Izetbegović at Igman: Our people do not accept defeat, we have reasons to be proud

For the 17th time, the event "Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Igman 2017" was held on Igman under the motto "Come and witness", gathering around 20,000 people, reports the Patria agency. The general patron of the event is the member of the Presidency of BiH, Bakir Izetbegović.

During his address, he said that the capital of BiH was defended through a combined military, engineering, political and diplomatic action. He emphasised that when speaking about the period 1992-1995, we have things to remember and be proud of.

- You cannot defeat a people who do not accept defeat. If someone had said back then, look at what those who would jointly attack BiH have, and what those who would defend themselves do not have. No one would have said that it would last so long and that they would not defeat us. 1,000 tons every day had to be produced or imported into BiH. We provided all of that, and then some wiseacres talk about how there was no proper organisation and logistics and how the people organised themselves. 1,000 tons of weapons, fuel, lubricants, food every day. Those are some heroes you do not know, about whom nothing is said or written. But it will be written, God willing - said Izetbegović.

Izetbegović said that we should remember every battle on Igman, the Igman marches, both those 75 years ago and those during the aggression on BiH.

- We should remember every battle, Tito's partisans and anti-fascism, but we should also appreciate what our people did. They are all our ancestors. Illyrians, Celts, Slavs, medieval kings are our forefathers. Ottomans and Austro-Hungarians left their mark, Yugoslavia was ours. We were the most convinced Yugoslavs. The partisans were ours, Josip Broz is ours. 200 years ago, everyone in the land of Bosnia was called Bošnjani. Today it is different, and let everyone call themselves and pray as they wish. We respect everything - he said.

The President of the Organisational Committee, the Federal Minister for Veterans and Disabled Veterans of the Defence-Liberation War, Salko Bukvarević, emphasised that the goal of this event is to preserve and nurture the culture of remembrance of the martyrs and fallen soldiers, but also all living defenders of the homeland.

On Veliko Polje today, a parade of veterans of the Army of the Republic of BiH and the Ministry of Interior of the RBiH was held.