RIGHT TO REMEMBER AND TRUTH IS AN UNWAVERING DUTY

BELGRADE, AUGUST 4 /SRNA/ - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dačić said that Operation Storm was one of the most tragic events in the recent history of the Serbian people, stressing that peace and stability are Serbia's policy, but that the right to remembrance and truth is an unwavering duty.

"The pogrom our people endured obliges us never to allow ourselves to be weak. Peace and stability are our policy, but the right to remembrance and truth is our unwavering duty," Dačić stressed.

He said that there are days that belong not only to the calendar, but also to the conscience and memory of a nation, and that Operation Storm is one of them, a day when thousands of families lost their loved ones, homes and homeland, and hundreds of thousands of compatriots set out on a path of uncertainty, carrying with them only memories and the hope that justice would one day be attainable.

Dačić stressed that it is our duty to preserve the memory of the innocent victims and pass on the truth about their suffering to future generations - not to live in the past, but to understand how much peace, freedom and the right to live in one's own home are values that must be safeguarded.

"Today we are marking the Day of Remembrance for all Serbs who were killed and expelled during the Croatian aggression against the UN-protected territory of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, in Operation Storm, which represents one of the most tragic events in the recent history of the Serbian people," Dačić wrote in an Instagram post marking the 31st anniversary of the Croatian Operation Storm, in which 220,000 Serbs were expelled and around 2,000 were killed.

He pointed out that remembrance is not a call for hatred, but an expression of respect for the victims, a warning that such suffering must never happen again, and a pledge that those who lost their lives and their homes will never be forgotten.

Dačić, who is also Minister of the Interior, stressed that Serbia today stands tall, proud and strong, ready to protect every one of its citizens and compatriots wherever they may live.

"Serbia remembers, Serbia safeguards what is hers, and Serbia moves forward," Dačić said.