whom they should not "join hands" with, but instead, without partisan rivalry, unite with the ruling coalition in defending the vital national interests of Republika Srpska.

The Association said it would sincerely and fully support any such initiative for national unity.

"It has been more than 30 years since the first Serb deputies, now gathered in the Association, decided, precisely due to the imposition of the will of the majority Muslim people for the Serbs to accept the secession of BiH from the former Yugoslavia and effectively become a minority in such a Bosnia, to establish an independent and democratic Republika Srpska", the Association states.

This, they stressed, remains a warning to all of how far Serbophobia can go, as well as the desire for domination of one people over the other two in what is now an increasingly eroded Dayton BiH.