DODIK: OUR ANCESTORS DID NOT SPARE THEIR LIVES FOR THE FREEDOM OF SERBIAN PEOPLE

BANJA LUKA, JULY 1 /SRNA/ – The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik stated that almost unarmed Serbian ancestors 150 years ago in Nevesinje rose up against a power that dominated the world and Europe, and they did not spare their lives to fight for the freedom in which people in Srpska live today.

Dodik stressed that Republika Srpska was created on the basis of the freedom-loving aspirations of the Nevesinje Uprising and the suffering of all Serbs up to the formation of Srpska.

"For our ancestors, it was harder after the uprising than before, because they were persecuted, tortured, and killed for standing up against a powerful empire," Dodik said at a press conference.

He pointed out that His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije will attend the commemoration of the Nevesinje Uprising, and that the day before, on July 5, he will attend the marking of 33 years since the suffering of Serbs in Podrinje.

"As the President of Republika Srpska, I participated in the work of the Organizing Committee, as did the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. On his behalf, and on behalf of the leadership of Serbia and Srpska, I invite all people to come to Nevesinje on July 6 and send a message that we have not forgotten our ancestors," Dodik pointed out.

He said that in the collective memory of Serbs in Republika Srpska, Serbia, and Montenegro, the significant role of the uprising in Nevesinje and what followed after it has remained.

The central ceremony marking 150 years since the Nevesinje Uprising will be held on Sunday, July 6, in Nevesinje.

The First Nevesinje Uprising was an insurrection raised in the village of Krekovi in the municipality of Nevesinje on July 9, 1875, against Ottoman rule, and it quickly spread throughout BiH, with support from Serbia and Montenegro.

Over time, this grew into the Serbian-Turkish war. Soon after, the Berlin Congress of 1878 granted Serbia and Montenegro independence and territorial expansion, while Austria-Hungary occupied BiH for 30 years.

The Second Nevesinje Uprising, also known as the Ulog Uprising, broke out in January 1882 with the attack of insurgents on the Austro-Hungarian gendarmerie station in Ulog due to the adoption of the so-called Military Law on mandatory military service for young men from BiH.

The Nevesinje anti-fascist uprising represents armed resistance to the Ustashas on June 3, 1941, in the village of Drežanj, after the massacre of 27 people in the village of Udrežnje near Nevesinje.