Ambassador Đurić: President Vučić turned on the lights in the UNSC

09. Jun 2021.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the United States of America, Marko Đurić, assessed today that President Aleksandar Vučić "turned on the lights" in his address to the UN Security Council, presenting irrefutable facts about the way in which the international judiciary prosecuted war crimes committed in the area of former Yugoslavia.

"Yesterday, President Vučić literally turned on the lights in the UNSC, presenting a whole constellation of facts, i.e. figures referring to 1,138 years of imprisonment to which Serbian political and military leaders were sentenced, while at the same time none of the Croatian, Muslim, Albanian leaders and commanders have been convicted of any crimes against Serbs, the facts that refer to the selective approach and the attitude of this Residual Mechanism towards the convicts", Đurić said for TV Prva.

Ambassador Đurić said that Serbia is looking everyone directly in the eye today, because it speaks openly about the bad things that happened, that President Vučić clearly and unequivocally condemned the crimes committed in our name, and that Serbia does not allow to be trampled.

"Today, Serbia is a country that speaks of its history with a lot of self-confidence, driven by economic and political development. It is extremely important, regardless of the fact that there were a lot of voices that wanted to stigmatize not only Serbia but the entire Serbian people by sticking labels, that the history will remember that Serbia did not bow its head yesterday", said Đurić.

According to him, the figures, statistics, data presented by President Vučić speak of the not-so-great performance of the Residual Mechanism, but also of Serbia's cooperation with it and Serbia's desire for normal relations in the region, which speaks louder than anyone's hatred.

Đurić also emphasized the importance of the fact that Serbia was represented at yesterday's UNSC session by President Vučić, unlike in some previous years, when Serbia was both stigmatized and attacked, and its leaders at the time hid and did not want to expose themselves to potential criticism of the international political public.

"They did not want to expose themselves personally to pressure, but they chose not to go to such meetings, to send officials, of the lowest level, to hide wherever they could", Đurić reminded.

"Whenever there was an important historical moment, President Vučić went to such events. He insisted not to hide, but to appear there, to tell everyone in person what the facts are, because Serbia has nothing to hide. Here in Washington, or in Moscow or in Beijing, and anywhere else, we have the same policy, which is the policy of an upright Serbia, a policy of Serbia that cooperates with everyone, wants good relations with everyone, but also of Serbia that will not and does not accept to be quiet, to be the only one to blame for everything that happened in the area of the former Yugoslavia", said Đurić.

According to him, it is extremely important that the President sent the message that Serbia is a country that does not want to confront, that wants to cooperate, that has economic and political potential, and that it does not have the right to give up the fight for truth and to accept to be stigmatized.

"Our best answer will be our success, our friendship and our desire for a better life and cooperation with everyone. We will not allow attacks on us, we will not give up on Serbia", concluded Đurić.