Last night, on the plateau in front of the Krušedol Monastery in Fruška Gora was marked 24 years after the persecution of Serbs from Croatia in a criminal operation by the Croatian army and police “Storm”.
The Serb member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik has stressed on the importance of freedom for the Serb people in this region, which has suffered the most in the last century.
“Serbs are the most suffering people of the last century” Dodik said in front of the Krušedol Monastery at a central manifestation of the marking the Day of Remembrance of the Killed and the Expelled Serbs in the Croatian armed operation “Storm” carried out 24 years ago on Republic of Serbian Krajina.
He has noted that Serbs were expelled from their centuries-old homes from Croatia, but that they found refuge in Republika Srpska and Serbia.
Dodik has recalled that 24 years had passed since Croatia made the decision to expel the Serb people from the Republic of Serbian Krajina.
Dodik has said that without the logistical and all other support of the Western powers, Croatia would not have had the strength to carry out the horrific operation of proscription 250,000 Serbs from their centuries-old hearths.
He has added that in 1995, Croatia did so primarily with the support of America, the United Kingdom and Germany.
He has stressed that for the fifth time, Serbia and Republika Srpska commemorate together the Day of Remembrance for the victims of “Storm”, and expressed his appreciation to the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for initiating it.
“If Serbia forgets operation “Storm”, no one will talk about it”, Dodik said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has said at the national ceremony marking the Day of Remembrance of the Victims in Operation “Storm” that 25 years of this Croatian action will be celebrated on Square of the Republic in Belgrade.
Vučić has stressed that from this gathering the message of the Serb’s unity will be send, which is their strength for the future.
“The Serbs have left and it caused tremendous grief and sorrow in the heart of every single Serb. Is Croatia today happier, more successful or wealthier because of it? I have to disappoint you, all of you who glorify and rejoice in the tears of Serbia – the Serbs are not gone. Serbia hadn’t vanished”, said Vucic from Krusedol.
As he said, we can see proud people tonight, capable of defending their nation, of keeping their name, people who are baptized in the same church, who love their country and are proud of it, wherever they are.
The President said that this does not mean that we cannot respond more strongly as we surely can, but we choose not to, because we have become smarter and learned from our past experience.
“I am fed up with the lectures given by international and regional officials, advising us that we should not deal with this, that we should forget the destiny of the whole Krajina region, that it would be good to avoid meeting with Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic on a regular basis. Generally, we should take care of everything else, except taking care of the Serbian people”, President of Serbia pointed out.
He noted that only the Serbs accepted that some of their people had committed crimes and dealt with them, while all others worked on one thing only – how to blame the Serbs for everything.
He pointed out that the “Storm” happened to the Serbian people partly because the Serbs from Serbia, Republic of Srpska and Krajina lacked unity.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that this never happens to us again, that we maintain the best relations with Serb representatives wherever they live”, Vucic concluded.
He has thanked to the Serb Member of the BiH Presidency Milorad Dodik because six years ago they launched a different future of the Serbian people and Serbia and Srpska, which has changed the culture of memory.
Patriarch Irinej of Serbia has said on Sunday evening that Serbs were killed in Croatian military-police action “Storm” are new martyrs and that their suffering could be compared to the suffering of their compatriots in Jasenovac and other scaffolds in the Independent State of Croatia during World War II war.
“We expected condemnation from the Roman Catholic Church. We did not hear it, and its silence has strengthened those who were doing evil things and like that was uncondemned by this divine organization. The word was significant and if it was heard it would not happen what happened”, said the Patriarch Irinej, who served memorial service to the victims in the operation “Storm” at the National ceremony of the “Day of Remembrance” on the plateau of the Krušedol Monastery.
He has recalled that the suffering of the Serbs from Krajina was planned by the highest Croatian state leadership, whose goal was to completely cleanse that region from the Serbian people.
The marking the “Day of Remembrance” was jointly organized by Serbia and Republika Srpska.
During the operation named Storm by the Croatian army, wich began on August 4, 1995, 2000 Serbs disappeared or were killed, while 250.000 Serbs were forced to flee their ancestral homes.
The Operation Storm is the biggest ethnic cleansing after the Second World War, Europa has never seen a situation in which so many people were forced to flee their homes in such a short time (4 – 7 August 1995). For crimes against Serbs nobody has been prosecuted so far.
Source: srna/b92
