President Milanović in Mostar: I will insist in every international institution adopting a document on Bosnia and Herzegovina that the Dayton Agreement be mentioned

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović visited Mostar today, where he gave a lecture to students at the University of Mostar.

After giving a lecture to students on the relations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the implementation of the Dayton Agreement, President Milanović took questions from journalists. “Respect for Bosnia, reverence and grief for the families, but Croats have been robbed of the right to elect their member of the Presidency,” the Croatian President said when asked by reporters to comment on the negative reactions of Bosnian politicians and his absence from Sarajevo. “I am not interested in the details of the election law. Should it be changed? I don’t know. Why? Because what needs to be done is in accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and everything is clear. For the first ten years, it never occurred to anyone to elect a member of the Presidency for the Croats, and then someone smart thought of it,” said President Milanović.

When asked by journalists whether the Republic of Croatia or he, as the President of the Republic, will do anything if Komšić remains at his post next year and Croats are expelled from the House of Peoples and the Government of the Federation, and consequently the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, President Milanović replied that he hopes this will not happen because it is contrary to the content and spirit of the Dayton Agreement.

“Croatia is a signatory, Croatia is ingrained, that is a fact, and the only thing we ask for and expect is for it to be respected. As far as I’m concerned, I will continue insisting on the mention of the Dayton Agreement and the Paris (Protocol) in every international institution where documents on Bosnia and Herzegovina are adopted. Dayton, the original Dayton, and the constituent people, and that they are mentioned where it should be emphasized that Croats and Bosniaks support NATO membership, and Serbs do not. That’s what I’ll ask for. There will be a progress report on Bosnia and Herzegovina in two days, and then we’ll see. If there is no reference to the constituency of peoples and Dayton, there will be no joint statement. It’ll only be a paper from the chairman, that’s nothing,” President Milanović told reporters.

“Dialogue is the only way,” said President Milanović when asked by journalists what message he would send to Croat politicians at tonight’s meeting with representatives of the Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since there were also inquiries as to why he did not meet with veterans during his working visit, President Milanović explained that his earlier activities demonstrate how he views their role and what his position was on the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). “I showed that with my actions from which some conclusions can be drawn, and somehow I did not want to put emphasis on the war, but on what is currently the problem, as I see it, and only dialogue is the way out,” said the President.

“Croatian representatives should sit down and talk with the Serbs and Bosniaks and agree. I don’t have the ambition to organize that in Zagreb, nor does that kind of trust exist. I cannot be a mediator, I’m biased, but I hope I’m correct. I represent Croatia and Croatian interests, not global justice or anything cosmopolitan,” President Milanović concluded.

Prior to his lecture, President Milanović, who is on a working visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina at the invitation of the University of Mostar, met with Rector Dr. Zoran Tomić, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation Dr. Sanja Bijakšić, Vice-Rector for Inter-University Cooperation Dr. Vlado Majstorović and Vice-Rector for Business Operations, Human Resources and Quality Management Dr. Zdenko Klepić.

Ahead of his visit to Mostar, the Croatian President paid tribute to eight children who were killed in the war in Vitez by laying a white rose and lighting a candle at the Osmica Memorial.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan