35 years after then Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic launched the idea of a Greater Serbia in Kosovo, current President Aleksandar Vucic is following in his footsteps, BGNES reports.
In June 1989, Milosevic brought hundreds of thousands from all over Serbia to the Gazimestan area, not far from Pristina in Kosovo, with the aim of uniting all Serbs. Then he uttered the famous phrase 'no one has the right to beat the Serbs'.
Today, his former Minister of Information and current Head of State of Serbia is organising the first Assembly of the Serbian People.
Vucic and Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik kicked off the "One Nation, One Council - Serbia and (Republika) Srpska" in Belgrade.
A "prayer for the Serbian people" was offered by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije at St Sava Church. A number of dignitaries from the state leadership of Serbia and the RS participated. A "joint meeting" of the two governments is to take place.
"The Serbian people gather today for spiritual unity and peace among all people and all nations, for our good, but also for the good of all who live with us and around us," Porfirije said after the prayer.
Aleksandar Vučić sent a message of "peace and brotherly love".
"We pray that all disagreements will remain behind us, that we will send a message of peace, harmony and brotherly love, that we will say out loud that the Serbian people want peace the most out of anyone, because they have always paid the highest price when there has been no peace. We live in harmony and mutual respect with our neighbors in order to move forward together and choose our own future," Vucic said on his Instagram account.
"Times are tough. There are many challenges and history has taught Serbs that only in unity can they find the strength and wisdom needed to save their people and country from the inexorable course of history," he added.
The all-Serbian gathering is being organised to "send a message that Serbs, wherever they live, are one people, that they strive for the same goals, have a common history and promote peace and good relations in the region," Serbian pro-government media wrote.
Information Minister Dejan Ristic said that "the council is in the spirit of national tradition and that it is necessary to underline national unity and agreement on the most important state issues."
"President Vucic's call to gather not only in Belgrade, but throughout Serbia and RS, in all areas where our compatriots live, is a call to return to the original national values and ideals of our nation," he added.
Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik came to the All-Serbian Council directly from the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, where (once again in recent months) he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Before his trip to Russia, Dodik, speaking about today's gathering, said that "the All-Serbian Council of Serbia and Republika Srpska will adopt a document in which everything that Serbs think will be said in legal and acceptable language that is an expression of Serbian values."
"We want our people to be protected in Slovenia, in Croatia. We want our people to have their own status in Montenegro," Dodik stressed.
Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said Serbia would sign agreements and memoranda in many areas with the "fraternal Republika Srpska".
A number of other activities are planned during the day, and the central commemoration of the event will be held at the Republic Square at 17:00 local time (18 Bulgarian time). | BGNES
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