Vučić at the Storm commemoration: "They'll never call it a crime of ethnic cleansing"

Vučić at the Storm commemoration: "They'll never call it a crime of ethnic cleansing"

"In the last few days, we have witnessed the hypocrisy of the great powers. Today we were on Petrovačka cesta, in that saddest column, no one will talk about it. They will never tell you that it is the biggest ethnic cleansing since 1945 on this soil. They will never say that it was a crime of ethnic cleansing. They were all people, they have a heart and a soul. From their point of view, they are not people, they are just numbers," Vučić began.

"We put up a small wooden cross to mark a great tragedy. They tore it down. They killed our children, and for 28 years I have been thinking about how it is possible that you accidentally target children and the elderly. You wanted to kill the children and their grandparents," he said.

He added that a general manhunt was launched against him from Croatia.

Vučić: We are witnessing the hypocrisy of the great powers

"This is the story of all the murderers who think they have the right to live on us. I came to you in Prijedor to tell you that I am proud to be here with you," he emphasized.

"Today, when we are proud of our people, I want to tell you that here in Prijedor, in every other place in the RS, you have no idea how much we love you and how much you mean to us and how much we cannot do without you," concluded Vučić. The commemoration of 28 years since this great Serbian suffering and the largest ethnic cleansing in Europe after the Second World War is organized by the committees of the governments of Republika Srpska and Serbia for nurturing the tradition of liberation wars.

The ceremony took place in Prijedor.

The commemoration of the day of remembrance was attended by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, presidents of Serbia and Republika Srpska Aleksandar Vučić and Milorad Dodik, and other officials of Srpska and Serbia.

Serbian Patriarch Porfirije served the memorial service for the victims.

"We gathered here to pray for our brothers and sisters from Dalmatia, Lika, Banija, Kordun, for whom in the summer of 1995, Prijedor was the first point of rescue during the unprecedented violent exodus of our people. Some stopped and stayed here, some continued on. However, for 1893 there was no hope for more beautiful and better days. Today we are gathered in prayerful remembrance of the exiled, the martyred and their graves. That is why, brothers and sisters, I first of all and unitedly greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ , the first exile and the one who, with his resurrection, gave meaning to all suffering," said the Patriarch.

"Brothers and sisters, no one has an elite, exclusive and exceptional right to love their home, their relatives, their parents, brothers and sisters, their people. No one has a reserved right to the unity of their people. No one has an elite, exclusive and exceptional right to pain, sadness, to mourn their victims. Some still dared to measure the pain and determine which mother can be hurt by the loss of a child and which can't. To say that some pain is not pain. We know that pain is felt by every mother, every human being, regardless of which nation she belongs to and which god she prays to. Pain has no nation or religion. The pain of every mother, including our Serbian mother, is pain. Pain is pain, no matter whose it is," he added.

"Peace is the highest value. A condition without which we do not have human dignity. I appeal to everyone and call on religious leaders to preserve and build peace among nations." After the patriarch, Milorad Dodik spoke.

"What they call the operation Storm was actually a criminal enterprise that was planned to ethnically cleanse that area. The Croats hired over 200,000 soldiers donated by the US, and the population was that many. The departure of our people was commanded by the American ambassador in Zagreb, Mr. Galbraith, who did everything to make it a successful action, as they called it. America can be as big as it wants, but it is also humiliated and small. It is trying to maintain a negative attitude towards a small nation," he said.

"We were taught many times and brought up to keep silent about our suffering and pain. It was almost a common reflex of the Serbian people not to talk about their suffering. Only nine years ago, thanks to one persistent Serb, Vučić, we are here for the ninth time to mark suffering, let's say we won't forget," he added. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and President of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, spoke today on the occasion of commemorating the Remembrance Day of those killed in the "Storm" operation.