LOZO: ESTABLISHMENT OF ASSEMBLY OF THE SERB PEOPLE LAID FOUNDATIONS OF REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 24 /SRNA/ - The establishment of the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH on October 24, 1991, was a forced but wise and visionary response to Serb representatives being outvoted and to unconstitutional decisions made by Muslim and Croat members of parliament, signaling the formation of a democratic and institutional framework for Republika Srpska, Predrag Lozo of the Republika Srpska Center for Socio-Political Research told SRNA.

Lozo stressed that it was a deliberate decision, one of a series of measures aimed at preventing a recurrence of events such as the genocide against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/.

He reminded that the decision to establish the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH was adopted in Sarajevo on October 24, 1991, following the illegal and illegitimate adoption of the Platform of the BiH Presidency, the SDA Memorandum on the Sovereignty of BiH, the Letter of Intent, and the announcement of a referendum on BiH sovereignty by Muslim and Croat members of the BiH Assembly.

"This was done through deception, after the session had been adjourned, and without the presence or support of Serb members of parliament, during the night of October 14–15, 1991. The establishment of the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH was regarded as a response to the aforementioned documents and the practice of outvoting representatives of the Serb people," said Lozo, who heads the Department for Identity Research and the Culture of Remembrance at the Center.

He reminded that the newly formed Assembly consisted of representatives of Serb parties from the BiH Assembly, which they had left because of fraud and illegal practices. There were 78 members in total: 72 from the Serb Democratic Party /SDS/, two from the Serb Renewal Movement /SPO/, and four from the Party of Reform Forces. Five more members later joined the Assembly, bringing its total membership to 83.

"Testimonies from Serb statesmen and politicians of that time suggest that the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH was established because Muslim and Croat members of parliament, in violation of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of BiH and using deception and impermissible methods, outvoted Serb representatives and imposed their own decisions on the future of BiH," Lozo stressed.

He described it as a forced but wise and visionary response to the unconstitutional decisions of Muslim and Croat representatives and their unwillingness to protect Serb interests and resolve the crisis through constitutional means.

"The very name, Assembly of the Serb People in BiH, clearly shows that it was intended to articulate the interests of the Serb people. It was also a de facto announcement of the establishment of an institutional response to the secession and breakup of Yugoslavia, as well as the formation of the democratic and institutional framework of what would later become Republika Srpska," Lozo said.

According to him, this also reflected the desire of representatives duly elected in democratic elections to ensure that, in keeping with the needs of the Serb people, who have lived in these areas for centuries, Serbs would decide their own fate, free from foreign and hostile centers of power.

"It was a deliberate decision, one in a series of measures aimed at preventing a recurrence of events such as the genocide against Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ during World War II," Lozo stressed.

He added that this decision was followed by a decision on the Serb people in BiH remaining in the common state of Yugoslavia, which was to be confirmed in a plebiscite called at the same session.

He reminded that the final document adopted at this first session was the Declaration of the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH, which stated, among other things, that the existing constitutional and legal order in Yugoslavia and BiH had been seriously undermined, that the rights and vital interests of the Serb people in BiH were threatened, and that a conspiracy had long been underway to reduce the Serb people, as a constituent people in BiH, to a national minority.

The Declaration stated that the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH had been established because the Serb people had learned from the tragic experiences of this century, particularly the genocide committed against them, and because there was a threat of new and similar tragic events.

The Declaration also stated that the Serb people were a historic people with a tradition of statehood, equal to all other such peoples; that they had a long tradition of democracy; and that they respected and recognized the distinctiveness and interests of other peoples and states, but expected them, in turn, to respect the interests and distinctiveness of the Serb people and the state in which they lived.

The 35th anniversary of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, established as the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH, will be formally commemorated in Pale today.