The new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Elmedin Konakovic (People and Justice – Narod i Pravda – NiP) accused the former head of BiH diplomacy BiseraTurkovic (SDA) that during her mandate, during the pre-election campaign consulates were opened in Rijeka and Novi Pazar and that there is no money in the budget which is envisaged for these two consulates.
“Opened during the pre-election period, at the end of August 2022. Pre-election bubble and playing with the dignity of BiH institutions, all for the sake of the party and a few votes. In just two days, we have seen many weaknesses within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we will talk about it in the following days. We are waiting for accurate information whether and to whom we pay real estate leases, if there are people there, who and how they are assigned and paid. If there are people and if they are doing something, it is probably illegal, ” announced Konakovic.
He added that the new government is now “proving how much the institutions of BiH were traded and how much they were devastated by the ‘protectors’.
“How much more important is the party to them than the state and the people. If we don’t respect our institutions, if we don’t protect and strengthen them, how can we ask others to do that? What do the people in whose countries we open floating consulates think about our country? We will solve this problem quickly, God willing. We will also solve the others that the tornado of party interest left behind. It is completely clear why they did everything to prevent us from entering the institutions, and it is very important that we did enter,” he emphasized.
The answer to Konakovic‘s accusations appeared quickly.
“I see that some people find it objectionable that the General Consulates of BiH in Rijeka and Novi Pazar are open. They forget that it was a decision and an order of the Presidency of BiH, which was implemented by which we strengthened the diplomatic and consular network of BiH. I understand that the intention is to draw the public’s attention from problems in the Eight where the SDP, as the largest party in that coalition, was completely humiliated and played,” she said at the beginning.
She says that half-truths and misinformation cannot be presented in public.
“And the truth is the following: the consulates general were opened legally according to the Decision of the BiH Presidency. The countries in which the consulates were opened gave their consent, their state officials attended the opening. The consuls general had to be appointed by the Presidency of BiH, and the systematization of the employees had to be approved by the Council of Ministers of BiH. However, the coalition partners and their leaders, SNSD and HDZ, blocked it for months, which I spoke about in public on several occasions and sent urgent messages,” she added.
She noted that they tried to trade over it and put pressure on her to approve enormous funds for the purchase of the ITA building.
“Of course, I didn’t allow that, but I didn’t give up on expanding the diplomatic consular representative (DKP) network and implementing the decision of the BiH Presidency, which is in the interest of numerous BiH citizens who gravitate to those consulates. If the new government is going to dismantle what has been built, instead of continuing to build the state, then we are entering a very uncertain future. If the new leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to prove itself, it should immediately open eight BiH embassies according to the Decision of the BiH Presidency! Statements that say something is ‘probable’ are the height of political manipulation in which someone is accused of something which according to him is ‘probable’. A responsible politician checks the truth, then says what is certain, and does not accuse on the basis of ‘probability,'” said Turkovic, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
