VUČIĆ: NO ONE WILL EVER AGAIN CARRY OUT GENOCIDE OR SERIOUS CRIMES AGAINST SERBS

BELGRADE/DONJA GRADINA, APRIL 19 /SRNA/ - The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said today in Donja Gradina that there will no longer be tractors or refugee Serbs, nor will anyone ever again carry out genocide or other serious crimes against Serbs, and emphasized that Serbia will always stand by its people.

Speaking at the commemoration of the Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Ustasha crime - the genocide in the Jasenovac concentration camp and its largest execution site Donja Gradina, jointly marked by Republika Srpska and Serbia, Vučić announced that construction of a Memorial Center in Donja Gradina will begin this year, largely financed by Serbia.

He added that, for that purpose, regular meetings will be held until a grand Memorial Center is built in Donja Gradina, a place where it will never be forbidden for anyone to visit and where everyone will be able to learn where the most monstrous crimes took place.

The President of Serbia said that over the past year, with significant foreign funding, there had been attempts to destabilize Serbia, and that one of the reasons was to prevent it from speaking openly about the past and nurturing a culture of remembrance.

Vučić described the genocide in Jasenovac as indescribable and noted that during the communist period, the crimes in Jasenovac were equated with others.

He pointed out that others welcomed Hitler’s aircraft with flowers, while today Serbs, who fought against Nazism, are being called the guilty ones and criminals by its most loyal servants, whereas Serbs have always forgiven everything that was done to them.

Reminding that April 22 marks 81 years since the breakout of prisoners from Jasenovac, he asked why Jasenovac remained in operation until April 1945, when Belgrade was liberated in October 1944, why the communists never wanted to advance toward Jasenovac, and why everyone tried to conceal the traces of crimes in one of the bloodiest death factories in the world.

“Did the Jews lie when they inscribed the terrible name of Jasenovac at Yad Vashem? We have heard in veiled form that something happened, but no one ever wanted to speak truthfully about it, so as not to upset anyone,” Vučić said.

He added that Serbs are always portrayed as the guilty ones and criminals, even when 250,000 Serbs were expelled from Croatia, while those who committed the most monstrous crimes are not.

Vučić also pointed to the construction of a cult of hatred against Serbs in the region, even in cases when they went to bow their heads before others’ victims or apologized and extended a hand both to external actors and to those who committed the most horrific crimes during the Second World War.

“Never-ending conditions,” Vučić said, referring to demands for the arrest of Slobodan Milošević and all Serbian generals who defended the homeland, as well as the separation of Montenegro and the seizure of Kosovo and Metohija.

Vučić also recalled 13 years of monstrous lies and the failure to implement the Brussels Agreement, which envisaged the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities.

He stated that the Ustashe believed they would wipe out the Serbian people, but that new generations have come instead.

Vučić said that he does not want to treat lies as the greatest truth, and that only the future of the Serbian people matters to him, adding that he will fight for his people and for peace.

“We will always extend a hand to Bosniaks and Croats. I have almost never responded to insults from Sarajevo in recent days and months, not because I am afraid of them, but because I am showing that we are different and because I am showing respect for their victims and their people,” Vučić said.

He added that their politicians did not want to accept the offered hand and engage in dialogue, but that some future generations will.

Vučić warned that hatred is once again rising across Europe, including against Jews, as if the Second World War has been forgotten.

“In Serbia and Srpska, that will never find fertile ground. We are proud of our good relations with everyone and of the fact that anti-Semitism has never had fertile ground in Belgrade and Serbia,” Vučić said.

He added that a dark time is coming, in which hatred is once again prevailing, and that there is no justification for anyone who is not in Donja Gradina today.

Vučić thanked the representatives of the United States, Russia, and Israel, and pointed out that no one from other embassies came, and that they apparently do not believe they should pay respect to the memory of hundreds of thousands of killed people, among whom there were many children.

“Our task is not to respond in the same way, but to remember well. We Serbs must know that if we do not build a culture of remembrance, preserve the memory of our victims, bring schoolchildren here and build a Memorial Center, no one will help us in that regard,” Vučić emphasized.

He said that Serbia and Srpska will oppose silence about Jasenovac, because they must not remain silent or trample on their victims.

“We are guilty of having been silent about this for decades. I am proud that those who hate us so much speak about me and attack me so much. Here we were brutally killed. Serbia will always stand by its people. Long live Srpska, long live Serbia,” Vučić said.