Numerous state and local officials, representatives of NGO’s and citizens, gathered in front of the Eternal Flame in Sarajevo to mark BiH’s Independence Day.

The day began with the raising of the state flag on Hum, and wreaths were also laid at the Kovaci Memorial Center, the memorial to the murdered children of the besieged Sarajevo in 1992-1995, and in front of the graves of murdered policemen in the Great Park and at the Vraca Memorial Park.

While the day is observed in Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) entity, authorities in the other semi-autonomous entity, the Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS), once again refuse to observe it.

Among those participating in numerous events to mark the holiday in Bosnia’s capital were the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat members of the country’s tripartite Presidency, Denis Becirovic and Zeljko Komsic.

“It is a turning point in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If it wasn’t for March 1st and the will of the majority of citizens to live in a free, integral and independent state, today the borders of ‘Greater Serbia’ would be on the lines of Karlobag, Ogulin, Virovitica,” Becirovic said.

He also had a message for those who refuse to accept March 1 as a holiday.

“Sooner or later, everyone will have to respect the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as this legal national holiday. Everyone can be proud of this holiday. If we had not decided to be in an independent, free and sovereign state, today BiH would have the status of the Sumadija district in Serbia. The citizens of BiH could not allow such humiliation of the thousand-year history of BiH. We are proud people who want to live equally and freely. We want BiH to be equally comfortable for every person, for all citizens and for all peoples”, he said.

Komsic also spoke about the importance of observing the holiday.

“It is important above all because it tells us that we have an independent and sovereign state, at least that’s what it says in our Constitution, although we know very often that things are not quite like that in BiH for a thousand reasons. It is also important because of everything that followed after it, I mean the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina by its neighbours, the crimes, massacres, including the genocide that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

Komsic noted that, on March 1, 1992, nobody imagined that this is what BiH would be like today.

“We all thought it would be different, but it is what it is. Starting from the Washington Agreement to this political turmoil more than 3 decades since independence. This generation to which I belong, we did what was normal, we defended our country, it is up to these younger generations to build this country up and make it better than it is today”, he added.

Komsic also stressed that many Croats and Serbs supported the independence of BiH at the referendum, but that those “who cannot come to terms with the fact” that BiH is independent are trying to impose the narrative that it was a “mono-ethnic” vote.