11.10.2019.
Minister Vulin congratulates Peter Handke on winning the Nobel Prize
„There are few rewards in which so much is invested that give so little in return. By directed selection, the Nobel Committee has, as a rule, made this reward the announcement of an annual policy of the mighty ones and a symbol of obedience of the small ones. But, since every rule has its exceptions, the news that you have become the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, has confirmed that virtue just like water somehow finds its way and that the struggle for the right to freedom and choice is not finished or futile.
I do not know whether the truths that you spoke about the crimes against the Serbs will now be less attacked or condemned, but I do know that you did not need the Nobel Prise to say the truth and suffer for it. The world will rightfully see you as a winner, but the Serbs will with no less right see you as a comrade-in-arms who did not let them be defeated. The West will perceive you as a great writer, the Serbs will have nothing to say to that, because before they read your books, the Serbs had seen you as a great man.
From the mighty ones you have received a reward for literature, from the Serbs you have received a reward for humanity. From the powerful ones you have received a reward for your narrative skills, from the Serbs you have received a reward for courage. From the rich ones you have received a reward for the clarity of thought, from the Serbs you have received a reward for commiseration in the time of suffering.
Dear Nobel Prize winner, choose which rewards are more valuable and dear to your heart“, reads the letter from Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin to Peter Handke, winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature.
