Milorad Dodik says Republika Srpska will demand a UN seat if Kosovo gets one – adding that Kosovo’s partition should also be up for discussion.
If Kosovo becomes a member of the United Nations and other international institutions, Bosnia’s mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, RS, will demand the same, Milorad Dodika, the RS President, told Friday’s Vecernje Novosti, a Serbian daily.
Dodik told the newspaper that back in 2008, after Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia, the RS Assembly adopted a resolution stating that, “the RS will seek statehood status in case new international principles and practices of recognition of the right of self-determination are implemented in the international community”.
He added that this resolution “is still valid and we will not give up on it”.
The resolution, adopted in February 2008, drew condemnation from Western diplomats.
Deputies at the same session also resolved to hold a referendum on the future status of the RS in case “a large number of United Nations members, especially European Union countries” recognize Kosovo’s independence.
“In that case, the RS National Assembly considers it has the right to gauge public opinion on statehood through a direct declaration of citizens in a referendum,” the resolution stated.
Although Dodik has frequently threatened to hold an independence vote in the past, no such referendum has been held, largely because neither the EU, nor Serbia, nor Russia, has suggested it would back the idea.
“The solution of relations between Belgrade and Pristina on a permanent basis should also include solving the issue of the status of the Republika Srpska”, Dodik added.
He said a territorial division of Kosovo should also be discussed as a possible option.
“If we come to a position to talk about it, I am ready to gather all the state and national factors of the Serbs, including us from the Republika Srpska, and to seriously put that topic on the agenda,” he said.
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