Nikolic: Serbian people understands tragedy of Armenians

YEREVAN/BELGRADE - The Serbian people understands the tragedy of the Armenian people, as it experienced something similar itself, Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic said in Yerevan on Friday at a commemoration honoring the victims of the crime that claimed lives of around 1.5 million people in the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago.

"If anyone can understand and feel the tragedy of biblical proportions that hit Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, as well as its lasting and irremediable consequences- Serbian citizens can, Serbia certainly can," Nikolic said.

He noted that in the Great War, Serbia had over 1.2 million victims, which means that it lost 28 percent of its population, and only a couple of decades later, another world war took place, "bringing another monstrous genocide."

This is why Serbia could not possibly allow itself to be absent from Yerevan at the time when the very term of 'genocide' is being manipulated with, in a way typical of insensitive politicking, Nikolic said.

He underscored that the Armenian victims of 1915 are a warning to the living, and that no one should forget them, especially now when, according to Pope Francis, a 'piecemeal' World War III may have already begun with the current spate of crimes, massacres and destruction.

NIKOLIC CONFERS WITH PUTIN, HOLLANDE

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic had separate meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande in Yerevan on Friday.

Nikolic and Hollande discussed Serbia's progress on the EU pathway.

They agreed that Serbia has taken significant and courageous steps to reform its system, adding that the country is approaching the EU full-fledged membership with much...