Discussions about war are unfounded and all those talking about war should be the subject of international forces, Bosnian Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodika said Monday after the meeting with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar, adding that he familiarized him with Republika Srpska entity's plans to withdraw consent for the state army, state judiciary, as well as the indirect taxation system.

“We presented our views on open issues in BiH. Both he and I believe that the topic of war has no real basis. Only those who wanted to deepen the additional atmosphere of mistrust talked of war. Neither I nor anyone from the Republika Srpska entity called for war as an option at any point. In this regard, we agree that peace should be preserved. I offered him one thing, that all those rattling their weapons should be the subject of rapid interventions that would lead to the intervention of international forces against them and that no one should use them against others. All processes should be political, and no one should take war as an option for resolving these issues,” he said.

When it comes to the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, he said neither of them had any issues with it, at least not in principle.

“We (the RS) also said that we were preparing documents on some things. They’ve already been conceived. We said that we would go to the RS National Assembly and withdraw certain consents from the field of the army, indirect taxes, the state judiciary (the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council) and that we would draft new legislation in the next six months. The public must know that the Armed Forces of BiH cannot fill the quotas as planned for Serbs and Croats. At the moment, Croats cannot fill 50 percent of the quota, while Serbs lack 30 percent, because people don’t want to go to that army. The solution we see is the reduction, because we do not want Bosniaks filling the quotas for Serbs and Croats and to one day get a Muslim army. I told Escobar everything,” he said.

According to him, Escobar rated those objections as frustrations.

“He sees our objections as frustrations and of course we are very much frustrated with all the lies, such as that this is a legal state when it’s not,” Dodik noted.

During the press conference, he also referred to his earlier views on the BiH Constitutional Court, calling it a “supreme fraud”.

“We’re ready for dialogue, but not to be subordinate,” Dodik said at a press conference.

Trip to Turkey

The Bosnian Serb Presidency member also said he will travel to Turkey on Tuesday to familiarize the Turkish President with the situation in the country.

#The information Erdogan’s been getting was one-sided. I want to explain to him that I see him as a great leader of a great nation and that I believe it is natural that he is interested in helping and supporting the Bosniaks. But at the same time I’m convinced, from several contacts I’ve had with him, that he is a man who doesn’t want to do anything at the expense of other peoples in BiH and I see room to talk about this subject with him,” Dodik said.

US envoy Gabriel Escobar came to Bosnia on Sunday when he was welcomed by US Ambassador to BiH Eric Nelson. On Monday he met with the Croat and Bosniak Presidency members Zeljko Komsic and Sefik Dzaverovic. He will also meet with the leadership of the state and Federation (FBiH) entity parliament leadership.