The two members of the three-man Presidency were speaking at a reception for Statehood Day, which was observed yesterday.
In separate addresses, they said Bosnia remained faced with attempts to dispute its existence and calls for its disintegration. They added, however, that there are enough of those who can oppose any attempt to divide the country.
Izetbegovic said Bosnia had existed for a thousand years and would continue to exist despite all attempts to dispute that.
Virtually all prominent Bosniak and Croat officials attended the reception, as did representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organisations but as in the past 17 years, since the signing of the Dayton peace agreement, no Serb entity official did, including Presidency Chair Nebojsa Radmanovic. Bosnian Serb officials do not recognise the continuity of Bosnia's statehood, claiming it was created on 21 November 1995, when the Dayton agreement was signed.
"Unfortunately, even 17 years after the end of the conflicts in our country, some of those who can significantly influence the situation in our country aren't willing to affirm the basic values of ZAVNOBiH (National Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Some of them are ever more openly and impudently bringing into question the reforms achieved, the functioning of institutions, even the very integrity of BiH," Izetbegovic said, evidently alluding to Radmanovic and Serb entity President Milorad Dodik.
Komsic said the values of antifascism, based on which ZAVNOBiH confirmed the continuity of Bosnia's statehood in 1943, were universal principles on which equality in the country should be built.
He said he could not believe that someone in Bosnia would not want all those born in it to be equal, adding that discrimination against, hatred towards and the belittling of ethnic minorities was unacceptable.