The director of the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region attended the celebration of St. Stephen, the Slava of the Republic of Srpska, in Chicago together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, and other members of Serbian delegation.

The Association of Serbs from the Republic of Srpska in that American city organized the celebration of St. Stephen in the church hall of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Chicago.

‘I encountered the Republic of Srpska in 2010, when, after several years of searching, I found a job as an engineer among Serbs in Zvornik, in order to get to know them better and to improve the work of my humanitarian organization in Kosmet. It was then that I realized that it was not just an entity as I had learned from the books, but something much larger. It is the foundation and refuge to all Serbs west of the Drina who have found peace and freedom in it,’ Gouillon said.

He pointed out that because of the heroism and sacrifice of its sons, the Republic of Srpska had been an island of peace for 30 years for Serbs, as well as for other peoples living there freely and equally.

‘Srpska is a place where people who were expelled from their homes could live normally,’ Gouillon said, adding that in Zvornik he also met Bosniaks who could return. However, he said that after becoming the director of the Directorate, when visiting Serb places in the Federation of BiH, he had the opportunity to see that Serbs there were struggling with big problems and discrimination, which was not the case in Zvornik.

If a Republic becomes a refuge for one people, enables members of other peoples to live in it, then that Republic deserves to exist. If attempts to demolish that Republic lead to unrest, destabilization, it should definitely persist and survive, it should live,’ Gouillon said, and added

Source and photo: Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region