Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrates Statehood Day – November 25. The commemoration was organized throughout the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in commemoration of the First Session of ZAVNOBIH, held in Mrkonjić City in 1943.
On this occasion, a formal reception was organized in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Chairman of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić and member of the Presidency Denis Bećirović hosted the reception.
Chairman of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić reminded that the ZAVNOBIH session 80 years ago, in the difficult wartime circumstances of the fascist occupation, restored the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and outlined its continuity, independence and equality of all its citizens.
“In order to fully understand the historical significance of ZAVNOBIH today, in a kind of century-old historical register, it is necessary to recall the fact that no less than four states have existed on the territory of our country in the last hundred years. Two of those states, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and the Slovenes, later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the Independent State of Croatia, did not count on the existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state at all and stifled every personality of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their Great Serbian and Great Croatian hegemonic character basically sought to cancel everything Bosnian both in terms of statehood and in terms of identity “, said Komšić and added:
“The other two states, i.e. republics, the socialist one that was created in ZAVNOBIH and the independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina that was declared after the holding of the referendum on independence, were created on exactly the opposite foundations, on the foundations of Bosnian statehood and the struggle for freedom, despite the aforementioned hegemonic aspirations, which were accompanied by the most serious forms of war crimes against the citizens and people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We, as Bosnians and Herzegovinans, have never felt our own states and state forms that were imposed on us without being asked about it, and we didn’t care. asked about that precisely and only in those periods when we were not organized either politically or militarily.”
He added that ZAVNOBIH, as a precedent in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is not only a proof of the continuity of the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also an interruption of the “continuity of the alienation of the land and the formation of a foreign administration”.
“Both times in the last hundred years when we fought for the country with weapons, we defended it, and both times, when this was not the case, we lost,” said the Chairman of the BiH Presidency.
He pointed out that today, exactly 80 years after ZAVNOBIH and a little more than 30 years after the referendum on independence, “when we look around us and look back at events both in the East and in the West, we can clearly see that the freedom we live and enjoying our own homeland is not to be underestimated, but it is neither given nor guaranteed forever”.
“It is true that we as a country and as citizens must be aware of where we are, what we are surrounded by, who we are directed to and what we are committed to. However, we also need to know that no one but ourselves is the guarantor of the country’s survival and development of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Komšić.
He called on everyone in BiH to respect the strength and importance of international associations whose membership they aspire to because, as he said, it is in their interest, but he noted that the existence of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina should not be blindly equated with the fate of the aforementioned associations.
“In the end, Bosnia and Herzegovina is our permanent value, and interests are, as history teaches us, changeable. Let optimism and fighting spirit guide us in these uncertain times, and let the memory of our past inspire us to build a future in which Bosnia and Herzegovina will to be a country of peace, stability and well-being for all its citizens. And let our strength lie in our uniqueness and commitment to the idea of freedom – that is the foundation on which we should build our tomorrow. Dear Bosnians, dear Bosnians, when we talk about the future of our homeland, in essence, everything boils down to the freedom of us citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to our will and desire to preserve the freedom we have won and defended, but also to defend it if necessary,” said Komšić.
The reception was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps, as well as numerous officials from the political, social, sports, cultural, religious and economic life of BiH, BHRT reports.
