A long-standing anti-Bosnian, anti-European and anti-civilisational campaign of Milorad Dodik must be urgently stopped and sanctioned, the Institute for Research of Genocide Canada (IGC) said commenting on Bosnian Serb leader’s speech held Friday at a rally in Belgrade.
“Dodik’s speech in Belgrade and his continuous anti-Bosnian behaviour brings in more and more of unrest and fear. Dodik’s statements are utterly scandalous, fascist and chauvinistic, by which he denies genocide and glorifies fully convicted leaders of war criminals, threatens with secession of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, organises anti-state referendums, deprives the returnees in the RS entity of fundamental human rights and freedoms, undermines sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Canada-based institute warned.
The hardline Bosnian Serb leader who is currently Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency was one of the speakers at the mass gathering of supporters of the ruling SNS party in Serbia and its leader Aleksandar Vucic.
Before he took this post, he was for several terms acting as either a Prime Minister or President of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated region, RS, with his SNSD party being in power for four consecutive terms.
“We need to learn to be patient, as only that way we can achieve our interests. Serbia and Serbs in general, as well as we in the RS, very clearly, as opposed to before, can say we have our own stance and we fight for it,” he said.
He called the RS a “state where Serbs live.”
“Serbia is the country we look up to and we feel that is our primary identity,” he said.
For the Canada-based institute, such stance jeopardises the stability of both the region and Europe.
IGC urged “the civilised world” to respond to “serious threats to peace and stability by concrete, urgent and resolute measures, to ban Dodik from conducting any political activity” and to “declare him persona non grata in all countries.”
Dodik assessed the criticism as “minimal and insignificant” reiterating that his identity is Serb national identity.
“I never heard of that institute, who they are or what they do. It is unbelievable they’re following this and, it is most likely, considering their vocabulary, that some of the Bosniak-Muslims are saying that,” concluded Dodik.
The institute introduces itself as an independent scientific research institute, whose establishment was grounded on the need to “differently promote the culture of memories that should be an integral part of the Bosnian national being, which together with the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina defended the aggression and genocide.”
