The Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, said that he fully supports the idea of creating a so-called “Serbian world”, which, according to him, “would not be directed against anyone”, but the sole purpose would be had “cooperation and preservation of Serbian national and cultural identity”.
This idea was first presented by the Minister of Interior of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin.
Dodik said he supported it because it was “patriotic and has no territorial claims.”
“This idea aims at cooperation and preservation of Serbian identity, language and culture. This has been done by many peoples before us and no one has caused problems. “But when Serbs come up with this idea, immediately there is noise and tensions rise,” Dodik said, according to the Balkan Service of Radio Free Europe.
A day earlier, a Muslim member of the Bosnian presidency, Shefik Dzaferovic, said Vulin’s statements “recall the 1990s”, when then-Yugoslavia was embroiled in bloody wars.
Vulin said at a party rally on July 18 that “the task of this generation of politicians is to create the Serbian world” and “unite Serbs wherever they live.”
He said that for the “creation of the Serbian world”, it is necessary for Serbia to be economically successful, well-run and “have an army that is able to save it, as well as Serbs wherever they live.”
The statements provoked reactions in the Balkans and were seen as a threat to the region. In response, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who was in the audience during Vulin’s speech, said that his country’s policy was to say that Serbia’s borders were inviolable and that Serbia did not deal with the borders of others. .