SRPSKA CONDEMNED USTASHISM IN 2015; THOSE SEEKING NEW DECLARATIONS ARE DEALING WITH PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

BANJA LUKA, MARCH 11 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska condemned Ustashism more than ten years ago, institutionally, at the highest level, and those who are now seeking new declarations on something that has already been established are not dealing with the condemnation of Ustashism but with a pre-election campaign, the Office of Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan announced.

The Office of Republika Srpska President warned that this is diminishing the weight of the crimes and harming the strategic interests and commitments of Republika Srpska.

"The Republika Srpska National Assembly already adopted the Declaration on the Genocide of the Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ against Serbs, Jews and Roma during the Second World War in 2015. We call on everyone to familiarize themselves with this declaration, respect it and align their actions with it," reads the statement from the President’s Office.

The President’s Office noted that in the times challenging for Republika Srpska, all Serb deputies supported the text of this declaration, which clearly and unequivocally states that the Ustasha ideology is criminal and that Republika Srpska strongly opposes any form of its promotion and glorification.

"The declaration established that the crimes committed by the Ustashas against Serbs, Jews and Roma were a deliberate and planned genocide according to the 1948 UN Convention; that 700,000 Serbs, 23,000 Jews and 80,000 Roma perished in the Jasenovac concentration camp system; that the NDH was the only country during the Second World War to have camps for the extermination of children; and that this crime, by its scale, is comparable to the Holocaust," the Office of the Republika Srpska President emphasized.

The same declaration, the statement says, also calls on the Republic of Croatia to accept historical responsibility for the NDH genocide, mark the crime sites and pay compensation to the victims and their descendants.

The Office of Republika Srpska President warned that certain politicians are trying to turn this issue into a pre-election tool.

"Republika Srpska did not discover today that it condemns Ustashism. This was done ten years ago, institutionally, at the highest level. Those who today demand new declarations on something that has already been established are not dealing with condemning Ustashism but with a pre-election campaign, thereby diminishing the weight of the crime and harming the strategic interests and commitments of Republika Srpska," the statement reads.

The President’s Office also noted that Republika Srpska’s strategic, historical and political stance on these issues has already been strongly expressed in the declaration adopted on October 22, 2015.

The Republika Srpska National Assembly is expected to hold a special session on March 17 to discuss a draft resolution condemning and banning the promotion and glorification of the ideology of the NDH and other Ustasha, Nazi and fascist symbols.

Earlier, the head of the SDS caucus in the Republika Srpska National Assembly, Ognjen Bodiroga, said that the party would stick to its previously submitted text of the resolution condemning the glorification of Ustashism, which deputies will debate at that special session.