Nikolic: Let us do everything for progress of people

BELGRADE - Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic hosted a reception on February 15 to mark Statehood Day and said at the event that everybody in Serbia should be united and do all they can for the survival and progress of their people.

Strong winds that strive to break what is in their path are blowing today, like in the past, which is why unity and wisdom are needed, so Serbia could create new values through planned actions, he stated.

The Serbian people use this holiday to proudly remember the historic events that were crucial for the restoration of Serbia's statehood, but they also remember centuries of slavery during which they were able to preserve their national identity, language and cultural heritage.

During the Middle Ages, "when many did not exist," the Serbian people set themselves high goals and strove towards exalted ideals, he stressed.
They built cultural monuments and religious buildings and followed the European standards of that time until the Ottoman rule came and halted Serbia's cultural and material development.

The liberation and restoration process began on February 15 210 years ago, with the start of the First Serb Uprising against the Ottoman rule, he remarked, adding that many had not been aware that the uprising had started a Balkan revolution that would aolve the eastern issue based on a national and democratic principle.

It was a revolt of the underprivileged agaist the privileged that resulted in the awakening of the national consciousness and tranformed into a battle for freedom, he said.
"The Serbs won the Misar and Deligrad battles, and a charge of 12,000 rebels liberated Belgrade in 1806, which resulted in a status of a significant military factor that had to be taken...