The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, today called on the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Bećirović and Željko Komšić, to dismiss the Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vranješ, as a matter of urgency, after a scandalous statement.
Members of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić and Denis Bećirović earlier today asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH to urgently invite the ambassador for consultations regarding his statement – expressing gratitude to the director of the Security and Information Agency of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, for giving scholarships to two female students, who glorified the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić.
“I saw in the media today that members of the BiH Presidency, Bećirović and Komšić, sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH, which arrived at the Ministry late in the afternoon, and that we are actually being asked to invite Ambassador Vranješ for consultations,” said Minister Konaković.
He added that the Ministry made contacts, and that Ambassador Vranješ announced himself and refused to come to the headquarters in Sarajevo and to have any talks, reminding how his predecessors behaved similarly, ambassadors who were appointed as personnel appointed by a member of the BiH Presidency from among the Serbian people.
In this context, Konaković points out that Komšić and Bećirović could personally invite Ambassador Vranješ, stating that they, as members of BiH Presidencies have the right to call for consultations.
“Members of the Presidency have called ambassadors for talks/consultations, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this sense serves only for technical support”, specified the head of diplomacy.
He said that the letter was actually not even necessary, saying that he proposed that the members of the Presidency, Bećirović and Komšić, dismiss Ambassador Vranješ as a matter of urgency.
“I remind you that this is a person who has made similar statements before. They voted for his election and, since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH does not have any competence when it comes to sanctions against ambassadors, only the members of the Presidency as a collective body can do that,” Minister Konaković said.
