The Congress of North American Bosniaks (CNAB), an umbrella organization representing Canadian and US Bosniaks, sharply condemns the draft law, about the Territorial Organization of Republika Srpska (RS), approved by RS legislators. The draft law provides that Bosanski Brod and Bosanska Kostajnica will have their city names changed into just Brod and just Kostajnica. Changing historic city names in this fashion is contrary to the constitutional principles of equality of constitutional peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Negation of the Bosnian prefix in city names equals negation of Bosnia, an internationally recognized country with international borders, passport, embassies, and all other forms of country independence. Bosnia has existed and will keep on existing, and those who are disturbed by Bosnian prefixes in Bosnian city names are actually disturbed by the existence of the Bosnian state itself. The mere fact that the government of RS is disturbed by a Bosnian prefix in city names, a prefix that comes from the internationally recognized and historically established name of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the governing body which rules the RS, shows enough about the intentions of the leading legislators in RS to undermine the integrity of Bosnia and try and blackmail the legitimate Bosnian government.
It is well known how the name change of cities, townships, institutions, and organizations in Bosnia came about during and after the aggression against Bosnia. The purpose of these name changes is to emphasize the fact that cities, townships, institutions, and organizations in question are located in the now ethnically cleansed Republika Srpska and that now that Bosniaks have been foricibly removed, there is Serb majority population.
Instead of working on changing the pre-aggression name Bosanski Brod, name of a town with 70% Bosniaks before the genocide, or Bosanska Kostajnica, CNAB will intensify its activities in abolishing the entities label in Bosnia, especially getting rid of the name ‘Republika Srpska,’ a name that is a product of aggression, genocide, ethnic cleansing and murder of 200,000 Bosnians of all ages and both genders.
On behalf of CNAB
Mr. Haris Alibasic
CNAB?s Spokesperson