31st anniversary marked since the suffering of the Serbs in Srednje Podrinje and Birč
The President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik attended today the marking of the 31st anniversary since the suffering of the Serbs in Srednje Podrinje and Birč.
His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije served a memorial service for 3,267 martyred Serbs at the Memorial Cross at the Bratunac cemetery, and after the memorial service officials laid flowers and wreaths at the Central Memorial Cross.
The President of the Republic of Srpska said in his address that every pain must be equally respected and sympathized with, and emphasized that Srpska is not ready to bow its head and will not accept any decision of a false high representative.
The President Dodik pointed out that every year he pays tribute to his ancestors all over Srpska, stating that there is a huge Serbian sacrifice, as well as that the past century was one of suffering for the Serbs.
“It is a century of delusion for Serbs. Some opted for Yugoslavia, which buried Serbian national identity. The Second World War was painful because all those years they worked to kill the idea of strengthening the Serbian national identity”, said the President of the Republic.
The President of Srpska added that his Muslim and Croat neighbours in Mrčevci, where he comes from, killed Serbs during the Second World War, and that later it was the Serbs who fought for the freedom of everyone in these areas.
“They built their states on our sufferings and asked us to dream their dreams. It is the same here in Podrinje. There is no exclusivity on pain. Every pain must be equally respected and sympathized with. They managed to make the pain of mothers with white headscarves greater than mothers with black headscarves”, said the President Dodik.
The President of Srpska pointed to the fact that apart from the representative of Serbia and the Ambassador of the Russian Federation Igor Kalabuhov, there are no other international representatives in Bratunac, which, he added, is a message of what they think about the suffering of the Serbs.
The President of the Republic of Srpska said that nothing has changed for decades and that today Christian Schmidt will give a speech and present punitive measures for representatives of Srpska, stressing that Schmidt is not a legal representative and that Srpska will not accept his decisions.
“Why on this day when we commemorate the suffering of the Serbs? Why do you think we are ready to bow our heads? We are not ready. The Republic of Srpska will not accept any decision of a false high representative”, it was stressed by the President Dodik and repeated that the Republic of Srpska was created and defended by the will of its people.