22.03.2024.
Minister Vučević opens exhibition “Serbia Remembers – 25th Anniversary of Defence of Fatherland against NATO Aggression” in Military Museum
Today Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Miloš Vučević opened the exhibition "Serbia Remembers - the 25th Anniversary of the Defence of the Fatherland against NATO Aggression" in the Military Museum’s Gallery in Kalemegdan, to mark the 25th anniversary of the defence against NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
A nation and a country that forgets difficult moments, Minister Vučević said on that occasion, cannot fully understand good times when come.- The youth of today would say that they can’t enjoy better times, because they don’t understand that the path to better times is hard and rough, and involves a lot of suffering and pain, and often times the greatest and dearest sacrifice – human lives. I would like to thank and congratulate everyone who has taken part in putting on this exhibition, which is just a piece of the mosaic of the culture of remembrance and just small part of the truth about what our people survived, not only during those 11 weeks of aggression against our country, but during the 1990s, after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, in 1998 and 1999 in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, and what is still happening to our people in the same area - emphasized the minister of defence.
He thanked the organizers of the exhibition for not stopping at June 10 or some other date in 1999. Instead, they included in the exhibition everything that happened to us, which had been well thought out, continuous, and aimed at confiscating a part of our state territory.- The main reason why we were bombed in 1999 was not because a certain man was the president of our country at the time, or because of unacceptable politics. We were criminally and cowardly attacked by 19 of the most developed and powerful countries in the world for one reason only - to steal Kosovo and Metohija from us. This is corroborated by the circumstances surrounding us in the 2000s, when even after all the changes had taken place in the state, those forces’ position regarding Kosovo and Metohija did not change, they continued rounding off their work on the creation of what they considered an independent territory and a new Albanian state - said Minister Vučević.
According to Minister Vučević, it is up to us to understand all the circumstances, to protect the country and people, to work and get stronger every day, and for future generations to continue to protect and strengthen the country and not let the truth be forgotten.- If we are silent about the truth, if we do not talk about it ourselves, we cannot expect others to understand it and talk about it. We should speak out so that Serbia can progress, so that we can preserve our freedom, peace and people, so that we can preserve our people in Kosovo and Metohija and wherever they may live. I would like to thank once again all the people from the Military Museum and the Air Force Museum who have participated in the preparation of the exhibition - said the minister and invited everyone to visit the exhibition and "see what we have been through as a nation and what price we have paid - from the killing of children, the elderly, soldiers, policemen to the destruction of infrastructure and our cultural and historical heritage".
Lt. Col. Milivoje Milisavljević addressed the audience on behalf of the military museums. According to him, the idea of the military museums of the Ministry of Defence is to bear testimony to the history of our nation and foster the culture of remembrance so that the events of 1999 would not be forgotten.
- Twenty-five years ago, the great powers used force to press ahead with their plans, causing enormous damage to our country and bringing suffering to the people of Serbia. The memory of the events of 1999 has become part of the culture of remembrance and suffering of our people, and the exhibition we are opening today will help us preserve the memory of the horrors that befell us. We have prepared the exhibition thanks to the testimonies from the war, which took us a long time to collect - said Lt. Col. Milisavljević.
The idea of the exhibition "Serbia Remembers - the 25th Anniversary of the Defence of the Fatherland against NATO Aggression" is to show, through various materials, the dramatic course of events during the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led by 19 of the most developed countries in the world in military and economic sense, as well as the pogrom of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija which was the result of the aggression and terrorist attacks. The exhibition is divided into five sections, which give a chronological account of events from the initial terrorist attacks by the KLA in 1998 until the pogrom of the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija in 2004. The sections highlight some of the most important events and battles, as well as the suffering of civilians. The exhibition will be open until April 14, 2024.
The opening of the exhibition was attended by members of the boards of the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the General Staff, veterans, and representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.
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