DODIK: FREEDOM – THE SACRED WORD OF THE SERBIAN PEOPLE

NIKŠIĆ, JULY 29 /SRNA/ - Freedom is the sacred word of the Serbian people, and the thread that binds them together is the Serbian Orthodox Church, President Milorad Dodik said at the commemoration marking the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Vučji Do in Montenegro.

Dodik pointed out that Serbs are still fighting today to preserve national freedom and independence, because they are not allowed to unite in a single state. "Republika Srpska is here, together with Serbia, together with our people, wherever they may be. We are one national and spiritual space, and no one can take that away from us. We want to integrate as much as possible; we want the same rights that others have, nothing more than that," Dodik stressed. He said that being a Serb in the Balkans means living through a history and a time in which they are denied national unity and prevented from uniting into a state that would be the largest and most powerful country on the Balkan Peninsula. Dodik noted that the Serbian Orthodox Church is the only guarantor of Serbs' national consciousness, bringing the people together throughout the centuries while preserving their culture, faith and Slava /patron saint's day/. "We must be wise, we must preserve peace and stability. Let us gather around our Church, continue on the path of freedom, the path of national awakening, arm ourselves with will, desire and faith, and then with the character that will enable us to live our freedom regardless of the system we live in," Dodik said.