STRUGGLE TO UPHOLD DAYTON IS STRUGGLE FOR SRPSKA'S RIGHTS, PEACE, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF BiH

BANJA LUKA, MAY 21 /SRNA/ – The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik emphasized that for Republika Srpska, the Dayton Peace Agreement is more than just a peace accord — it is a guarantee of peace as well as a guarantee of its rights.

"Every one of our efforts to uphold Dayton is not just a fight for the rights of Republika Srpska. It is a fight to preserve peace and the Constitution of BiH, to defend Republika Srpska and prevent new conflicts. And no matter how much we are attacked, slandered, or falsely accused for this, we are the ones who defend peace by respecting Dayton, the agreement we are a signatory to," President Dodik stated in his address at the special session of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, marking the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

The full speech of the President, as transmitted by SRNA:

"Special occasions call for special sessions. This address is dedicated to a very special event: the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

The Dayton Peace Agreement was not perfect. It was not a utopia - it was real, and it worked. For thirty years it has preserved peace, not because it created Republika Srpska, the Federation of BiH, and BiH itself, but because it recognized them as they are - with all their complexities, specificities, and differences.

The importance of the Dayton Peace Agreement for Republika Srpska, our insistence on its respect, and the fact that all our actions align with its provisions, are best reflected in two historic and well-documented facts — the Dayton Agreement was ratified by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, and the date it was initialed was proclaimed a national holiday. Serbs and Republika Srpska celebrate peace. On the other hand, the Federation of BiH never ratified the agreement. Instead of marking the day peace was established, the Federation celebrates the day the war began.

`In Bosnia, people are always at war with something – with others, with themselves, with their illusions,` wrote our only Nobel laureate, Ivo Andrić. In Dayton, we found a way to finally end that war and return to ourselves, our homes, and our families. For Republika Srpska, Dayton is more than a peace accord - it is a guarantee of peace and of our rights.

To end the war, the Dayton Agreement, through Annex IV - the Constitution of BiH - established a new political system and thus removed the causes of the war.

The war in BiH did not start because of interethnic hatred - it started because the principle of equality was violated.

Dayton was not a suggestion or a vision. It was a contract that defined the Constitution of BiH. It was written, agreed upon, and signed by all parties — Republika Srpska, the Federation of BiH, Serbia, Croatia, and the illegitimate Alija Izetbegović on behalf of some kind of BiH, essentially representing the Bosnian Muslims - the Bosniaks.

It was concluded with the full support of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Federal Republic of Germany, and with the assistance of the EU and other partners.

Throughout these thirty years, Republika Srpska has lived in accordance with it. We respected and adhered to its provisions. Even when we strongly disagreed, even when we were under attack, we honored the agreement we signed because we felt bound by our signature.

Even today, as Bosniak politicians once again insist on the very concept of BiH that led to the war in the 1990s, we in Srpska firmly stand as defenders of peace, upholding the Dayton provisions.

Every effort we make to uphold Dayton is not only a fight for the rights of Republika Srpska. It is a fight to preserve peace and the Constitution of BiH, the rights of Republika Srpska, and to prevent new conflicts. No matter the criticism, slander, or false accusations — we are the ones who defend peace by respecting Dayton, an agreement to which we are a signatory.

However, since 2021, this agreement and the peace it brought have been increasingly under attack. That is why I address you today - not out of anger, but with purpose, not out of defiance, but with resolve, and with an appeal to respect the agreement that founded BiH as a federal-confederal union of two entities - Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH — and three constituent peoples: Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks/Muslims, along with Others and Citizens."