STEVANDIĆ: UNBOWED WE WELCOMED REPUBLIKA SRPSKA AS DIVINE JUSTICE

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 24 /SRNA/ – National Assembly Speaker, Nenad Stevandić, says it is important today to preserve the authority and power of Republika Srpska institutions, specially the Assembly, so that it can continue in the future to bear the burden and make the most important decisions concerning the destiny of its people.

“Wisdom, strength, and determination must go hand in hand,” Stevandić said at the ceremonial academy marking 34 years since the founding of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, held in Banja Luka. Stevandić emphasized that Republika Srpska was created by those who remained from the people who had not been expelled, killed, converted to Catholicism, or Islamized, those who endured the greatest persecutions, oppressions, and crimes in this region. “As such, they remained unbowed, counted among both the victims and the heroes, and welcomed Republika Srpska as divine justice,” Stevandić said. He pointed out that a magnificent generation of dedicated people embodied in the deputies of the first convocation of the National Assembly, the tribunes, and the leaders of the political and military leadership, opened the widest gate of freedom in which the Serb people has been living for 34 years. In his address, he stressed that it is a duty and an obligation to ensure that neither freedom nor Republika Srpska ever comes to an end. “The challenges before us, which we must overcome, are not the first—nor will they be the last in the future of Srpska. We must bravely and honourably fulfill our mission of preserving it and ensuring its life,” Stevandić said. He noted that it is important to maintain communication with all sides in the world. “The current EU policy is inconsistent and unclear, but everything changes if you have sound judgment, strong will, and patience to endure it all. Relations with the United States are undeniable proof of that,” Stevandić said. He added that responsibility must be carried even in difficult times, but that everything collapses without unity. “When others see us divided and in conflict, regardless of what we think of ourselves, our enemies interpret that as a signal to finally wipe us out and destroy us,” Stevandić said. He added that Srpska has reaffirmed its commitment to peace and dialogue, but that this must not mean it is unprepared for defense ”by every means and in every way”. He recalled that Republika Srpska was created under impossible historical circumstances. “At that time, we were unable to establish communication or balance with the so-called West. But through the strength of our will and national energy, though isolated, bombed, and demonized, we lived to see all parties put their seal on the Dayton document and the recognition of Republika Srpska,” Stevandić concluded.