The Serbian Republic is officially a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Public education came into existence in 1995 under the Dayton Agreement. The capital is Banja Luka.
The two states should not be confused, because Serbia and the Serbian Republic are not the same. Although all these lands were once part of the united Yugoslavia.
History
The state was founded in 1992 on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The seceding movement began after Bosnia and Herzegovina announced its withdrawal from Yugoslavia. Most Bosnians are Muslims, while Serbs are mostly Orthodox Christians.
Against the backdrop of all the events, the Bosnian war began, the Republika Srpska proclaimed itself an independent state. Recognition was obtained three years later under pressure from NATO and the UN. The officially self-proclaimed country is part of a federal state.
All these events were also related to the conflict in Kosovo. Thisthe territory inhabited by Muslims belongs to Serbia. Today Kosovo is recognized as an independent republic by a majority vote of UN member countries. This was achieved, apart from Kosovo, by Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, according to the resolution, should now provide the Bosnian Serbs with the opportunity to secede from their state.
Location
The Serbian Republic is located in the center of the Balkan Peninsula. Its area is 24 thousand 641 square kilometers. She has no access to the sea. The international community recognizes the border of the state, it runs with Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro. The drawn border takes into account only the military-political situation, not taking into account ethnic, historical, natural factors. The location of the country is rather difficult to describe, since its territory consists of two parts on both sides of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The map will help you better understand the situation.
Republic of Serbia consists of six regions:
- Prijedor;
- Banja Luka;
- Finish;
- Bielina;
- East Sarajevo;
- Trebinje.
Population
About 1.4 million people live on the territory of the republic. These are mainly Bosnian Serbs (83%), who are Christians of the Eastern confession. Croats and Bosniaks are also considered constitutional peoples. Jews, Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks also live. In recent years, the population has been declining due to the excess of deaths over births.
Politics of Republika Srpska
By form of government, it is a parliamentary republic headed by a president. He also proposes to the parliament the candidacy of the prime minister for approval. The President has the right to engage in foreign policy, to decide on defense issues.
The main body of executive power is the parliament. There is a law according to which among ministers there should be eight Serbs, five Bosniaks, three Croats. Parliament consists of 83 deputies and is called the National Assembly. It is the highest constitutional and legislative body.
Existence of Serbian Krajina
A similar situation existed in Croatia in 1991-1995. The Republic of Serbian Krajina was formed by ethnic Serbs. However, after all the wars and political agreements, the formed state ceased to exist. His government has been operating in exile since 2005.
Republic of Serbian Krajina had its own territory, population, government, state symbols. But that only lasted five years. There are three seats for Serbs in the Croatian government. In addition, legally there are political parties of Croatian Serbs, namely SDSS, SNS and others. With their help, Croatian Serbs can participate in the life of the country.
State symbols of the Serbian Republic
Since the republic is still officially part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its state symbols are not recognized as constitutional. However, there is a flag of the Republika Srpska. It consists of three horizontal stripes of equal size on a panel whose sides have a ratio of one to two.
Flag colors from top to bottom:
- red;
- blue;
- white.
The order of these colors is reversed from the order of the stripes of the flag of the Russian Federation. It was approved in 1992.
The coat of arms was adopted only in 2008. It is placed on a round shield. In the center is the flag of the republic, bordered by oak leaves with acorns. From below they are intertwined with a ribbon with the colors of the flag. The flag has "RS" written in gold letters, and "Republika Srpska" is written around the entire image in Serbian and English. Below and above are placed monarchical crowns. The lower one belongs to the Kotromanic dynasty, which ruled in Bosnia in the Middle Ages.
The coat of arms uses four colors:
- gold;
- white;
- blue;
- red.
Bosnia and Herzegovina recognized this coat of arms as the emblem of the Republika Srpska.
The anthem called "My Republic" was adopted in 2008. The author of the words is Mladen Matovic. Before that, there was an attempt to approve the anthem "God Truth", but it was declared unconstitutional by Bosnia and Herzegovina.
