KARAN: THREATS AGAINST PRESIDENT DODIK REFLECT PEAK OF SARAJEVO'S POLITICAL CAMPAIGN, CALLS FOR PROSECUTORIAL RESPONSE

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 25 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan has stressed that Bakir Izetbegović's call to "remove by force" President Milorad Dodik - a man who symbolizes Republika Srpska's constitutional position, strength, electoral will and resistance to unitarization and majorization, represents the culmination of a years-long campaign orchestrated from political Sarajevo.

Commenting on Izetbegović's statement that Dodik "must be removed by force," Karan said in a statement to SRNA that SNSD President Dodik has for more than two decades protected Republika Srpska's constitutional position and served as the strongest barrier against Sarajevo's unitarist policies.

"For 20 years, President Dodik has prevented attempts by political Sarajevo to transform BiH into a unitary state and reduce Republika Srpska to a mere administrative unit stripped of its constitutional rights and competencies," Karan emphasized.

He said that the methods have changed - from efforts to alter BiH's Dayton constitutional structure through high representatives and imposed decisions in order to create a unitary, civic, Bosniak state in the heart of Europe, through the transfer of Republika Srpska's competencies and the misuse of judicial institutions, to today's open threats, but that the goal has always remained the same: weakening and politically disenfranchising Republika Srpska by targeting President Dodik.

"Having failed to defeat President Dodik at the ballot box for 20 years, or weaken the policies he represents and leads through political processes and institutional mechanisms, we are now witnessing a dangerous radicalization and calls for his physical elimination. The BiH Prosecutor's Office is obliged, ex officio and without delay, to respond urgently and undertake all measures regarding the threats that have been made," Karan said.