Bisera Turkovic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sent a letter to world officials on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo. She addressed it to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, European Union leaders, foreign ministers of the Security Council member states, the European Union and member states of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC).

In the letter, she warned that the country’s Republika Srpska has made a number of decisions questioning state institutions, its integrity and stability.

“These days it is 30 years since the beginning of the siege of Sarajevo and the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The siege of the capital of an internationally recognized state is considered one of the longest in the history of warfare,” she said at the beginning of the letter.
Turkovic recalled that during the 44-month siege of Sarajevo, systematic shelling and sniper fire killed over 11,000 people, including 1,601 children. More than 50,000 civilians of all nationalities were wounded, she said, adding that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has handed down several war crimes verdicts during the siege of Sarajevo.

Thirty years later, she warned BiH citizens are once again facing security and political threats that raise fears and unrest.

“The peace that has been built over the past 26 years through hard work, difficult reforms and compromises is threatened by a serious, systematic and coordinated attempt to illegally change the constitutional and legal system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some political representatives in the Republika Srpska entity have been campaigning for years against state institutions, calling them ‘dysfunctional’, ‘impossible’ and Bosnia and Herzegovina a ‘failed state’,” she wrote.

The RS National Assembly adopted the Law on Medicines and Medical Devices of the RS, Turkovic wrote explaining that they also passed the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the RS Administration, which establishes the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of the RS.

“With the new agency, the RS entity would “exit” the joint state drug agency,” she said.

The Foreign Affairs Minister also recalled that the RS National Assembly adopted conclusions on the withdrawal of the RS entities from the state judiciary, indirect taxes, security and defence, and the establishment of entity agencies.

“On February 10, 2022, the National Assembly of the RS adopted the unconstitutional Draft Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of the RS, which envisages the establishment of an entity HJPC. The formation of an entity HJPC would undermine the same state-level body.

On February 10, 2022, the National Assembly of the RS adopted the Law on Immovable Property, which transferred the competence from one part of the real estate area from the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the level of the RS entity. The law, which is contrary to the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, should enter into force early next month.

All these anti-constitutional laws are in different adoption procedures,” Turkovic said in a letter to world officials.