On January 9, 1992, Serb deputies proclaimed the Serb Republic of BiH, which would later be named the Republic of Srpska, in response to Muslims and Croats’ intention to secede from Yugoslavia, and as a reaction to the continued overreaching of Serbs at all levels in BiH.
The Serbian People’s Assembly declared the creation of the present-day Republic of Srpska before any inter-ethnic conflict and before the start of the civil war in BiH.
Previously, on November 9 and 10, 1991, there was a referendum on Serbs in BiH, where it was overwhelmingly decided that Serbs would remain in the common state of Yugoslavia.
Muslim and Croat politicians in BiH ignored the fact that they violated the then constitution of both Yugoslavia and the SR BiH, and went into secession, which would be confirmed in an illegal referendum in late February and early March 1992, without Serb involvement.
The Republic of Srpska was, before and during the wars, a basic request by the Serbs for any agreement on BiH and the cessation of hostilities.
The vast majority of peace plans, except for Vance-Owen, which envisaged ten cantons, included the Republika Srpska.
Cutileiro’s plan entailed an independent BiH with three national cantons, the Owen-Stoltenberg Plan of 1993 referred to three national republics, one of which was Republic of Srpska, and the Dayton Agreement definitely incorporated Srpska as a constituent element in the structure of the new BiH.
The fact that on January 9, 1992, the Serbs proclaimed the Republic of Srpska / Serb Republic of BiH originally / is a major problem for anyone seeking to derogate and challenge it.
That date nullifies and ridicules all the propaganda stories by which Srpska was created in “war and blood” or ethnic cleansing, as political Sarajevo first of all claims.
Hence, the continued attempts to declare – on January 9 – unconstitutional in any way and under any pretext, even on appeals, including appeals to the Constitutional Court of BiH, which is dominated by foreign and Bosniak judges.
However, history cannot be changed.
The Republic of Srpska was created by a decision of the Serb people’s parliament in BiH, which would later grow into the Republic of Srpska National Assembly.
It was defended during the war, and today it is the most functional part of Dayton BiH – politically the most stable.
Happy Republic Day!
TST
