President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic stated tonight, at a ceremony marking the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and the National Flag, that this is a holiday of identity, which clearly says who we are, where we come from and where we are going.
Speaking on the Sava Square, near the monument to Stefan Nemanja, Vucic pointed out that King Petar Karadjordjevic the First handed over 51 regimental flags to his army in June and November 1911, and underlined that none of them had been captured, which is a precedent in the history of modern warfare.
The heroes who were entrusted with safeguarding the flags went through all the battles of the Balkan Wars and the First World War, and on this day, storming under those flags, they set out to break through the Salonica front, he said.
The President reiterated that this is a holiday of our identity, one in which language, culture, tradition and religion are united, but also the values of the entire society, which make a country civilised, organised, able to remember, but also to know why and what is to do.
According to him, the date chosen, 15 September, is the date of the breakthrough of the Salonica front – the day in which both our pain and our glory lie.
On that 15 September, the only plan was freedom, towards which Serbian troops rushed to their deaths. That day was only the first in a series in which, regardless of the price, we chose Serbia and freedom, he stated.
Today, it is important that, celebrating their sacrifice, every drop of blood shed, in another plebiscite, we adopt a plan for the future in which we will be proud of the flag of freedom, peace and future.
This is the flag of our unity, with the intention to preserve the Serbian identity, the right to be what we are – the same people who does not want to take anything from anyone, to endanger anyone, but only to get for it the right that belongs to others, the right to a name, history, culture, language, religion, tradition, existence, Vucic reiterated.
The ceremony marking the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom and the National Flag began with the flight of helicopters carrying the flags of Serbia and the playing of the anthems of Serbia and Republika Srpska.
The event was attended, among others, by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Serbian government ministers, Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic, Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, representatives of Serbs from the region, ambassadors and many citizens.
Foto: Tanjug/Rade Prelić