The letter Bosnian Serb member of the Presidency sent to US President Donald Trump denying Bosnia’s Statehood Day is filled with falsehoods and was not written on behalf of the tripartite Presidency, the institution’s Bosniak member said on Tuesday.
Bosnian Serb Milorad Dodik replied to a letter Trump sent congratulating November 25, Bosnia’s Statehood Day.
Dodik wrote back saying that Bosnian Serbs do not recognise such a holiday and that no official document exists proclaiming this date as a holiday.
But Dodik’s Bosniak counterpart, Sefik Dzaferovic, also wrote a letter, saying his colleague stated “a few arbitrary and untrue claims.”
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Bosnia’s peace agreement, brokered in Dayton, Ohio, in 1995 prescribed the continuation of the laws of pre-war Bosnia and Herzegovina until the Parliament changes them, he wrote.
Having in mind that the Parliament has never changed the law on holidays, March 1 is lawfully the country’s Independence Day and November 25 its Statehood Day, Dzaferovic wrote.
The Constitutional Court confirmed this in its ruling from 2017,” the letter stressed. “Therefore denying this holiday represents a violation of the Law.”
The Bosniak Presidency member also remarked that Dodik’s letter falsely claimed that Bosnia had never “made any decision to join NATO.”
The Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina has on September 28, 2005, adopted the Defence Law which contains an article that “clearly and precisely” says that Parliament, the Council of Ministers, the Presidency and all other bodies will “implement the required activities” for Bosnia to join NATO, Dzaferovic wrote.
He also reminded that the Bosnian Serb Presidency member in 2009, Nebojsa Radmanovic, submitted a request for NATO to initiate the Membership Action Plan for Bosnia’s accession.
Radmanovic was at the time chairing the tripartite Presidency and is a member of Dodik’s party.
