The Chairperson of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željka Cvijanović, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul today.
Cvijanović’s visit to Turkey comes amid a serious political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and seven days after her fellow member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Bećirović, also visited Istanbul.
During a closed-door meeting with Bećirović on March 14, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina are of “fundamental importance”, calling separatist approaches in the country unacceptable.
In a recent appearance on RTRS, the President of Republika Srpska pointed out the importance of talks with the Turkish leader.
The political crisis in BiH followed after the Court of BiH, in late February, sentenced the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to a year in prison and a six-year ban from holding the office of President of the RS, for “disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative in BiH”.
The BiH Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Dodik, as well as the Prime Minister of the RS, Radovan Višković, and Nenad Stevandić.
They are suspected of the criminal offense of “attack on the constitutional order” after the RS National Assembly adopted, and Dodik signed, a decree on the publication in the Official Gazette of laws prohibiting the activities of state judicial and security institutions in the Republika Srpska, AA writes.
