Serbian Government: Vulin Not Given Flight Permit to Participate in Srpska Celebration

Aleksandar Vulin( BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/MO)

Once more, the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have failed to issue a flight permit to Serbian Deputy Parliament Speaker Aleksandar Vulin, who had wanted to attend the celebration of Pale’s municipal slava, the Dormition of the Mother of God, the Serbian Cabinet has announced.

According to the press release, Pale Serbs invited Vulin to the feast – which members of the Orthodox Church celebrate on Aug. 28 – as the event’s kum (in this context, a sort of patron). Vulin was supposed to attend the liturgy and ceremonial breaking of the slavski kolac bread, both essential elements of the ecclesiastical holiday and its traditions, as well as lay a wreath on the Square of Republika Srpska in Serbia’s name and pay homage to the fighters who lost their lives in the Defensive-Patriotic War of the 1990s.

“Although the Deputy Parliament Speaker’s office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Serbia submitted all the necessary information and documentation in a timely fashion, even including the reason for the visit, the Federation’s authorities did not provide an answer, thereby tacitly refusing to issue the flight permit,” the statement reads.

The press release further maintains that the Serbian Embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina followed all the required procedures and deadlines, “yet, despite this, the Federation did not reply to the request.”

“The Bosnian-Herzegovinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led by Elmedin Konakovic, has yet again refused to issue Vulin a flight permit,” the statement stressed.