The Remembrance Day for those killed in the NATO aggression in 1999 was comemorated at the Topličkih Junaka Square in Prokuplje, in the presence of the head of Serbia, the leader of the Republika Srpska, church dignitaries, as well as a large number of citizens.
The state-commemorative gathering began with a funeral service served by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije and the clergy.
In his address, the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, emphasized that the first NATO bomb that killed Serbian soldier Boban Nedeljković fell right here in Prokuplje. He said that Serbia has not yet given in and is not agreeing to division.
“There is a small nation in Europe, in a small country, 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,” said Vučić.
He noted that today Pristina was accepted as an associate member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, saying that only now do we know that we will never join NATO, that we will preserve and protect our military neutrality.
“There’s nothing they didn’t reward Pristina with, nothing they didn’t punish Serbia with, but they can’t take away our right to live for our country and the right to love freedom more than anything else,” said the president. He said that the dirty work of dividing Serbia into pieces was not done.
“This nation is stronger and Serbia is stronger than you think. We will resist you while we breathe, we will resist you because you cannot take away our freedom,” Vučić stressed.
He pointed out that Serbia will never voluntarily agree to have Kosovo and Metohija taken from it – to make Serbia disappear, saying that we will fight with everything we have to preserve our territory.
Serbian Patriarch Porfirije pointed out that 25 years ago, innocent blood was shed all over our country and that is why we should remember the past, but live in the present that was given to us and move decisively into the future. He said that he is a happy man, because no ultimatum swayed our people to give up the love of God and our loved ones.
“Although the price of such determination is very expensive, it is at the same time a pledge of survival and duration, not only on geographical maps, but also in eternity, in the empire to which Saint Sava directed us, and to which the honourable Prince Lazar also approached,” the patriarch pointed out.
According to him, despite the fact that we lost our loved ones and despite the fact that grief broke our hearts, the main feeling that overwhelms us should not be inconsolable grief but the deepest knowledge and conviction that we had, have and will have the most worthy among us, who did not and will not exchange their sacrifice for executor privileges.
The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said that Serbia and the Serbian people rose after the NATO bombing and that today Serbia is a stable and safe country for all its people, regardless of nation and people.
Anđelka Tošović, sister of the youngest victim of NATO aggression, Bojana Tošović, and daughter of the victim Božin Tošović, pointed out that time passes, but the wounds of the soul do not heal.
“I didn’t meet my father and my sister, I was in my mother’s womb that sad evening on April 11, 1999, it was Saturday, my family was getting ready for our great Easter holiday. It was supposed to be their first holiday together, but no one had any idea that it would be the last and that every next one would have a lump in my mother’s throat and tears on her face,” she pointed out.
The commemoration of the Remembrance Day for the Victims of NATO Aggression in 1999 was attended by the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Aleksandar Martinović.
Text source: Government of the Republic of Serbia
Photo gallery – source Tanjug
