Komšić at the anniversary of the 101st Motorized Brigade of the Army of RBiH: If necessary, I would do it all again just like in 1992

(Patria) - The anniversary of the formation of the 101st Motorized Brigade of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was celebrated tonight in the multimedia hall of the Municipality of Novi Grad, in the presence of numerous guests. The ceremonial academy was preceded by laying flowers and paying tribute at the Memorial to the martyrs and fallen defenders, located in front of the Novi Grad Municipality building.

The member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and recipient of the highest wartime recognition "Golden Lily", Željko Komšić, addressed the defenders, the families of the martyrs and fallen defenders, and the citizens tonight. In an emotional address, Komšić said that he had not regretted for a single moment what he did in 1992 and everything he went through.

"I regret the lost lives, I regret my friends, I regret my mother, I regret my family. I have no regrets, and I said that the other day, elsewhere abroad, if necessary, I would do it all again," Komšić said.

"Besides the emotions that hold a person, one should also draw a lesson. The dangers are the same, there is no shooting, no tanks, no cannons, no gunfire, but the politics are still alive. Politics that want to continue where they left off, or rather where they were stopped in '95. Maps are being drawn, there are threats of the disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is said that this is an impossible country, and this country is over 1000 years old, and somehow those that emerged later are possible," said Komšić.

The Minister for Veterans' Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, Omer Osmanović, said that our homeland gives birth to heroes, both in the nineties and today.

“Today we are not just marking the anniversary of a brigade, today we are talking about a time when neighbors were a shield for each other, not a threat. It is from such a spirit that this brigade was formed, which bravely defended our city and homeland together. Because, from a time when neighbors were a support, heroes were born. Today, when some try to be cartographers of divisions, creating new maps of divisions and interests, it is up to us to be guardians of truth and dignity. It is our obligation to clearly state – this country was not drawn with a pencil, but defended with a heart. And therefore, it cannot be redrawn without responsibility towards those who defended it. And precisely because of that, while some draw lines of division, we choose to create. Today we are creating new heroes – not only in places where the homeland is defended, but also in the fields of knowledge, in classrooms, and on sports fields. Our youth bring medals in mathematics and top results from football fields, showing that the strength of this country is not only in its past, but also in its future,” emphasized Minister Osmanović.

In the end, he emphasized that it is necessary for us today to be a measure of responsibility towards our heroes from the past.

“The heroes of the 101st Brigade remain the measure of courage. And it is up to us to be the measure of responsibility – to build a society in which a neighbor will again mean support, not a border,” Osmanović said.

The Sarajevo 101st Motorized Brigade of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed in 1993, and its zone of responsibility extended to the areas of the municipalities of Novo Sarajevo and Novi Grad. In the final phase of the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, this brigade was often engaged in battlefields that were not within the zone of responsibility of the First Corps of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

8,157 fighters fought in its ranks for a free and independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, while 26 of them were awarded the highest wartime recognition "Golden Lily".