The President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik attended today in Belgrade the ceremonial awarding of decorations on the occasion of the Statehood Day of Serbia.
The President of the Republic of Srpska said that the Statehood Day of Serbia is a holiday of Serbs in the Republic of Srpska, and that Srpska, formed on January 9, 1992, and Serbia are two organised states of the Serb people.
The President of Srpska pointed out that when Serbia celebrates the Statehood Day, it is celebrated by all Serbs in the world, because it is the date on which the Serb people rehabilitated their statehood for the first time after 400 years, but also the framework in which Serbs could organise their identity and struggles for their rights.
“This is also a holiday for us in the Republic of Srpska. We also have two holidays, one is January 9th, which concerns statehood, and of course today – the Statehood Day of Serbia. Together with Serbia, we also mark September 15 as our common holiday, the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and the National Flag”, said the President of the Republic.
The President Dodik emphasized that it is absolutely important to celebrate these holidays together and pointed out that the good practice of celebrating all important holidays together in Serbia and the Republic of Srpska relaxes not only relations between political elites, but also among citizens who want to see it.
The President of Srpska noted that Serbia is currently in complex international circumstances, for its Statehood Day, and its leadership is under constant pressure.
“The same is true of the Republic of Srpska, for which some predicted the end a long time ago, but it did not happen to them and it came true. However, they did not give up trying to impose a framework on the Republic of Srpska in which it would be an empty shell and the object of dissatisfaction of us who live there”, said the President of the Republic.
The President Dodik stated that it is important to have its own statehood day in the Republic of Srpska on January 9.
“It is not a harmless story, as they want to show us, because it simply cannot be changed. It is something that happened, it is not something that should happen in the future so that you can create it, it did happen – on January 9, 1992 – the Republic of Srpska was formed and today, together with Serbia, it represents two organised states of the Serb people in this area”, said the President of Srpska.