Balkan Insight (10 January 2019)
The Croatian foreign ministry said on Thursday that it will investigate whether its ambassador in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivan Del Vechio, attended celebrations of the disputed Bosnian Serb ‘statehood day’ in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Republika Srpska, on January 9.
“At the request of [Croatian] Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, [Foreign] Minister Marija Pejcinovic Buric withdrew ambassador Del Vechio to Zagreb for consultations today,” the ministry wrote on Twitter.
“The ministry was not aware of the departure of ambassador Ivan Del Vechio for Banja Luka on the occasion of the unconstitutional Day of Republika Srpska, and will thoroughly examine how it happened,” it said.
Del Vechio admitted he was in Banja Luka but denied he attended a parade to mark the Day of Republika Srpska, which has been declared unconstitutional by Bosnia’s state-level Constitutional Court and has repeatedly heightened ethnic tensions.
“I can only say I was not present at the parade and gala event [hosted by Republika Srpska officials],” Del Vechio told Sarajevo-based news site Klix.ba on Thursday.
The Croatian foreign ministry expressed anger that a former Yugoslav People’s Army officer, Slavko Lisica, who was convicted in Croatia of war crimes, was honoured as part of the Day of Republika Srpska celebrations.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns the awarding of an honour to former JNA officer S. Lisice, who was legally convicted of war crimes in Croatia,” it said.
The celebrations on Wednesday were held to mark the 27th anniversary of the creation of the Republika Srpska entity in 1992 – an event which many Bosniaks see as the precursor to the outbreak of the war a few months later.
Denis Zvizdic, the chair of the Bosnian Council of Ministers, described Del Vechio's visit to Banja Luka as shocking.
“This move will disable any form of personal contact and further cooperation,” Zvizdic said in a statement on Thursday.
Bosnia’s state-level Constitutional Court ruled in November 2015 that holding the annual Bosnian Serb holiday on January 9 was discriminatory against non-Serbs in Republika Srpska because it is also a Serbian Orthodox religious holiday - the day of St Stephen, who is the patron saint of the entity.
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/raw-over-croatian-ambassador-to-bosnia-attending-disputed-rs-holiday-01-10-2019
No comments yet.
- CROATIAN DIPLOMAT RECALLED FOR ‘ATTENDING BOSNIAN SERB CELEBRATION’ The Balkans 11.01.2019
- WHAT ARE GERMANY'S NO-DEAL BREXIT PLANS? Europe - EU 11.01.2019
- POLAND WANTS A FORT WITH DONALD TRUMP’S NAME ON IT Europe - EU 11.01.2019
- INTERNATIONAL FORUM TO DISCUSS UZBEKISTAN’S LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Asia - Pacific 11.01.2019
- QATAR TO PROVIDE IRAQ $1 BILLION FOR RESTORING INFRASTRUCTURE Iraq 11.01.2019
-
Türk-Ermeni İlişkileri Üzerine Ömer Engin Lütem Konferansları 2022 -
RADİKAL ERMENİ UNSURLARCA GERÇEKLEŞTİRİLEN MEZALİMLER VE VANDALİZM -
PATRIOTISM PERVERTED -
MEN ARE LIKE THAT -
BAKÜ-TİFLİS-CEYHAN BORU HATTININ YAŞANAN TARİHİ -
INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS ON THE EVENTS OF 1915 -
FAKE PHOTOS AND THE ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA -
ERMENİ PROPAGANDASI VE SAHTE RESİMLER -
Türk-Ermeni İlişkileri Üzerine Ömer Engin Lütem Konferansları 2021 -
A Letter From Japan - Strategically Mum: The Silence of the Armenians -
Japonya'dan Bir Mektup - Stratejik Suskunluk: Ermenilerin Sessizliği -
Türk-Ermeni Uyuşmazlığı Üzerine Ömer Engin Lütem Konferansları 2020 -
Anastas Mikoyan: Confessions of an Armenian Bolshevik -
Sovyet Sonrası Ukrayna’da Devlet, Toplum ve Siyaset - Değişen Dinamikler, Dönüşen Kimlikler -
Türk-Ermeni Uyuşmazlığı Üzerine Ömer Engin Lütem Konferansları 2019 -
Türk-Ermeni Uyuşmazlığı Üzerine Ömer Engin Lütem Konferansları 2018 -
Ermeni Sorunuyla İlgili İngiliz Belgeleri (1912-1923) - British Documents on Armenian Question (1912-1923) -
Turkish-Russian Academics: A Historical Study on the Caucasus -
Gürcistan'daki Müslüman Topluluklar: Azınlık Hakları, Kimlik, Siyaset -
Armenian Diaspora: Diaspora, State and the Imagination of the Republic of Armenia -
Ermeni Sorunu Temel Bilgi ve Belgeler (2. Baskı)
-
CONFERENCE TITLED “HUNGARY’S PERSPECTIVES ON THE TURKIC WORLD"