KARAN: SIJEKOVAC - SITE OF MONSTROUS CRIME AGAINST SERBS AND MAJOR HISTORICAL WARNING

SIJEKOVAC, MARCH 26 /SRNA/ - Sijekovac is the site of a monstrous crime against Serb civilians, and at the same time, a major historical warning, said the President of Republika Srpska Siniša Karan.

"Sijekovac, like many other sites of suffering of the Serb people, obliges us to remember, to bear witness, and not to allow the truth to be relativized or forgotten. As a people who have historically paid a very high price for their freedom, we are duty-bound to view the suffering of innocent civilians in Sijekovac not only as a tragedy but also as a foundation of our collective identity and national consciousness," Karan told SRNA on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the first mass crime against the Serb population in BiH, which occurred in Sijekovac. Karan stated that every suffering of the Serb people obliges Republika Srpska, as well as each individual, to persist in the pursuit of justice without any calculations. "Republika Srpska was not created by chance, nor as an expression of fleeting political will. It is the constitutional, legal, and historical response of the Serb people to suffering, threats, and the need to decide their own destiny. That is why the protection of Republika Srpska is not a matter of daily politics, but a matter of rights, dignity, and survival," Karan emphasized. He told SRNA that the Serb people pledge to preserve Republika Srpska as a guarantee of freedom, to defend it with knowledge, unity, and institutions, and to build within it a society based on justice and truth. "Only in this way can we be worthy of the victims of Sijekovac and all the innocent, killed unjustly, and only in this way can we ensure that such evil never occurs again, neither to us nor to anyone else. Remembering and honoring the victims is our duty," concluded President Karan.