DODIK: DO NOT ENGAGE IN PROVOCATIONS SURROUNDING NOVEMBER 25

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 25 /SRNA/ – President of SNSD Milorad Dodik has told SRNA that any attempt to mark November 25 in Republika Srpska is a serious provocation, urging people not to accept it or fall for it.

"When someone like [FBiH Prime Minister Nermin] Nikšić tries to defend his political standing in Sarajevo by provoking Banja Luka, it shows that he has already lost, even though this is a person who in the past acted as someone who could be reasonable. In any case, that is their problem," Dodik emphasized. According to him, in Republika Srpska, November 25 is a normal working day and will continue to be so in the future. Dodik pointed out that for years there has not been a single political option in Republika Srpska, government or opposition, that supports this false narrative imposed by Muslims. "And the appearance of a small number of foreigners who give it importance and gather around it shows that they are not pursuing balanced politics in BiH. We will see how we respond to them," Dodik stressed. He added that the false story of November 25 can only be forced by unfinished political projects such as the Bosniak-Muslim one in Sarajevo. Dodik stressed that November 25 is not a holiday; it is simply history, noting that no body of Dayton-era BiH has confirmed it, nor does a law exist establishing it. In his view, the attempt to impose it as a holiday for everyone clearly reflects the aspirations that Muslims have in BiH and their unwillingness to abandon such imposition. "They want to impose their holidays while abolishing ours! They are not ashamed to try to ban January 9 and supposedly prevent Republika Srpska from marking it, but they would impose their own shameful, non-negotiated date on Republika Srpska, feeding their servile vanity," Dodik said. The former ZAVNOBiH Day of November 25 is marked as the so-called Statehood Day in the part of the Federation of BiH with a majority Bosniak population, while Croats do not observe it as a holiday.