Serbia

Serbia,officially theRepublic of Serbia(Serbian: Република Србија /Republika Srbija), is a landlocked country inSoutheast Europe,covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of theBalkans.Its capital isBelgrade.It is bordered byHungaryto the north,Romaniato the northeast,Bulgariato the southeast,North Macedoniato the south,CroatiaandBosnia and Herzegovinato the west,Kosovoto the south, andMontenegroto the southwest. It continues to claim Kosovo. Serbia’s current head of state is PresidentAleksandar Vučić,and its current head of government is Prime MinisterAna Brnabić.

Quotes

Serbia are a world-class team but inDavis Cuptennisthe crowd are such an important factor.
- Jeremy Bates "Jeremy Bates - Serbia are a world-class team but in Davis Cup tennis the crowd are such an important factor."

I think that Serbia is not a country in which it is important whatnationalityyou are and where you come from.
- Ana Brnabić,as quoted in"Red Star Belgrade Face Punishment for Anti-Muslim Banner"(31 January 2018), by Maja Zivanovic,Balkan Insight

In the late nineteenth century other peoples sought to follow theItalianandGermanexample. Some - notably theIrishand thePoles,to say nothing ofBengalisand otherIndians- saw nationhood as an alternative to subjugation by unsympatheticempires.A few, like the Czechs, were content to pursue greater autonomy within an existing imperial structure, keeping hold of the Habsburg nurse for fear of meeting something worse. The situation of the Serbs was different. At theCongress of Berlin(1878), along with theMontenegrins,they had recovered their independence fromOttoman rule.By 1900 their ambitions were to follow thePiedmonteseandPrussian examplesby expanding in the name ofSouth Slav(Yugoslav) national unity. But how were they to achieve this? One obvious possibility was through war, the Italian and German method. But the odds against Serbia were steep. It was one thing to win a war against the crumblingOttoman Empire(as happened when Serbia joined forces with Montenegro,BulgariaandGreecein 1912) or against rivalBalkanstates (when the confederates quarrelled over the spoils of victory the following year). It was an altogether bigger challenge to take onAustria-Hungary,which was not only a more formidable military opponent, but also happened to be the principal market for Serbia's exports.
- Niall Ferguson,The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West(2006), pp. 75-76

TheGreekand Serb peoples will remain united until Doomsday.
- Vojislav Koštunica,What is Serbian-Greek Friendship?(3 December 2000)

It should be clear to all, after the past ten years, thatNATOisn't attacking Serbia because ofMilošević;it is attacking Milošević because of Serbia.
- Slobodan Milošević,The Subversion Of A Socialist State, By Edward W. Miller, April 2001

Kosovois not a part of Serbia. It is the very heart of Serbia.
- Slobodan Milošević,Dusko Doder and Louise Branson Milosevic: Portrait of a Tyrant (1999).

In the past quite difficult years,Greeceand itscitizenshave proved their original motives and their belief in the expression that 'you will know who your friends are, when you need them'. Huge amounts ofhumanitarian aidcoming from Greece toSerbia and Montenegro,innumerous efforts to collect funds for rebuilding our country,hospitalityextended to our children – mainly children ofrefugees– for a short or a long period of time inGreekfamilies,all this is just a token of the Greek moves of true friendship and solidarity that we will never forget. Even today, as we speak, Greece realizes, being a true friend of ours, our goals and priorities and is helping us to achieve them. [...] The strong, historic and friendly relation between Serbia-Montenegro and Greece constitutes the most important foundation to improve any form of cooperation in the field ofpolitics,economy,culture,sportsoreducation...
- Svetozar Marović,Interview with the President of Serbia-Montenegro Mr. Svetozar MarovicNovember-December 2006

TheGreekand theSerb peopleare united like a fist.
- Vladislav Jovanović,1994

Greece and Serbia are two countries linked by ancient and inextricable bonds. Our relationship is lost in the depths of time. Serbian culture and religion were greatly influenced by our common roots in the great civilisation ofByzantium.
- Dimitrios K. KatsoudasSecretary General for European Affairs, 3 May 2007[ mfa.gr/ mfa.gr/Articles/el-GR/03052007_1526_alp.htm] Serbia on the Road to Europe; Problems and Perspective

Why four great powers should fight over Serbia no fellow can understand.
- John Burns,John Burns quotes

In Serbia a lot of people hate me because they want to westernise, not understanding that the western world is bipolar, with very good things and very bad things. Since they don't have experience of the west, they even believe that a western pile of shit is actually pie.
- Emir Kusturica,as quoted inThe Guardian(4 March 2005)

The Serbs are our true friends [...]
- Constantine Mitsotakis
Setting his goal as the creation of a ‘Greater Serbia’,Miloševićdeployed theYugoslav National Army(JNA) — then the fourth largest army inEurope— against would-be secessionist republics. Meanwhile,Serbseparatist forces within suchrepublicswere encouraged to rise up. Lacking a large Serb population,Sloveniawas allowed by Milosevic, after a ‘ten-day war’, to go its own way after declaring independence in June 1991. Not so withCroatiaandBosnia-Herzegovina:he was determined that their sizeable Serb minority populations would remain withinYugoslavia.Milosevic loyalists helped carve out Serb autonomous enclaves in each: first Milan Babic in the Serb-dominated Krajina region of Croatia, and then GeneralRatko Mladićand thepsychiatrist-turned-demagogueRadovan Karadžić,within Bosnia. Paramilitary gangs bearing outlandish names — Arkan’s Tigers, the White Eagles, the Chetniks — rampaged through Serb-run Croatia and Bosnia, bringing death and destruction wherever they went. In the process they endowed the lexicon of conflict with a new term,ethnicko cis cenje terena— literally the ‘ethnic cleansing of the earth’, or simplyethnic cleansing.
- Simon Sebag Montefiore,Monsters: History's Most Evil Men and Women(2009), pp. 361-362

As a Greek I swear eternal friendship with the Serb people.
- George Papandreou,in Belgrade (15 March 2003)

As Hellenic Nationalists, we express complete support with our Serb brothers, which was genuinely expressed in the past and we declare our solidarity in the common struggle for National Dignity and Sovereignty. Kosovo is Serbia!
- Golden Dawn Statement [posted on the Serbian Consulate in Thessaloniki], 1 March 2008, ThessalonikiQuotations from various Greek and Serb leaders attesting to the close ties between the peoples.

It is very important to send a new signal ofconfidenceandhopethat this (Montenegro,Serbia,Albania,North Macedonia,Bosnia and HerzegovinaandKosovo) accession (into theEuropean Union) process is wanted by the EU (European Union) with great seriousness, and that it also has a realistic chance if everyone makes an effort.
- Olaf Scholz,cited in: "Scholz backs giving chance to Western Balkans on EU membership"inAljazeera,10 June 2022.

In general, I am an opponent ofPan-Slavism.I do not think that we should be doing anything either in theBalkansor with theSlavs.But the West has now tipped the balance very heavily against Serbia, as if she is to blame for everything. But it's not theSerbsorCroatsorBosnianswho are guilty. InYugoslaviathe problems began for the same reason as in theU.S.S.R.Thecommunists--they hadTito,we hadLeninandStalin--charted out arbitrary, ethnically nonsensical and historically unjustifiable internal administrative boundaries, and for years moved inhabitants from one region to another. And when--also in the period of a few days--Yugoslavia began to fall apart, the leading powers of the West, with inexplicable haste and irresponsibility, rushed to recognize these states within their artificial borders. Therefore, forthe exhausting, bloody warwhich is today convulsing the unfortunate peoples of the former Yugoslavia, the leaders of theWestern powersmust share the blame with Tito..
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,Interview With Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on the New Russia and Ukraine (May 1994),by Paul Klebnikov, in the (9 May 1994), issue ofForbesmagazine
I am among friends. And this friendship of ours [between Greeks and Serbs] has been proved in practice. And we shall do this in the future as well with words and with deeds.
- Konstantinos Stephanopoulos,October 2003

We have more in common than differences. The Greek people stood by our side more than any other nation. Up there we do not say the Greeks, we say our brothers. Whatever happens here – let's hope the time will never come – they will be by your side in no time. They are yours. You have won their brotherhood. They are so proud for my Greek origin both mine and my husband's. For the fact that he chose a Greek woman too, like his grandfather did.
- HRH CrownPrincess Katherine,18 December 2004

I believe in Serbia that moves forward - towards theEuropean Union.There will be no going back for Serbia, only forwards.
- Boris Tadić,at the presidential inauguration ceremony.

Serbia is on itsEuropeanpath, but Serbia has to live, and has friends in theU.S.but it also has friends and it is not ashamed of them inMoscowand inBeijing.
- Aleksandar Vučić,as quoted in"Serbia's Vucic plays down hopes for quick political deal with Kosovo"(22 September 2020),Reuters

We don't have children to throw away, we have to protect Serbia. If only we hadn't participated in all thewarsof the20th century,we would be bigger than theNetherlands.We have to try to preserve peace, but not give away what is ours.
- Aleksandar Vučić,as quoted in"Vučić at 14th anniversary of the SNS: 'Serbia is stronger. Surrender isn't an option.'"(21 October 2022),B92

Rumania,Serbia, andMontenegroshould be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the severalBalkanstates to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines ofallegianceandnationality;and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into.
- Woodrow Wilson,14 Points, 1918