FM Krivokapić's statement on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of NATO membership

President of the State,

President of the Parliament,

Prime Minister,

Your Excellencies,

Members of Parliament,

Ministers,

Former Prime Ministers,

Former Ministers,

Representatives of the Judiciary, public life, the media,

Dear friends,

Five years in the millennium long existence of Montenegro is just a moment in time, but still a confirmation of its historical victories on the right side of history.

Membership of NATO is a completion of a millennium long journey, and it all possibly began with an engraving on Oktoih where Montenegro is shown compressed between the Ottoman dragon and the Venetian lion. That is actually a picturesque designation of its past over many centuries.

Montenegro has always been on the crossroad of civilizations. This is where the Roman Empire was divided, as well as Christianity, this is where Islam and Christianity met. Montenegro permanently had to produce more history than others. Small ones apparently share the destiny of having to produce a lot of difficult history in order to gain the same level of freedom. Montenegro was worthy of those challenges. The smallest, yet it lasted. It used the fact that it lasted to become a place of encounter of different cultures.

Even its battles witness to this. From the battle of Tuđemil, after which the great Byzantine Empire said that it “did not want to get into those mountains again”. Painting of this great victory from 1042 adorns the National Library in Madrid.

Other great battles of this small army followed, beginning with Lješkopolje, then Carev Laz, Saint Peter’s victories in Martinići and Krusi, Grahovac, Vučiji do, … Heroic self-sacrificing battle of Mojkovac, the epic battles of Neretva and Sutjeska, all the way to the liberation of Belgrade. All these great victories to the glory of Montenegro’s freedom. When you are small, it is only the faith in justice and liberty that can sustain you.

Honorable guests,

As a rocky country, we were not able to create a large material fortune, but we created a grandiose idea of liberty. We had the honor to be the altar of freedom to the South Slavic nations. We lasted by virtue of having faith in freedom. With this faith, we gained the power to exist as a small community, and small as we were, we created the value of merging cultures.

All those victories and all the glory that came with them are worthy of Montenegro’s greatest victory. Through the code of honor and bravery shown in constant battles of the past centuries, it succeeded to plant the tree of multiethnic harmony in its tormented soil. During its existence, Montenegro managed to merge cultures, religions, nations, and all this owing to great leadership.

In the 19^th century, rulers from the Petrović royal family knew that they shouldn’t drive away those similar to themselves. They knew that they should keep the Quran as a ruling law for Muslims in Montenegro for the first 10 years. To leave Albanians their units and command for decades after gaining new territories, in order for them to honorably fight and last together in Montenegro’s liberation wars. This new Montenegro is also protected by the readiness to find value response for centuries to come, but in this century also, the challenge is the same - to create nations and societies of multiethnic harmony. That tree, planted in the past centuries, still bears the best fruit for Montenegro.

     Dear guests,

     NATO has also shown the ability to last in these 73 years. Symbolically, the Alliance chose as its symbol in the Mediterranean a winged Venetian lion with the sword and the shield.

     The shield says - Pax Tibi Marce Evangelista Meus - peace unto you, Mark, my Evangelist. Peace has come to Europe and has provided more than seven decades of the greatest prosperity and security for all members of the NATO Alliance. These nations do not have such a great and long prosperity in their history, as the one secured by NATO, under its shield.

     Not only with the shield, but also its sword, the lion ensured deterrence and sent a message to those who threaten the values that NATO defends. The best dissuasion to the enemies of peace is their realization that you are ready for an uncompromised battle for the preservation of peace and stability of your country.

      Ladies and gentlemen,

     The war happened when we didn't expect it. The aggression against Ukraine was committed. And this strange connection between Ukraine and Montenegro is a story that is clearer today.

     In Kiev, where Russia was born, Ukrainian Kiev was attacked. Where a foreign monarch was born in Cetinje, Montenegro was attacked. The way that Montenegro was abolished in 1918, an attempt was made to abolish Ukraine 100 days ago.  And so on, the destinies of Ukraine and Montenegro, the two Slavic nations, are intertwined with the same historical intentions of the closest ones. With the wrongdoings that do not do credit to the bigger ones than us, who should be better than Ukraine and Montenegro.

     For that reason there can be no reconciliation with those who are the aggressors in 1918 or 2022. With those who want the abolition and annexation of Ukraine, as Montenegro was annexed in 1918. There is no reconciliation with those who dishonor faith, yet claim great respect for it, and are actually unfaithful to their own country. With those who are quislings in 1918, 1941 and in our times. There is no reconciliation with them, not in NATO, and not in Montenegro. The values are what gives you the power to last over time, and we are now defending those values in Ukraine and everywhere within the Euro-Atlantic community.

     Dear friends,

     Montenegro cannot be described in numbers, but it brings to the Euro-Atlantic community the value of fusion between the East and the West, it brings the sophistication of the East, and the firmness of the rule of law of the West.

   The stamp on our independence, the membership of NATO, has been created in both Istanbul and Lisbon. That ability of the glory of our weapons to be the glory of achieving multiethnic harmony is something that these young men lined up to defend Montenegro should keep as their sacrament. As long as they believe in freedom and justice, Montenegro is invincible. There is only one Montenegro in all three of its state names - Doclea, Zeta and Montenegro, because there is only one desire for freedom of those who sacrificed their lives for Montenegro. May Montenegro be eternal. Glory to Ukraine.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro Ranko Krivokapić

In Podgorica, 6th of June 2022.