WHAT SERB SOLDIERS DIED FOR IS ALIVE TODAY, WHICH IS REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

BANJA LUKA, JANUARY 8 /SRNA/ – The Central Memorial to fallen soldiers of the Republika Srpska Army /RSA/ in Banja Luka represents the correction of an injustice created in the narrative of various foreigners across Europe and the world, who turned others into victims and Serbs into criminals, never stopped doing so, SNSD leader Milorad Dodik has said today.

"These people here died to defend their homes, their people, their faith, their identity. They were killed because they believed the time had come for the Serb people to unite," Dodik said in an address following the unveiling of the memorial to 25,830 soldiers who fell in the Defensive-Patriotic War of Republika Srpska. Only Serbs, Dodik added, are not allowed to have a single state; instead, they are dividing them, turning the Serb people into an experiment. He believes that in the time ahead they must secure affirmation of Serb rights to the one people, one state principle. He has emphasized that Serbs do not feel safe in BiH and that BiH is not what Serb soldiers died for. "They died because BiH envisioned by Alija Izetbegović was built on the basis of a Muslim narrative, the Islamic Declaration," Dodik noted. Dodik has stressed that it is difficult to speak at this place today, but emphasized that what Serb soldiers died for is alive, which is Republika Srpska that it is stable. He noted that the Central Memorial to fallen RSA soldiers in Banja Luka was built through the efforts of republican institutions and Banja Luka City. Dodik asked the designer to add the coats of arms of the Republika Srpska Army and Republika Srpska Krajina Army to the memorial, as well as the name of the monument, so that everyone who comes knows where they are. "I do not believe that internationals will ever come; they never really were here. They lied when they spoke about what happened and why our brave soldiers died. They belittled their deaths. They never wanted the pain of Serb mothers to be worth as much as the pain of some other mothers," Dodik said. Dodik says that Serbs know that without a state there is no freedom, and that leaders of Republika Srpska - Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić, and many other officers were imprisoned because they listened to the people and wanted to lead them in realizing their ideas. "And even today Serbs are being tried, which is why we must gather and say that Republika Srpska was created by the will of the people, not by whim, and that is why it survived pressures, attacks, and persecutions," Dodik emphasized. He noted that they have not stopped even today; soldiers and the political leadership of Republika Srpska are still being tried, and through a story about a failing EU they want to lure BiH into centralization and devalue every single name engraved on the memorial. "They want to deceive us; that is why we must be united. We will not allow them to take away our identity and faith," Dodik concluded. With Dodik’s address, the ceremony unveiling the memorial to fallen Serb soldiers in Banja Luka was ended.