TIME AHEAD MUST BE DEVOTED TO UNITY AND FREEDOM

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 15 /SRNA/ - The Serb people must remain vigilant due to the continued hostility of political representatives of Bosniaks, Croats and Albanians, as well as those who betrayed them in Montenegro, and in the future devote themselves more to unity and freedom, President Milorad Dodik said.

"There is no freedom unless we fight for it, and the struggle is a daily one - for Serbian institutions, faith, script, schools and, ultimately, the family patron saint's day," Dodik told reporters in Belgrade, where he attended the presentation of decorations marking Serbian Unity, Freedom and National Flag Day.

He stressed that this is a unique opportunity for Serbs to tell the world that they want to celebrate their holidays in peace, that they do not offend anyone and do not wish anyone any harm.

He said that last night's observance in Banja Luka and today’s in Belgrade show that Serbia and Republika Srpska are celebrating this holiday, marking it for the sixth time, after it had been suppressed by previous regimes.

"This is the day when we commemorate the breakthrough of the Salonika Front, a symbolic day that restored Serbia and the Serb people to themselves. The victory achieved is a historic reason for it to be recorded and live on through history," Dodik said.

He added that the soldiers who fought at Kajmakčalan did not fight for "some Yugoslavias," but for Serbia, for their home and their homeland.

"We had to survive those delusions and impositions called Yugoslavia, some BiH or something similar," Dodik said.

Addressing others and those who are different who live in Serbia and Republika Srpska, Dodik said that the Serb people wish them all the best and that no one separates them from the citizens of Republika Srpska and Serbia.

A ceremony to present decorations to deserving individuals and institutions was held in Belgrade on the occasion of Serbian Unity, Freedom and National Flag Day, with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić presenting the decorations.

The ceremony at the Palace of Serbia was attended by President Milorad Dodik and His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, Serbian Prime Minister-designate Đuro Macut and Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić, speakers of the parliaments of Serbia and Republika Srpska Ana Brnabić and Nenad Stevandić, Serbian member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović, as well as representatives of Serbs from the region.