November 25 is observed as Statehood Day in Bosnia's Croat-Bosniak Federation entity in memory of 25 November 1943 when the country's statehood was confirmed and its existence guaranteed as a separate entity in the future Yugoslav federation. The decision on Bosnia's statehood was adopted by Partizan lawmakers (ZAVNOBIH) in the town of Mrkonjic Grad, western Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Therefore, followers of associations of veterans from the Second World War and societies cherishing the heritage of Josip Broz Tito gathered today in that town.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency chairman Zeljko Komsic issued a message in which he underlined that peoples living in that country had shown 70 years ago what kind of a state they had wanted and that such a state would equally treat all of its residents.
Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija said in his message that the current problems bothering Bosnia and Herzegovina could be easier dealt with if the country were functioning in compliance with the tenets laid out 70 years ago in Mrkonjic Grad.
On the other hand, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik continued questioning whether there was any point in observing 25 November as Bosnia's Statehood Day.
He also criticised the international community's High Representative to Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, and the European Union's special envoy, Peter Sorensen, over their participation in events marking this public holiday.
Dodik insists in an open letter that this holiday has no footing in the current legislation and that the present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina was based on the Dayton Peace Accords, reached in 1995, and not on the decision made by ZAVNOBIH in Mrkonjic Grad.
He accused Komsic and leaders of the Bosniak people of falsifying the history.