Dodik persistently calls RS a state: The Serbian people must be grateful to Karadžić for their freedom!

President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik stated tonight in Belgrade that Republika Srpska and Serbia are two states, each with its own responsibility, contributing to stability and peace in the region, reports the news agency Patria, ATV reports.

Dodik emphasized that Republika Srpska and Serbia are not making any conspiracies, have nothing hidden, and must work together because they are two states of the Serbian people.

At the ceremony in Belgrade marking the Day of Republika Srpska and 23 years since the proclamation of the first Constitution of the RS, Dodik stated that Republika Srpska is always looking towards Serbia and wishes it strength, to be the strongest country in the Balkans, and to remain a country affirming peace and stability.

He expressed gratitude to those gathered, especially representatives of Serbia, noting that by coming they showed their attitude towards Srpska, which cares deeply about that.

“When we come here, we come to our place, to Serbia, to Belgrade, because it is a refuge for us who live in Srpska and, I believe, for Serbs wherever they live,” Dodik emphasized.

He said that Republika Srpska was created as a need of the Serbian people to preserve their freedom, that from the beginning it wanted only freedom for Serbs and other peoples, and that it did not want majorization or humiliation.

“Grateful to all who at the beginning of the creation of the RS had the vision and desire to create the RS. Many were victims of persecution because they essentially had the idea of freedom for the people they belonged to, many were convicted, and some are still being tried in some international institutions,” Dodik pointed out.

He noted that Republika Srpska was created before the war – on January 9, 1992.

“The war started later, it started when we were outvoted, when they began killing us at our weddings in Sarajevo and in some other places throughout BiH,” Dodik recalled.

Dodik emphasized that the Serbian people must remain grateful to people who are today exposed to judicial processes, such as the first president of Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and all the people of that time who in those moments were misunderstood or not accepted in the best way.

“But today we know that at that time they were maintaining the purest thing that the Serbian people wanted, and that is freedom. There is no freedom for the Serbian people without Republika Srpska,” Dodik stated.

He recalled the long-standing attempts to challenge and erase Srpska, the 29,000 Serbs who died in the past war, the speculation and lies that Serbs killed 300,000 Bosniaks and that policies of that time were built on that lie.

Dodik said that the RS is a place for affirming the national values of the Serbian people, which he is proud of, because it always respects others and those who are different and wants peace, not hesitating to defend its freedom.

Speaking about the economy, Dodik stated that there are problems and challenges in the RS as well, but that there are evident advances in economic growth, that he is proud of the construction of the Doboj – Banja Luka highway, reminding that two thermal power plants and two small hydroelectric plants are being built.

Dodik also thanked the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is a place where the national identity of the Serbian people is most strongly affirmed and reaffirmed.