24.03.2024.

President Vučić: You cannot take away our right to live for our country and to love freedom

In the presence of the President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces, Aleksandar Vučić, and the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, the main commemorative event honouring the victims of NATO aggression in 1999 was held tonight in Prokuplje.

The commemoration on the Square of the Heroes of Toplica was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Miloš Vučević and Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff Gen. Milan Mojsilović.

At the beginning of the ceremony, a memorial service was held for the victims of NATO aggression, led jointly by His Holiness Profirije, Serbian Patriarch, bishops and clergy, and a minute's silence was held in honour of the victims.

According to President Vučić, who addressed the audience, the first NATO bomb that killed a Serbian soldier fell precisely in Prokuplje killing Boban Nedeljković. “They killed him because they wanted to destroy our homeland, to destroy Serbia, to break it into pieces, and they think they have succeeded in doing so."

- It’s been 25 years since then, we still do not agree to the dismemberment of Serbia. There is a small nation in Europe, in a small country, in a small territory, which still stands proud and dignified, which does not agree to occupation and orders from outside. A small but proud nation that wants a future for itself and its children, the future its people have planned for - said President Vučić.

The President of Serbia, who visited tonight the family of baby Bojana, NATO’s youngest victim, said that "this still hurts 25 years later". It is not only a question of our pain, but a question of what the villains are still trying to explain to us - that they were forced to do it.

- This year, they have been eager more than ever to explain to us that it was necessary, that it was because of us, that they did it in order for Serbia to move forward, to step into the future. They also believe that Serbia and "Kosovo" will look to the future together and they want to tell us that they have no regrets and that they have completed “their dirty work of breaking Serbia into pieces". It is my job as the president of Serbia to tell them – no, you have not. This nation is stronger and Serbia is stronger than you think. We will keep resisting you for as long as we breathe, we will keep resisting because you cannot take away our freedom. You may take away our air, but we will not give you our freedom, because we love Serbia, we live for Serbia and we will never voluntarily agree to you taking Kosovo and Metohija from us, to making Serbia disappear - said President Vučić.

Without Serbia we are nothing, he said, nothing more than breathing creatures. It is our duty not to forget our murdered children and our heroes, he added.

- We will never forget them. Their lives are woven into the fabric and carved into the stone of Serbia's future. Without them, we are nothing and we must never forget that - said President Vučić.

According to him, a lot has been done and a lot is yet to be done, life will be better, and we will find ways to cope with economic difficulties despite the wars.

We will never join NATO, he said, and we will protect our military neutrality.

- You cannot take away our right to live for our country, the right to love freedom. Here on the Square of the Heroes of Toplica, which cannot be compared with any other part of Serbia because it has always produced the largest number of heroes who have never asked what the price of freedom is, I tell you - small Serbia will fight with truth, honour, knowledge, with everything it has to preserve its territory, to preserve its people, its future. We do not have a spare homeland. We love you, our motherland, and we will not give you to anyone - stressed President Vučić.

Long live Serbia, said President Vučić, and long live the future of Serbia.

- And you, our friends, both real and fake, thank you for everything. We will remember everything that happened in those difficult times. Many have tried to put an end to Serbia and never succeeded - stressed President Vučić, adding that great future is ahead of us, and everyone else will have to face Serbia that is capable of protecting and defending itself.

The President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said that he was proud of Serbia and the Serbian people because after the NATO bombing, they had risen up to their feet and Serbia had rebuilt itself and continued to live.

- Over the past 12 years, under President Aleksandar Vučić’s leadership, Serbia has been rebuilt to the extent that now it is a stable and safe country for all its people, regardless of their nationality, so much so that Serbia is now well respected both in the region and worldwide. Small compared to others, but with a strong character that urges it to go further, not to carry hatred in its heart, but not to forget or forgive either - said the President of Republika Srpska.

He is proud of what Serbia and Republika Srpska have managed to accomplish despite everything.

- We remain a dignified, freedom-loving people. The most important things in our lives are our freedom and our identity, including our faith, our Slava, our script and our language – the things that make our nation special. We do not wish anyone any harm. We want to live in peace. We want peace for everyone - said the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik.

At the ceremony, Patriarch Porfirije held a sermon. We have gathered on this important day for the Serbian Orthodox people, he said, to pray to God, who is love and who dwells in love, and to prove our unyielding commitment to being on the side of love, not of hatred, on the side of peace, not war, justice, not tyranny, truth, not lies, the innocent, not criminals.

- Truth be told, 25 years ago both dimensions of humanity turned this lump of land into a world stage, where the ancient truth was confirmed for the umpteenth time - that a man is great only when he is a man and that he is heartless when he chooses to be inhuman. I am a happy man, joyful as an Orthodox Serb, blessed as a priest, because no ultimatum has managed to sway my people into giving up the love of God and neighbour - said Patriarch Porfirije.

Anđelka Tošović, the sister of 11-month-old Bojana Tošović, the youngest victim of NATO aggression, also addressed the audience. Anđelka, who was born during the bombing, lost her father in the NATO aggression, too.

- It has been 25 years since my father and my sister were taken away by birds and left this world. I have not met them. I was in my mother's womb on that sad evening of April 11, 1999. It was Holy Saturday. My family was preparing for our big holiday, Easter. It was supposed to be their first holiday together. But they had no idea that it would be the last and that my mother would have a lump in her throat and tears on her face at every following Easter. It is the same now, after 25 years. Time passes, but the wounded soul does not heal - said Anđelka, expressing her gratitude to the Republic of Serbia for remembering all the victims of the 1999 NATO aggression and for not allowing the memory of the pain of our people to fade.

Prokuplje was chosen as the venue for the main commemorative event because the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began in that town, at 7:55 on March 24, a quarter of a century ago. The first bombs hit the barracks in which soldier Boban Nedeljković, the first victim of NATO aggression, was killed. The bombing of FRY lasted for 78 days, until June 10, 1999.

The commemoration in Prokuplje was attended by government ministers, MPs, representatives of Republika Srpska institutions, members of the Government of Serbia, members of the boards of the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the General Staff, representatives of the City of Prokuplje and Toplica municipalities, religious communities, the diplomatic corps, victims’ families and numerous citizens.