SRPSKA INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK THE ONLY PROTECTION FOR SERBS WEST OF THE DRINA

EAST SARAJEVO, AUGUST 8 /SRNA/ – The Director of the Historical Sciences Institute at the University of East Sarajevo Draga Mastilović has stated today that the institutional framework of Republika Srpska is the only thing protecting the Serb people west of the Drina River, and that the survival of Serbs in this region depends on preserving that framework.

Mastilović emphasized that if Serbs allow this institutional framework to be undermined, there will certainly be no Serb population in this area in the coming decades. "It is extremely important that the academic community, as the bearer of the intellectual elite of the current and future Republika Srpska, takes a position on contemporary events. But it is also important to view today’s events in their historical context," Mastilović said in East Sarajevo. He stressed that centuries of the history of Serbs have culminated in this historical moment, and that it is part of a long-term historical process, ongoing for centuries: the attempt to eliminate the Serb population west of the Drina River. "This effort has been ongoing since the mid-19th century, and it is very important to understand that the institutional framework of Republika Srpska is the only thing still protecting the last remnants of the Serb people west of the Drina," said Mastilović. If the current generation of Serb intellectual and political elites is unable to defend the legacy built by those in the 1990s, including the institutions of Srpska, Mastilović believes that such a generation is unworthy of the history and sacrifices of their ancestors. Mastilović attended the meeting between the representatives of the University of East Sarajevo and Željko Budimir, Minister for Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education of Republika Srpska, where they discussed the current political situation and attacks on Srpska's institutions.