Komšić on Vlašić: Peace is important, freedom is more important, but homeland is most important

(Patria) - Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić attended the Days of Victory – Days of Pride event at the Galica plateau (Vlašić), and addressed the attendees on that occasion.

“Thank you all first and foremost for the invitation to be with you today, on Vlašić, at the Galica plateau, with the people who achieved an almost incredible military victory, led primarily by General Alagić. The military significance of that operation, and what it meant in offensive actions, especially in Krajina, in the liberation of that part of our country, should be spoken about by those who participated in it, and it is my duty to express respect for that,” said Komšić.

“Yesterday I was at the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Ključ. It is certain that this would also have been questionable if the liberation of the Vlašić plateau had not happened. The moral significance of the liberation of Vlašić at that moment, because of the image of our flag being raised on top of Vlašić, is truly difficult to describe to someone who does not belong to that generation,” said Komšić.

“In the thirty years since the war ended, I feel that I have understood some things correctly only now, and at 28 years old when the war began, I did not understand them. I understood that peace is important, that freedom is more important, but that the homeland is most important. Because without a homeland, it is difficult to speak of freedom, and then of peace. In the gradation of these values, peace, freedom, and homeland, even peace can be sacrificed for the homeland. And one can sacrifice freedom for the homeland, but one must never sacrifice the homeland, because without it, we do not exist,” emphasized Komšić.

“I like this symbolic handover of war flags. As a generation, we can be proud that we gave our best to stand here today, but we have done nothing if we do not pass on to our children what we know, and we are obliged to do so as elders, as parents, as more experienced and wiser, to point out what kind of place they live in, in what beauty, after all, they live, and what this generation has done, not for them to respect it, not for them to admire us, but simply to learn something.

Therefore, this symbolic handover of war flags by veterans to our future should be a kind of process of transferring knowledge, experiences, and our expectations. Our obligation is to leave to these children as a legacy, as a trust, to tell them that BiH, having existed for a thousand years as our homeland, must continue to exist eternally, as long as this world exists,” concluded Komšić.