Ceremonial reception for members of the specialist team for search and rescue from the ruins of the Republican Civil Protection Administration of the Republic of Srpska

The President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik hosted a reception in the Palace of the Republic today for members of the specialist team for search and rescue from the ruins of the Civil Protection Administration of the Republic of Srpska.

The President of the Republic of Srpska expressed his gratitude to the members of this team, who participated in the humanitarian mission in Turkey after the devastating earthquake, stressing that they were there exclusively as representatives of Srpska.

“There was no idea to be part of the BiH team. I am proud of our heroes with whom I was in contact”, said the President of the Republic.

The President Dodik added that the Republic of Srpska does not and will not need money from anyone for such missions, because it will always perform such tasks in the best possible way.

The President of Srpska recalled that Turkey also helped Srpska in 2014 when it was hit by catastrophic floods, and once again extended his condolences to the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the human tragedy occurred in this country.

“These guys are not only guided by humane, but also patriotic reasons. And that is why we absolutely reject attempts to present it as a performance by Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was the performance of our civil protection, completely autonomous. I am grateful to Turkey, which accepted our unit, because it was necessary to react urgently”, said the President of the Republic.

The President Dodik pointed out that considering the inertia of things in BiH, if the unit from Srpska had not left on the first day, no one from BiH would have done it later.

“Perhaps, they could organise something only now”, said the President of Srpska and repeated that all attempts to present it as a performance of BiH are a farce.

The President of the Republic of Srpska called as hypocritical the statement of the Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina Johann Sattler who said “that Bosnia and Herzegovina will not have the right to return a large part of the funds that will be spent on sending rescue services and their logistics to the crisis areas affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria because entities acted independently”.

“I am not surprised by him. Lately, he has been trying to “play tricks” on us. The EU should not be trusted. Earlier, we accepted that Civil Protection should be in the coordination system, which is quite logical, and they are trying to interpret that into some kind of payment now. If it was possible and if someone wanted it, it would have been agreed earlier, but since it was not possible, then it will not happen in the future either”, it was pointed out by the President Dodik.

The President of the Republic pointed out that the Republic of Srpska is not ready to sell its status and will not do so, but that Satler’s action will “open the eyes and ears” of Srpska even more to accept any of their initiatives, because there is always “something rotten” behind it.

The President of the Republic of Srpska reminded that Civil Protection is the exclusive responsibility of the Republic of Srpska, that it is not the responsibility of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that the attempt of Brussels to create a central country is seen every day, and it is seen here as well.

“We are not ready to work on that idea and we will not do so. We can coordinate and agree institutionally. We will not transfer competences, and what was stolen from us in previous years will be a struggle to return those competences”, said the President Dodik.