DODIK: SERB REPRESENTATIVES’ VISIONARY 1991 DECISION AND INSTITUTIONAL EXPRESSION OF PEOPLE’S RIGHTS

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 23 /SRNA/ – The establishment of the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH on October 24, 1991, was a historic, decisive, and the only possible response by Serb political representatives at the time to a policy of outvoting, political domination, and the open denial of the political and constitutional rights of Serbs as a constituent people, President Milorad Dodik stated.

Marking the 35th anniversary of the establishment of the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH, Dodik told the Republika Srpska Media System – SRNA that, on October 24, 1991, legitimately elected Serb representatives made a visionary decision and erected an impenetrable barrier against attempts to reduce the Serb people to a disenfranchised minority through impositions and various forms of pressure.

"The establishment of the Assembly of the Serb People is a historical fact that undermines all the false narratives promoted by official Sarajevo and part of the international community about Republika Srpska, which documented evidence that Srpska was established peacefully, through the legal and legitimate will of the people, before any armed conflict took place.

It was not the result of chance, but an institutional expression of a people’s right to self-determination, freedom, and bare survival on their ancestral land. From its very first day, the National Assembly has been and remains the place where Republika Srpska was born and took root, as well as a beacon of our state-building vision," Dodik stressed.

He recalled that, since the end of the war in November 1995, history has once again placed the Serb people before similar, decisive trials.

"The methods have changed, but the objective of those who oppose Republika Srpska and want to abolish it has remained exactly the same – the gradual extinguishing of Srpska, the centralization of BiH into a unitary state, and the complete stripping of the Serb people of their powers.

What they attempted in 1991 by politically outvoting Serb representatives in Sarajevo, they later attempted during the war with guns and ethnic cleansing, and subsequently through the colonial dictatorship of illegal high representatives, the imposition of laws, the removal of competences, and politically motivated indictments," Dodik recalled.

We witness, he says, unprecedented and unparalleled attacks on the constitutional order through decisions made by the incomplete Constitutional Court of BiH, which, instead of serving as a guardian of the Constitution, its fundamental function, had turned into an executor of the rights of Serbs and Republika Srpska.

"Every day, we face open attempts to seize Republika Srpska’s property, from our forests and rivers to agricultural land. The objective of this policy is clear – to reduce Republika Srpska to an empty geographical shell without economic independence, so that its political autonomy can then be more easily abolished and extinguished," Dodik stressed.

Preserving the legacy of those who had the courage to say `NO` to the trampling of Serb rights in 1991, Dodik emphasized, sends a clear and unwavering message: property is our red line, and we will not cross it.

"The land, air, water, mineral resources, and institutions belong to the people of Republika Srpska. No blackmail, sanctions, or fabricated political processes can force us to bargain away what the bravest among us defended with their lives.

The era of foreign interventionism and a vassal-like attitude toward foreign embassies is over. The destiny of Republika Srpska will not be decided in Sarajevo or in foreign embassies, but exclusively here, in Republika Srpska, in the highest legislative body elected by the people," Dodik emphasized.

He told SRNA that the Republika Srpska National Assembly remains the supreme political and legal authority, and that any attempt to bypass or undermine it constitutes a direct attack on Srpska citizens’ democratic wil.

"Our policy is not one of conflict, but of upholding the letter of the law and defending the Dayton Peace Agreement in its original form – the letter, not the spirit, of the Dayton. At the same time, our policy is one of zero tolerance for any attempt to humiliate Republika Srpska.

Faced with the challenges that persist, we need, more than ever, pan-Serb unity, political maturity, and national responsibility. By safeguarding the dignity, strength, and sovereignty of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, we are protecting peace, stability, and the right of our descendants and future generations to live freely, proudly, with their heads held high on their own land. May the historic lesson of October 1991, in which I took part and of which I am extremely proud, serve as a lasting inspiration and guide on how to defend and love one’s homeland!" Dodik declared.

The Assembly of the Serb People in BiH was established in Sarajevo on October 24, 1991, and is considered the predecessor of today’s National Assembly of Republika Srpska. This body adopted historic decisions concerning the survival of the Serb people, the proclamation of Republika Srpska, and its first Constitution.

The first assembly consisted of 77 representatives, with the number later becoming established at 83 seats.

On January 9, 1992, the representatives adopted the Declaration proclaiming the Republic of the Serb People of BiH, a date now celebrated as Republika Srpska Day.