Tomašević: History of Serbian Golgotha in Croatia

On this day, 4 August 1995, the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, in cooperation with the forces of the Croatian Defence Council and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, carried out an aggression against northern Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun and Banija, i.e., the Serbian Autonomous Region of Krajina, in composition of the then Republic of Serbian Krajina. The aggression was carried out despite the fact that the area was under the protection of the United Nations and that the representatives of the Republic of Serbian Krajina accepted the proposal of the International Community on a peaceful solution to the conflict in Geneva and Belgrade the day before.

About 200,000 soldiers were engaged against the Krajina Serbs (about 230,000 inhabitants), of whom 138,500 members of the Croatian army, police and defence council took part in the action. After a few days of Golgotha, which many did not survive, the Serbian people from the western Krajina, more than 220,000 of them, started moving to the east, in the direction of the Republic of Srpska and Serbia.

The anniversary of "Storm", which is celebrated in Croatia as a great holiday, the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska mark as the Remembrance Day of the victims and expelled Serbs in the armed operation "Storm". The suffering and exiled Serbs have been unjustly neglected by the International Community, while neither the survivors nor their descendants have had the opportunity and conditions to return to their homelands where they have lived for centuries.

Currently, 1,852 people are on the list of dead and missing Serbs in the "Storm" ethnic cleansing operation, of which 1,200 are civilians, 641 are soldiers and 11 are police officers. Among them, from the area of ​​Banija, Lika, Kordun, Northern Dalmatia, inner Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are nine minor children and almost 50 percent of the total number of people are older than 60. The material damage caused by the "Storm" is incalculable. 25,000 houses, 13,000 other buildings, 352 shops, 410 shops, 78 churches, 96 museums, 181 cemeteries, 920 monuments, 52 health centres and all industrial plants were destroyed.

According to the 1991 census, there were 581,663 Serbs living in the Republic of Croatia (12.2% of the total population), while the 2011 census showed that there were 186,633 Serbs in Croatia (4.36% of the total population). After the mass exodus of the Serbian people, the number of the Serbian people dropped by two thirds.

Today, almost no one in Europe and the world talks about the genocide of the Serbian people on the territory of the Nazi puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia during the Second World War, and the events in Jasenovac, one of the most monstrous concentration camps, have been systematically suppressed. Crimes against the Serbian people at the end of the 20th century cannot be viewed outside the context of crimes and genocide from the period of the Second World War. Serbia wants peace, but does not agree to silence, humiliation and falsifying history. Serbia has never asked for the recognition of genocide, but it will always ask for reverence for Serbian victims and that no one makes celebrations over the graves of Serbs. Serbs, both in Serbia and those in Srpska and Croatia or wherever they may be, will never celebrate the tragedy of the Serbian people, the killing of Serbian civilians and children, which is not logical for any civilized nation or individual to do. Today, Serbia is sending a strong message that there will never be a "Storm" or a similar operation against the Serbian people again, because Serbia will not allow that. Serbia does not boast with its strength, but it is strong enough to never allow a pogrom against its people again. We should be reminded that "Storm" is one of the biggest crimes of ethnic cleansing in the world after the Second World War, with more than 220,000 expelled, and that today there are streets in Croatia, in which Ustasha "values" and heritage are still widely celebrated, named after Mile Budak – creator of the concept that the Serbian issue in Croatia should be solved by killing a third, baptizing a third and expelling a third of Serbs.

Serbia will never call for new conflicts, because it wants to develop in cooperation with everyone in the region, but it is obliged to remember and not be silent. Peace is the most important thing for the Serbian people, and that is why Serbia is doing everything not to respond to numerous and frequent provocations from the region. In that sense, the vital interest of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska is to be an active part of the international community. There is less and less justice in international relations, while hypocrisy is becoming a basic principle, so the criminal aspect of "Storm" is systematically neglected by the international public. No one from the Croatian military and political leadership was held accountable before the Hague Tribunal for the expulsion of almost a quarter of a million Serbs (operations "Flash" and "Storm" together) and the killing of a large number of civilians and prisoners. In the Hague indictment against Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Čermak and Mladen Markač, "Storm" was characterized as a joint criminal enterprise aimed at permanently and forcibly expelling most Serbs from the former Republic of Serbian Krajina. However, none of them was convicted and all three were released. Having in mind the above, the presence of representatives of the international community and the diplomatic corps at the Croatian "celebrations" of the anniversary of operation "Storm" is incomprehensible, because those present actually participate in the celebration of the anniversary of ethnic cleansing. Unfortunately, Serbs who remained in Croatia are still often treated as beings of a lower order, deprived of their rights to language, culture, economic progress and a dignified life. There are cases of hate speech, historical revisionism, discrimination against the Serbian people, and physical violence and property damage that directly affect economic sustainability, especially in returnee environments, which in practice continuously contributes to the threat to the right to freedom of expression. Serbs face unfulfilled acquired rights (to residence, housing, foreign currency savings, pensions, property), economic unsustainability, infrastructure where they predominantly live, as well as employment discrimination and obstructions in the exercise of the right to official use of language and script, particularly in environments where the largest number of Serbs is present.