MASTILOVIĆ: TIME IS RIPE FOR SRPSKA TO ADOPT NEW CONSTITUTION

PALE, OCTOBER 22 /SRNA/ – The political and geopolitical circumstances are now ripe for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska to adopt a new constitution that would enshrine the rights the Serb people obtained under the Dayton Peace Agreement, Draga Mastilović, Republika Srpska Minister for Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education, told SRNA.

"We know that the Republika Srpska Constitution has been amended several times, mostly through the legal violence exercised by the high representatives in BiH. However, one clear fact must be borne in mind - Republika Srpska has the right to adopt its own constitution," Mastilović said.

He stressed that the conditions for adopting a new constitution had matured, just as they had in 1992, when Serb political leaders adopted the first Constitution of the Republic of the Serb People in BiH, which was recognised through an international act - the Dayton Peace Agreement.

"Everything that certain parts of the international community, particularly the high representatives, have done over the past 30 years has been to the detriment of the Serb people, as they strived for undermining its institutions, including the Republika Srpska Constitution," Mastilović said.

He stated that the new constitution would primarily recognise the rights of the Serb people, as well as the rights of the other constituent peoples.

"Republika Srpska is a democratic country that guarantees peace and stability for all its citizens, unlike the FBiH, where we regularly witness incidents or provocations targeting the Serb people," Mastilović said.

He says he has not seen anyone attacked anywhere in Republika Srpska for carrying a particular flag or wearing a sports club jersey, whereas, unfortunately, such incidents had become commonplace in Sarajevo.

"This is the result of the ugly propaganda spread by official Sarajevo and, above all, of the nervousness that has become particularly noticeable lately, because promises that Republika Srpska would be dismantled have failed to come true," Mastilović said.

He is confident that Republika Srpska has the capacity to continue strengthening its status.

Mastilović stated that official Sarajevo needs to understand that it must abandon its wartime objectives if it wanted Republika Srpska to remain part of BiH, adding that BiH can exist only if Republika Srpska is part of it.

"They must change their wartime rhetoric and the mythology through which, unfortunately, entire generations of young people have been raised. They raised them to hate their closest neighbours," Mastilović said.

He stressed that the current resurgence of Nazism, neo-Nazism and neo-fascism in Europe, as well as the escalation of Ustasha ideology in the region, must always be taken into account.

"In the 1990s, the Serbs were the first to confront neo-Nazism and neo-fascism in Europe. Many people did not understand this at the time. For who knows what time in history, the Serbs stood in the way of this evil," Mastilović said.

He pointed to a paradox - streets in Sarajevo still bear the names of well-known Nazi ideologues, while, at the same time there is hypocritical professing of anti-fascist traditions.

What is particularly worrying, Mastilović emphasized, is the escalation of Nazism in Croatia, which can no longer be concealed, but Europe’s passivity is even more concerning.

He recalled that Germany in the 1990s, followed by many Western countries, had supported both Croatian and Muslim neo-Nazism expressed through the glorification of the Handschar Division and Muslim legions.

"What is particularly alarming is the fact that so many young people in Croatia today have been poisoned by Ustasha ideology, meaning that there are more followers of Nazi ideology than there were in 1941," Mastilović said.

If this does not concern Europe, Mastilović stresses, then it represents a very serious problem indeed.

"In this regard, Republika Srpska must take a clear position, and not only Republika Srpska, but all free countries. We must overcome the evils of the 20th century, such as Nazism and fascism, or they will destroy us," Mastilović warned.