Minister Vulin: Serbia has always been on the right side
Friday, 6.4.2018 | News
Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin, on behalf of the Serbian Government, laid a wreath with state and military honours at the Monument to the pilots defenders of Belgrade in April 1941.
- 77 years is too short a time to forget who did what – who was the aggressor, and who defended his country. There is no transfer of guilt and all those who were in wars cannot be perceived as equal – said Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin who on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Serbia accompanied by Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces General Ljubiša Diković laid a wreath with state and military honours at the Monument to the pilots defenders of Belgrade in April 1941.
On the occasion of marking the Day of remembrance of Fascist bombing of Belgrade, the Minister of Defence pointed out that 77 years before, the Serbian people had once again been on the right side of the world.
- The innocent Belgrade victims, the ones who perished on that 6th April, deserve to be remembered and honoured by us, and that we cherish the memory of their lives and their death – Minister Vulin stressed and added that the ones who had killed them cannot expect that we say that everyone was the victim of the war, that everything was in fact the same and that it was just one big tragedy.
He reminded that Serbian people had survived its great tragedy, but only because it had been oriented towards the ideals of liberty, and because it had never given a wrong answer throughout its history to the question about the side of the world it had been on.
- Freedom is where Serbian people abide. It used to be like that in those times, it is the same today, and it will remain the same forever. Our state and our people will always foster antifascist tradition and everybody who doubts that may be certain that there would not have been the world nor Europe in which we would like to live, if there had not been for the antifascist struggle of our people. We signed up as a part of Europe 77 years ago, and the ones who bombarded Belgrade signed out from it – Minister Vulin stated.
- It is one of the saddest Christian holidays today, and one of the saddest days in the history of Belgrade – said President of the Town Assembly Nikola Nikodijević reminding that 77 years before, the capital of Serbia had been bombarded early in the morning without a declaration of war when more than 4000 innocent citizens had lost their lives.
He added that some people had existed at the time, who, regardless of the power that had threatened them and no matter how difficult the struggle had been, were ready to give their lives defending their country and freedom and that it was the reason why we had to always remember our role in the Second World War and the fight against fascism because, as he pointed out, the fascism was never dead enough.
State Secretary Negovan Stanković laid a wreath on behalf of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, while President of the Assembly of Belgrade Nikola Nikodijević did the same on behalf of the city.
On behalf of the Air Force and Air Defence the wreath was laid by Commander of that arm of the Serbian Armed Forces Major General Ranko Živak, while wreaths and flowers were laid by delegations of the Club of Generals and Admirals, SUBNOR and associations that cherish the traditions of liberation wars of Serbia.
Today, in commemorative celebrations and wreath lying ceremonies 77th anniversary was marked of bombardment of Belgrade that took place on 6th April 1941 which was the beginning of aggression of the Nazi Germany against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the Second World War.
The mass bombardment of the towns led to great number of casualties and considerable material devastation, such as destruction of edifices of numerous educational, health and institutions of culture.
