The member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Bećirović, visited the Srebrenica Memorial Center today, where he spoke with the director of the Center, Emir Suljagić.
Then answering the journalist’s questions, which were also related to today’s celebration of the unconstitutional day of Republika Srpska, Bećirović explained his arrival in Potočare with the intention of expressing his reverence for the victims of the genocide committed against Bosniaks in July 1995.
“Here, on January 9, 2026, in the Potočari Memorial Center, on the state territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I want to send a clear message: January 9, 1992 is not a date to celebrate. It is a black date that warns of the terrible consequences that a policy of hatred, division and the destruction of the constitutional order of a country can lead to. In this sense, I want to say very clearly – those who deny the verdicts of the highest courts of the United Nations are not on the right track. They should not be answered with any empty messages. In the last three years, we have responded to them in a concrete way – the Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica was adopted in the General Assembly of the United Nations. In Paris, we discovered a monument to the victims of genocide. In Vienna, we discovered a monument to the victims of genocide. The Flower of Srebrenica monument was unveiled in front of the United Nations building in New York, a permanent testimony and warning to the whole world,” said Bećirović.
He reminds that the United Nations now has a special program that preserves the memory of the victims of the genocide in Sarebrenica and that they include content about that genocide in educational programs around the world. The Museum of Genocide was also opened last year in Potočari.
“These are concrete facts and results, this is now becoming the permanent legacy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Nations and the whole world. From a state-legal point of view and when we look exclusively at constitutional-legal arguments, January 9, 1992 has no meaning whatsoever. The Republika Srpska entity has existed since November 21, 1995. According to the Dayton Peace Agreement and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina has continuity,” Bećirović told reporters.
In the Constitution, as was said, it is very clearly written that the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina continues its legal existence under international law as a state named Bosnia and Herzegovina and with a modified internal organization. Therefore, only Bosnia and Herzegovina has continuity, not the entities. There is not a single sentence in the Dayton Peace Agreement or in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina that speaks of the continuity of the RS entity. That doesn’t exist.
“That is why a clear message should be sent that January 9 has nothing to do with continuity, January 9 made official a policy whose strategic goals were to separate the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And that is a terrible policy, the realization of which was attempted by genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes. That policy has failed,” said Bećirović.
He called on people throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina to turn to the future and not allow politicians to abuse the past.
