The establishment of the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH 35 years ago laid the foundation for the creation of Republika Srpska, according to Momir Tošić, President of the Assembly of the Association of the Creators of Republika Srpska, who emphasized the need to further strengthen the rights and powers guaranteed to Republika Srpska under the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Speaking to the Srna news agency, Tošić described October 24, 1991, as one of the most significant dates in modern Serb history.
“That date marked the beginning of the creation of Republika Srpska,” Tošić said, adding that the past 35 years have demonstrated that Republika Srpska was established on solid foundations.
He recalled that the Declaration Proclaiming Republika Srpska was adopted on January 9, 1992, followed by the Constitution on February 28 of the same year.
Tošić recalls political circumstances surrounding the Assembly’s establishment
According to Tošić, the Assembly of the Serb People was established after the SDA-HDZ coalition outvoted Serb representatives in the Assembly of the then Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, demonstrating its intention to pursue a sovereign BiH.
He argued that Serbs, as a people conscious of their national identity, could not accept such a decision.
“We gave them ten days to reconsider their decision and return to the principles on which BiH had been based — the equality of all peoples,” recalled Tošić, who served as a member of the first three convocations of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.
He stated that Muslim and Croat representatives believed they could form a parliamentary majority at the time, leaving Serb representatives, in his view, with no alternative but to establish the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH.
“In the coming period, we must further strengthen everything that was granted to Republika Srpska under the Dayton Peace Agreement,” Tošić emphasized.
He concluded that BiH can survive only as a country consisting of two entities and three constituent peoples.
National Assembly marks 35 years since its establishment
The National Assembly of Republika Srpska, the highest constitutional and legislative body within the institutional structure of Republika Srpska and the central institution of its parliamentary system, was established on October 24, 1991, as the Assembly of the Serb People in BiH.
The decision was adopted by representatives elected in the autumn 1990 elections.
At its inaugural session on the same day, the Assembly adopted several additional acts of political significance, including the Decision on the Serb People’s Continued Membership in the Common State of Yugoslavia and the Decision to Call and Conduct a Plebiscite of the Serb People in BiH.
On January 9, 1992, members of the Assembly adopted the Declaration Proclaiming the Republic of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This date is commemorated in Republika Srpska as Republika Srpska Day.
On February 28, 1992, the National Assembly adopted the Constitution of Republika Srpska and the Constitutional Law on its Implementation, formally establishing the constitutional and legal framework of the Serb people’s political entity.
Source: RTRS
