OSTOJIĆ: VIDOVDAN THE GREATEST HOLIDAY FOR SERB SOLDIERS

PRIJEDOR, JUNE 28 /SRNA/ – Vidovdan /St. Vitus Day/ is the greatest holiday for Serb soldiers and veterans, and a day of remembrance of the Kosovo Covenant, which laid the foundations of the Serb national identity, Republika Srpska Minister of Labour, War Veterans and Disabled Persons Protection Radan Ostojić said today.

Ostojić said that Vidovdan is also the day when Serb knights and Tsar Lazar chose freedom in the Kingdom of Heaven instead of an earthly life in slavery.

He stressed that the path of the Serb people has always been one of struggle for freedom, from which many never returned but departed into eternity.

"Along that path, freedom was resurrected, and Republika Srpska was resurrected. On that path, none of us looked at the power standing before us, but at the sacred values we were defending," Ostojić told the press in Prijedor, where the patron saint's day of the Republika Srpska Army and the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment was marked today at the Miloševac Monastery.

He assessed that no one can stop Republika Srpska on its path any longer, explaining that this is the path toward its full sovereignty, territorial integrity and complete independence.

"That is now clear to everyone and no one can prevent it anymore. It is only a matter of time whether it happens today, tomorrow, in one, two or ten years, but it is an inevitable process," Ostojić said.

Deputy Minister of Defence in the Council of Ministers Aleksandar Goganović said that this day is an opportunity to remember the finest Serb sons who laid down their lives in the foundations of Republika Srpska.

He noted that Serb soldier has never fought wars of conquest, but only defensive ones, and that through their sacrifice they brought freedom both to their own people and to others.

"Unfortunately, certain irresponsible individuals from other ethnic groups persistently seek to deprive us, the Serbs, of the freedom guaranteed to us by the Dayton Peace Agreement," Goganović said.

He recalled constant attacks on Republika Srpska, the Serb people and Serb national symbols, stating that the flag of Republika Srpska is being burned, churches and cemeteries are being attacked, and returnees in the other entity are being targeted,

"But from this place, and on Vidovdan, we can say that we will respond to all their provocations honourably, with dignity, through diplomatic means and in accordance with the law, because Republika Srpska is a factor of stability in BiH. At the same time, Republika Srpska will not allow anyone to attack its people, its institutions or our symbols," Goganović stressed.

Vidovdan was marked with a memorial service for Serb soldiers killed from the Battle of Kosovo to the present day at the Miloševac Monastery. The ceremony was preceded by the laying of wreaths at the For the Honourable Cross central memorial.

The Vidovdan celebration was attended by Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan and Prime Minister Savo Minić, as well as other representatives of political, public and religious life, organisations and associations stemming from the 1992–1995 Defensive-Patriotic War, representatives of several local communities in the Potkozarje region, and guests from Serbia.