SUBOTICA - Fifty-five years ago, in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia and then-Yugoslavia, a corrida was held. The “fight” with bulls was announced as the first classical Spanish corrida ever organized outside Spain, which attracted great attention from the Yugoslav and the world public of the time.

The era of Francisco Franco was nearing its end, so the appearance of famous matadors in Belgrade, such as Luis Miguel Dominguín, Roberto Pilas, and Alfredo Conde, represented a kind of Spanish signal to the world that new times were coming.

At that time, Belgrade was experiencing economic growth and momentum, and film stars and artists gladly came to our capital, equally from the East and the West, as well as from non-aligned countries.

What the Belgrade corrida remained remembered for, however, was not the audience’s admiration for the bull-killing skill of the aforementioned Luis Miguel Dominguín – otherwise a favorite of the world jet set of the time, who had won the heart of Ava Gardner and socialized with Pablo Picasso – nor that of his no less skillful and famous colleagues, but rather the support and sympathy of the Belgrade audience for the sacrificed bulls.

Serbs simply rooted for the bulls being killed, instead of for the world-famous matadors.

We are a people with many virtues and some significant flaws, and one of our virtues is support and solidarity with those who defend themselves, especially when their position is ethically indisputable.

That virtue of the Serbian public stems from bitter historical experience.

The modern Serbian nation was created in the 19th century through the unequal struggle of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, which had kept our country under occupation for centuries, while all the key Western powers at the time supported the Ottoman Empire rather than our ancestors, because they saw in the restoration of Serbian statehood in the Balkans a political force with ambitions to pursue an independent rather than a vassal policy.

Such historical experience of the Serbs was additionally confirmed in the 20th century.

In both world wars, Serbs suffered millions of casualties while fighting in unequal conditions for their freedom and the unification of all South Slavs. Proportionally to population and territory size, Serbian losses were among the greatest in the world.

In the First World War, in battles against German, Austro-Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops, every third adult male was killed, along with many civilian victims, while in the Second World War hundreds of thousands of Serbs perished fighting in resistance movements and especially in the concentration camps of the so-called Independent State of Croatia, a quisling creation established by the will of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

This is where the strong Serbian support for peoples in Vietnam, and later in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and other countries that became victims of American aggression, originates.

This is also where Serbian sympathy for Iran’s determined resistance and Tehran’s struggle against American-Israeli aggression comes from, especially since the Serbs themselves were victims of aggression by the United States and NATO in 1999.

The attack by the American military, carried out on February 28 of this year against a primary school in Iran, in which more than 160 children, mostly girls, were killed, was perceived in Serbia as a reprise of the killing of children during American attacks on Serbia itself.
And not only that.
The American “pretext” for war against Iran was promptly exposed and correctly interpreted in Serbia.

While in our case they were supposedly “defending” the Albanian minority — simultaneously pushing it into terrorist attacks against our army and police, while through missile strikes and bombings causing its exodus into Albania — the Americans were in fact seeking the occupation of our territory and the establishment of their own military base, just as in your case they abused the issue of the Iranian nuclear program in an attempt to carry out regime change, gain control over the Strait of Hormuz, and establish control over your oil fields.

The same scenario had already been seen during the American intervention in Iraq, when Washington claimed it was defending the world from Saddam Hussein’s regime, which was allegedly “developing” biological weapons, as well as in other countries targeted by American attacks.

On the other hand, Iran honestly persists in positions of independence and respect for international law, refusing to recognize the false state of “Kosovo,” whose unlawful independence was proclaimed, with crucial assistance from the United States, on the territory of the southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija.

The Serbian people greatly respect such a position by Tehran.
What once confused and concerned the Serbian public somewhat, however, was Tehran’s somewhat unexpected support for the Srebrenica resolution submitted in the United Nations two years ago by Germany, as well as the earlier military support Iran provided to the government in Sarajevo against legitimate Serbian interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Orthodox Christian Serbs became acquainted with Islam through the aggression and crimes of the Turkish Ottoman occupation, rather than through the noble teachings written in the Quran.

The Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who live there together with the Serbs and who accepted Islam from the Turkish occupiers, today — precisely thanks to Western powers and not only poor historical legacy — are not friendly toward us, even though we share the same language and the same origin.

It is therefore no coincidence that Germany, responsible for the suffering of millions of Serbs in two world wars, and in whose ranks fought SS divisions composed of Bosnian Muslims, submitted the Srebrenica resolution at the United Nations.
To a significant extent, this was a matter of historical revenge against the Serbs and an attempt to continue implementing what we call the interests of the Collective West in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The crime of executing prisoners of war in Srebrenica, as well as other crimes that occurred, burdens the Serbian conscience, although we must not forget that numerous crimes were also committed against the Serbian side. But the heinous crime in Srebrenica was not genocide in the original, scientific meaning of that word, and this does not mean that, while shedding political crocodile tears, we should naively fall for the projects of Western powers whose goal is not understanding between Christians and Muslims in the world and in the Balkans, but the senseless continuation of their conflicts.

Let us hope that Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will find enough wisdom to overcome their misunderstandings, draw closer to one another, and take care of their own future, within which they are directed toward one another through common origin, family values, faith in God, and the same language.

Iran remains for Serbia one of the friendly countries and civilizations that Serbs have yet to truly get to know, but it is very important that in doing so we remain sincere and well-intentioned toward one another.

Finally, it should also be mentioned that Serbs, politically speaking, are not supporters of theocracy, but that they probably understand and feel better than anyone else in the world the reasons why the Islamic Revolution was carried out in your country.

(The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of the Tehran Times.)