The Serb member and Chairwoman of the BiH Presidency, Željka Cvijanović, visited Serbfest in the city of North Port in southwest Florida, organized by the Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church. It lasted three days, starting on Friday, 3 February.

Cvijanović said that it was always nice to see Serbs who were far from their homeland, but with it in their hearts, preserving their traditions, culture and customs, and that wherever the Serbian people lived, the Republic of Srpska lived also.

‘What made me particularly happy was that each our compatriot I had the opportunity to talk to in Florida said that we should all protect the Republic of Srpska together’, said Cvijanović.

She recalled that in her previous offices – those of the Prime Minister of the Government of Srpska, the President of the Republic, and now as the Serb member of the BiH Presidency – she always took the opportunity of every working visit to meet with the Serb community abroad. She also emphasized that the Church was an important pillar of the identity of the Serbian people.

‘Through the Church, we establish contacts with our community and together we try to send good messages, and such is also this message that no matter where our people live, they are part of the Republic of Srpska, our national corps, who preserve their faith, tradition, culture, thus working together with the Church on identity preservation’, added Cvijanović.

Cvijanović said that the authorities in the Republic of Srpska would protect the Republic, which would be peaceful, stable, open to anyone wishing to live in it, while never forgetting who the Serbs living outside the Republic of Srpska were, and that it was the obligation of the institutions of the Republic of Srpska to care for both the people in Srpska and those living outside of it.

‘Thank you to all those who fought for freedom and to all our compatriots who represent the heart of the Republic of Srpska. I came here to tell you that as our heart beats for all our people living in Srpska, it beats equally for all our people living outside the Republic and loving their Srpska and knowing how important it is that it be peaceful and stable’, Cvijanović added.

She thanked folk dance clubs that preserved and nurtured the tradition, as well as the clergy, who, according to her, were the pillar of gathering, and for the hospitality.

‘Keep with your church. Be all together, take care also for the future’, said Cvijanović.

She pointed out that she was glad that Serb children in this US city spoke Serbian, adding that it meant that Serbs living in the USA nurtured all that was important in their families.

‘To know who we are, what we are, where we are from and what we want to be in the future. Be good citizens of the country you live in, but always carry the Republic of Srpska in your heart and never forget that its heart also beats for each our compatriot’, said Cvijanović.

On the occasion of the visit of the Serb member and Chairwoman of the BiH Presidency, Željka Cvijanović, publicist Nenad Cvjetković, originally from Vozuća, said that ‘the heart grows as big as Ozren mountain’ when a true representative of the Serbian people comes to visit a foreign country.

– In conversations with her people, Cvijanović, the former president of the Republic of Srpska, and now member of the BiH Presidency, could most frequently hear the phrase ‘Protect Srpska for us!’.

The Head of the Republic of Srpska Representative Office in the USA, Obrad Kesić, and BiH Ambassador to the USA, Bojan Vujić, also visited Serbfest.

Source: RTRS-Nezavisne novine-Srna

Photo: RTRS