24.03.2018.
State ceremony marking the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the NATO Aggression
A state ceremony marking the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the NATO bombing, led by the President of the Republic of Serbia and Supreme Commander Aleksandar Vučić, was held tonight on the plateau outside the Center for Culture and Art in Aleksinac, a city of great suffering during 1999.
President Vučić and President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik spoke at the gathering, and Prime Minister of the Government of Serbia Ana Brnabić, ministers, representatives of state institutions and numerous citizens attended the event.
The ceremony, “We will forgive if we can, and forget only if we exist no more”, it started symbolically with a blackout and the sound of air raid sirens.
President Vucic told the gathered citizens that the goal of the NATO aggression was to kill soldiers, policemen, civilians, to kill Serbia.- A living, diligent and rich Serbia, which they did not kill and never will, is their biggest curse, but our task and our future. It is as if the punishment that someone conceived is not yet over, and the reason for this is the fact that we do not recognize everything they have recognized. We are right, and they know that we are right and they know that they are wrong, President Vučić said.
He stressed that we must create every day, to be powerful enough and strong enough. Vučić said that as long as he is President of Serbia, he will not allow anyone to humiliate us.
- This is Serbia, a country that has its own dignity, has its own pride and remembers those who gave their lives for it. No one will be able to punish Serbia without reason and do whatever comes to their mind. We do not have the right to call the crime by another name because of the killed, because of the consequences we suffer, because of the need to preserve our country, Vučić said and reminded of the terrible figures of aggression, when NATO struck in 1999 a small country of proud people that was guilty for existing and keeping what is its own.”
- It has been 19 years since the symbol of injustice was inflicted on the people who have gone through many misery and suffering through its history, but it did not even realize that such a fate could hit it at the end of the 20th century. It was 19 greatest and strongest ones, as they were said to be and say today, who hit a small country of a proud and indomitable nation. This act of soulless and senselessness was called the “Noble Angel”, as if the killing of innocent people, the demolition of factories and hospitals could be subdued under anything human, let alone noble, the President of Serbia said.
Vučić pointed out that the fact that we were killed was not a mistake, nor a collateral damage, but an intent, premeditation, and every 78 days and every bomb was planned to be thrown to Serbia.- The crimes were called collateral damage in order to justify them, but as long as I am the president I will not allow them to do so. Serbia has the pride and remembers those who gave their lives and never will this crime be perfect, and Serbia will not be humiliated, nor will anyone be allowed to grab hold of what comes to their minds, Vučić emphasized and said that “we want to become friends not the enemy, we want partnership, but we will not join NATO, that would be rubbing too much salt into the wound”.
The president said that no one will be allowed to attack Serbia anymore, because the country will economically strengthen, and the military will be stronger day by day and will be strong enough to protect itself and its people. He also said that “we will never threaten anyone, we will preserve peace and stability, but we will not allow anyone to destroy Serbia”.
In his address, President Dodik said that the Republika Srpska was "looking at the strength of Serbia and is grateful to President Vučić for building a stable and the strongest country in the region".
- Here we are again to mark the suffering of our people from those who never wanted to stop and who did not want to admit that they did it only to practice and that they chose the Serbian people as a target for their weapons and thus destroyed our infrastructure, nation, state, killed innocent civilians, Dodik said.He also pointed out that what was happening could not be allowed to go into oblivion.
- Only a people with dignity and urge for freedom, a people which has always appreciated others, can raise and work and create the country and the homeland, but the Serbian people cannot and should not forgive those who cynically bombarded us from the distance and caused us losses, Dodik said.
NATO attacks began on 24th March, lasted 11 weeks and killed 2,500 people. In uninterrupted bombings for 78 days, infrastructure, businesses, schools, medical institutions, media houses, cultural monuments, were badly damaged.
The bombing ended with the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement on 9th June and the adoption of Resolution 1244 in the United Nations Security Council.
