KNEŽEVIĆ: MONTENEGRO REPRESENTATIVE’S PLACE WAS HERE TONIGHT, NOT IN ZAGREB TOMORROW

MRKONJIĆ GRAD, AUGUST 4 /SRNA/ – Milan Knežević, a Montenegrin Parliament member, said this evening in Mrkonjić Grad that he would have been proudest if Montenegrin Government representatives had attended the commemoration of the suffering of the Serb people in criminal Operation Storm, and that the Serbs from Montenegro present at the event represent the true Montenegro of Petar II Petrović Njegoš, Saint Sava, Marko Miljanov, and the distinguished soldiers and warriors who were never ashamed to.

At the Day of Remembrance for Serbs Killed and Expelled during the 1995 Croatian-Muslim pogrom against Serbs from Republika Srpska Krajina and Republika Srpska, Knežević sharply criticized the decision of the Montenegrin authorities to participate in a commemorative event in Zagreb, saying that "the official and denationalized Montenegro decided to take its flag to Zagreb and place it beside the Croatian checkerboard".

"The place of Montenegro's representatives was here, remembering the pogrom of the Serb people, the ethnic cleansing and genocide that we survived twice in a single century. I wish that, alongside the flags of Serbia and Republika Srpska, the Montenegrin flag were also flying, because together with our Serb brothers from Serbia and Republika Srpska we have shared every victory and every defeat throughout history," he said.

Knežević, who is also leader of the Democratic People's Party of Montenegro, said it was stabbing the heart and back of brotherly Serb people, the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska.

"They are once again massacring Vukašin from Klepci tomorrow, and they are once again killing Darinka, Mirko, Žarko and Darko on the Petrovac Road, sending us the message that history is repeating itself," Knežević said.

As examples of the Montenegrin authorities' betrayal, he cited Montenegro's recognition of Kosovo, its voting record in international institutions, and issues concerning Serb cultural and religious heritage, claiming that the authorities had "voted to take away Visoki Dečani, the Patriarchate of Peć and the Prizren Seminary".

Speaking about the suffering of Serbs during Operation Storm, Knežević said that the 250,000 Serbs expelled from Krajina, the 20,000 Serb homes burned, and the more than 2,000 people still missing must never be forgotten.

He noted that Serbs make up 33 percent of Montenegro's population and added that anyone who wishes to live in peace with Serbia and Republika Srpska will also live in peace with the Serbs in Montenegro.

Knežević emphasized that the Serbs in Montenegro were shaped by the legacy of Saint Sava and the Kosovo Covenant, in the faith of the canonical and indivisible Serbian Orthodox Church, whose supreme religious leader is His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije.