KARAN: PAN-SERBIAN ASSEMBLY’S DECLARATION AFFIRMATION IS STATEHOOD AFFIRMATION

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 9 /SRNA/ - Each letter of the Declaration protecting national and political rights of the Serb People as an act of the future of all Serbs has a far-reaching force and purpose, and it is being realized primarily through the Serb states - the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska, which are a confirmation and guarantee that the Serb people will not disappear, Constitutional Law Professor, Siniša Karan, emphasized.

Karan told SRNA that the Declaration protecting national, political rights and common future of the Serb People fully affirmed and directed to the future the statehood of Republika Srpska and in a special way united the national and political being of the unique Serbian autonomous, indigenous, authentic, one and only Serb people. "The historical memory of our suffering proved that only a nation with its own state can count on its future and its survival in every respect. Where Serbs were left without their own state, they disappeared, were killed, expelled or were almost fully assimilated," pointed out Professor Karan. He pointed out that the historical, statesmanship, social and political value of the Pan-Serbian Assembly’s Declaration is reflected in the promotion of national and political rights, as the most important rights of Serbs regardless of where they live, which are the most strongly expressed in Serbia as the motherland of the Serb people and Republika Srpska as a state! "With this Declaration, as a long-term document based on international law, universal acts, treaties and historical events that speak of the unity, harmony and common existence of the Serb People, we have defined the Candlemas/Sretenje as the Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia and the Statehood Day of Republika Srpska," Karan told SRNA. He explained that the Candlemas/Sretenje, as a day of statehood for all Serbs, so far celebrated only in the motherland of Serbia - the source of common statehood, history and unity of the entire Serb people, represents the protection of the Serb national and political being, but also a roadmap for our common future. Therefore, he added, by celebrating Candlemas/Sretenje as Statehood Day of Republika Srpska, we celebrate our two statehoods for the first time: the statehood of Republika Srpska entered into the confederal-federal BiH and the statehood of Republika Srpska within the motherland of Serbia, in accordance with the Declaration of the Pan-Serbian Assembly. "We have a moral, national, but also constitutional and internationally verified right to be associated with Serbia, so the Candlemas/Sretenje is our vow to keep meeting brotherly in the future with the aim of protecting the Serb national and political being," said Professor Karan. He has assessed that it is very important that by celebrating Candlemas/Sretenje we affirm peace and harmony, and keep truly building national unity at a time when the Serbian states of Serbia and Srpska and their state leadership were attacked. According to him, the Serb freedom-loving people has always made wise decisions and bravely defended their freedom and statehood. "The affirmation of Republika Srpska statehood began on January 9, 1992, with its creation, which continues to this day, stronger than ever. We must remind ourselves of the arduous path after the dissolution of the SR BiH, when Republika Srpska was created as an expression of the will of the people and the universal rights of the constituent people. Srpska existed as a state with full capacity in the period from 1992 to 1995 and entered the Dayton negotiations with such full state capacity. In 1995, two states, Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH, united and ceded part of their sovereignty to BiH," explained Karan. He has pointed out that it is clear that the opponents of the Serb people, who are also opponents of the unity of all Serbs as a single nation, immediately recognized the strength of these decisions and this is just one in a series of confirmations of the importance of the Pan-Serbian Assembly and the adoption of the Declaration, especially the joint celebration of Statehood Day - February 15. "Those who think that they will succeed in humiliating the great freedom-loving Serb people are seriously mistaken! Our response to all attacks on the Serb being and existence will be clear and unambiguous, it will be the people's response - a referendum!", Professor Karan said.