07.10.2017.

Minister Vulin: The time of shame is gone. It's time for a quiet pride

Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin attended today's meeting of the 3rd Army commanding officers during the NATO aggression "Not to forget" at the Military Club in Niš.

The meeting was also attended by the Secretary General of the President of the Republic of Serbia Nikola Selaković, the last commander of the 3rd Army General in retirement Vladimir Lazarević, Bishop Arsenije of Niš, representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the Serbian Armed Forces and numerous friends and admirers of the 3rd Army members.

According to Minister Vulin, Serbia did nothing to provoke NATO aggression, just as it never caused wars, neither the First World War nor the Second World War, nor the civil war in the territory of the SFRY, which were neither a desire nor a need and in no way were caused by the Republic of Serbia.

- But that is why, the Republic of Serbia, its soldiers, its people can only be proud of their role in all these years. They can only be proud of the best ones, of the people who are present today in Niš. The 3rd Army, General Lazarevic, and all those who are no longer with us or who are somewhere far away have the reason to be marked and recognised as the best among the best and the bravest among the brave. They are evidence and a measure of our self-esteem. The way we treat them is the way we treat ourselves. If we do not appreciate their sacrifice and their courage, who will appreciate what we did in our lives. If we are not proud of them, who and what should we be proud of, the Minister of Defence said.

He added that the time when these people could not enter the Military Academy, when they could not be with their army, is gone and that the time when we were forced to be ashamed of them is gone, because the army they commanded was never ashamed and the people who was protected and whom they protected has never been ashamed.

- The time of shame is gone. It's time for a quiet pride. Quiet, because it's hard not to remember all those who are not with us, it's hard not to remember all the civilian victims of NATO aggression. So quiet, but pride. We are proud of these people and they are proof of how much Serbia has returned to itself. How courageous it is to be what it has always been. In 2012, when the current Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces became Minister of Defence, it was for the first time that we started to mark the dates related to NATO aggression. When the then Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, in front of the demolished General Staff building in Belgrade, stepped out and for the first time allowed the courage, as such a senior official of the state of Serbia, to say that on 24th March 1999 it was NATO aggression, it was pointed out that Serbia would never again return to the period of shame, to the period of non-recognition of history, to the period of non-recognition of the truth, Minister Vulin emphasized, and said that from 2012 onwards we can say that Serbia is changing for the better and that relation towards these people is the relation of our self-esteem.

"Nobody will ever be ashamed of these people again, because the army they commanded has never been ashamed of them and the people whom they defended and managed to defend has never been ashamed of them", Minister Vulin said.

Secretary General of the Serbian President Nikola Selaković said that it is the real pleasure to be in Niš today, surrounded by people who were at the task assigned by the state 19 years ago, at the task for which they were trained, studied and worked during their entire professional life.

- The obligation of the Republic of Serbia is to appreciate the professionalism of the members of the then Yugoslav Armed Forces, especially its 3rd Army, those most affected by the armed rebellion in Kosovo and Metohija in 1998 and during NATO's 1999 aggression. In this way, we show the attitude towards the military in general and the attitude towards the state, showing the attitude towards every individual, especially the commanding cadre of our army who were in those difficult moments, for our modern history, where the fatherland invited people. That is, I can conditionally say, not only the basic act of patriotism, it is an act of basic decency. By this we show both as the state and as the people that we return some things to the right places, to those that belong to the right things and to the right people. Serbia continues its fight with other means, does not give up on what it has legitimate, legal and, we can freely say, human, historical and any other interests for, Selaković said.

He stressed that the fact that they are all gathered together today in the Military Club in Niš shows how the state treats and appreciates those who knew to defend it in difficult moments in the last decade of the 20th century, when it passed between Scylla and Charybdis and through many hardships.

- I am proud to be part of this, which today's government in Serbia can recognize and put things in the right place. This is especially true for the reason that there are, behind us, times in which the generals, admirals and senior personnel of our army were not allowed even to enter the official premises of the then and current armed forces. This, however, shows that some things are changing and going in the right direction. By raising the monuments to our heroes, appreciating those who have survived the hardships of war, guarding their soldiers and every inch of their country, we show the generations ahead of us how to act when defending the fatherland, Secretary General of the Serbian President said.

General Lazarević stressed that 18 years have passed since the criminal NATO aggression on the SFRY and that they are organising in Niš today, a meeting not to forget it.

- There are members of the legendary Priština Corps and heroic 3rd Army, commanders of independent battalions, brigades, collegiums of commanders of both corps and command of the Army, in the largest number. To our satisfaction, with us, there are the representatives of our country and our friends businessmen, who perceived and helped the army in the war as their own. Our goal is also the motto of this gathering - not to forget, to recall, to leave the memory as a behest for current and future generations. All this with one specific goal, because for the next year we are planning for the 3rd Army to get a memorial in the form of a church, which will show the names of all killed members of the 3rd Army in the defence of the country, General Lazarević said

The participants in the gathering agreed that such gatherings should grow into a tradition.