30.05.2010.

Minister lays wreaths on the memorial stone in Varvarin

Minister of defense Dragan Sutanovac attended the commemoration ceremony marking 11th anniversary of the bombardment of the Varvarin Bridge in 1999.

With the honorary alignment of the Serbian Armed Forces and the intoning of the national anthem “Boze pravde”, commemorative wreaths were laid by Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac, Chief of the Rasina District Dragutin Veljkovic, President of varvarin Municipality Zoran Milenkovic, representatives of association of warriors, social associations of Vravrain and the family members of those killed on that day.

On 30 May 1999, in two air raids of the NATO aviation, the following people lost their lives: Sanja Milenkovic, Zoran Marinkovic, Stojan Ristic, Milivoje Ciric, Dragoslav Terzic, Tola Apostolovic, Ruzica Simonovic, Milan Savic and Vojkan Stankovic, while several dozen persons were injured.

In his address, Minister said that the bombardment of the bridge was a testimony to one of the saddest moments in the Serbian history and the history of Varvarin.

-What happened here is beyond reason as no one can comprehend that at non a bridge in Varvarin can be a legitimate target of any aviation, said Minister Sutanovac stressing that the victims of this crime should never fall into oblivion.

"On the other hand, we have to be aware that the children that are here today have to have a future, only if we continue with integrations, and if our past serves us as a reminder how to achieve this”.

The minister expressed his deepest condolences to the families not of all those killed in Varvarin, but also in RTS building and those in the Grdelica gorge, as well as all civilians, army men and police officers.

The father of Sanja Milenkovic, who was killed on the bridge, and the president of the Varvarin municipality reminded the present that 11 years ago 10 people were killed while several dozen were injured.

Today, the citizens of Varvarin gathered here to show “that we have not and that we shall never forget what happened”, as Milenkovic said, adding that the state should have a proper policy, one which will not allow this ever to happen again.

He thanked the minister and SAF member for honoring the memory of the killed.

In his answer to reporters’ questions, Sutanovac said that SAF are expected to take part in peace missions in Cyprus and Lebanon.

“I am certain that we have all the capacities, knowledge and abilities to participate jointly with our friends in Spain, Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia in these peace missions,” as Sutanovac remarked.
He reminded that the Government had adopted the decision to send SAF members to another two missions-in Cyprus and Lebanon- besides those where we are taking part at the moment-Cote d Ivoire, Congo, Liberia, Chad.

“If we want to take care of Serbia’s security, we have to step beyond its borders, as no country can be safe just within its own borders”

He remarked that the deployment of our army in peace missions represented a great leap forward compared to the previous period, reminding that only a few years ago we had had representatives in only three UN missions.

The deployment of our army is in line with the very core of our military tradition, as this will provide us with a global peace.

Furthermore, as he announced, MoD reps would be paying a visit to EU Parliament as of Tuesday where reform processes conducted so far would be presented along with future plans.

He also told the press that he would be informed if there were any possibility for the SAF members to be deployed in some other EU missions.