Relations between Slovenians of the Association Triglav and their mother country are maintained at several levels.
Primarily, there is the relationship with diplomatic and consular offices of the Republic of Slovenia in Sarajevo. This is logical, given that one of the important tasks of foreign policy of the Republic of Slovenia is to tie Slovenians residing outside its borders, as a national minority, with the mother country. Organisation of association of citizens through which members of Slovenian national minority as well as their descendents can realise and express their interests is very important. Namely, the protection of interests of a national minority, as a specific interest group, is almost impossible without one of the forms of association. The initiative of establishing the Union of Slovenians of the Republic of Srpska was launched by individual members of Slovenian ethnic corps in Banja Luka, but its realisation would have been more than difficult had there been no significant support by the Embassy of Slovenia in Sarajevo.
In April 1997, officials of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Sarajevo visited Banja Luka. At the end of the same year, there was a meeting organised between Slovenians residing in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the then Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Janez Drnovšek. The meeting took place on the premises of the Embassy in Sarajevo, and it resulted in establishing an initiative board tasked to establish Associations of Slovenians in the Republic of Srpska.
Citizens’ associations gathering members of national minorities are imperative partner in accomplishing tasks of the mother country. On the other hand, the association itself, such as Association of Slovenians Triglav, Banja Luka, facilitates the work of consular representatives of the Republic of Slovenia. Namely, members of the Association provide all necessary logistics for organising consular days. In addition, consular representatives take part at all events organised by the Association, which gives an excellent opportunity to meet a large number of Slovenians, as well as people from public, economic and culture sphere of life.
The relationship between our Association and the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia has been properly conducted in the past 10 years. It is worth noting that this relationship was sometimes rather congenial, whereas to a great extent it depends on the composition of personnel.
As for other state structures, we should first mention the National Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia which gathers Slovenians residing abroad in Ljubljana every year, and this gathering takes place at the Parliament building. There were several such gatherings organised so far and almost each time representatives of our Association were present, thus giving their contribution. Surely, those gatherings are attended by representatives of the National Parliament, Government and various Ministries. In addition, from time to time various delegations of the state parliament meet the representatives of the Association of Slovenians of the Republic of Srpska when they visit Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia has a special Office for Slovenians Abroad (Urad za Slovence v zamejstvu in svetu). This Office was allocated funds in the budget of the Republic of Slovenia which can be used by associations of Slovenians throughout the world. These funds are neither big nor small. They can be used only on the basis of a Call for Proposals, following the principle of the most successful projects. In this way, necessary funds for the activities of the associations have been provided, thus allowing them to accomplish their basic goals. Primarily, this refers to the preservation of national identity, then various culture performances and events, as well as education with special emphasis on the preservation of the language.
This year, within the Government of the Republic of Slovenia there have been established Councils for Slovenians residing abroad, namely one Council for Slovenians from neighbouring countries (zamejski Slovenci) and one for Slovenians throughout the world. Our President, Mrs. Marija Grbić has been selected as one of the members of that Council. This governmental body does not issue binding decision, but it will have a significant advisory role. We also expect that significant initiatives will be launched there in order to improve the position of Slovenians abroad, which also includes us.
Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture directly communicate with Slovenian minorities outside the Republic of Slovenia. The School of the Slovenian language organised by the Association of Slovenians of the Republic of Srpska has been established through the Ministry of Education in cooperation with the Office for Slovenians residing Abroad. More than hundred students attended this school, mainly young Slovenians and their descendents but also other people interested in learning the Slovenian language. The Ministry of Education has provided necessary readings as well as the training for the teacher. Every year, those children attend the summer and winter schools of the Slovenian language taking place in Slovenia. This gives results because, frankly speaking, in many cases our children speak Slovenian better than their parents.
In the part concerning culture one should note our choir Davorin Jenko, which also relies on financial and other kinds of assistance from the Republic of Slovenia.
Members of the Slovenian national minority in the Republic of Srpska organised within the Association do not rely merely on the Republic of Slovenia as a state, but have a significant relationship with the local self-governance bodies, such as the Municipalities of Kranj or Črnomelj.
As for the state bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, their relations with Slovenians, and other national minorities, have been laid down in the laws on the protection of members of national minorities, not only at the state level but also at the level of the Entities.
The cooperation in this field has been established on three tracks, state, entity, and local levels. However, unlike the relationship with the mother country the most important in this case is the relationship with the local community, more specifically the City of Banja Luka, which greatly contributed to our work. At the level of the Republic of Srpska the responsibility to assist associations of national minorities lies on the Ministry of Local Governance and Self-Governance, and Ministry of Culture.