KARAN: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA IS BOTH THE VIDOVDAN AND KOSOVO COVENANT

PRIJEDOR, JUNE 28 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska embodies both the Vidovdan and the Kosovo Covenant fulfilled by the Serbs living west of the Drina River, Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan said today.

Karan stressed that Vidovdan has remained, both today in Republika Srpska and for nearly six and a half centuries, a symbol of the Serb people's freedom, unity and endurance. "What we want to say today is that the Serbs on this side of the Drina have fulfilled both the Saint Sava Covenant and the Vidovdan Covenant, and that covenant is called Republika Srpska," Karan said after attending the marking of the patron saint's day of the Republika Srpska Army and the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment. Karan extended congratulatory note over Vidovdan, stressing that few words in Serb history encompass so much symbolism. "When you say Vidovdan, you see 600 years of the Serb people's struggle for freedom, all of its tragedies, defeats, rises and resurrections," Karan emphasized. He noted that Republika Srpska was established on January 9, before the armed conflict in BiH, and that following unconstitutional, illegal and illegitimate referendum intended to outvote the Serb people and deprive them of their existential, national and political identity, the Army of Republika Srpska was formed. According to him, the Republika Srpska Army was created to preserve Republika Srpska as the only framework of freedom for the Serb people and to protect the Serb people, their property and their existence. "In that regard, we are once again especially grateful to the Republika Srpska Army, which emerged from the people, belonged to the people, and continues to live today in the hearts of all our people. Together with Republika Srpska, it was the only guarantor," Karan said. He also thanked the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment for preserving and nurturing the traditions of the Republika Srpska Army. "You are doing this in an outstanding manner, and I would say in the best possible way, so that future generations may also inherit the Vidovdan and Kosovo covenant, that no persecution should ever happen to us again and that we must never allow anyone to threaten Republika Srpska as the sole possible framework of our freedom," Karan stressed. He pointed out that a people without its own state disappears and, above all, cannot be free, adding that the Vidovdan Covenant teaches that life is not the most precious a human being has. "Life is indeed the greatest value, but only in freedom, and freedom is worth sacrificing one's life for. Republika Srpska is the product of the courage of the bravest among us - 26,048 members of the Republika Srpska Army, the Srpska Krajina Army and the Ministry of Interior, who laid down their lives in the foundations of this Republic," Karan said. He added that they represent the Vidovdan and Kosovo covenant, and that strength must continue to be drawn from their sacrifice in preserving Republika Srpska.