ŽARKOVIĆ: NO ONE WAS HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR GENOCIDE AGAINST SERBS IN OPERATION STORM

BANJA LUKA, JULY 31 /SRNA/ - The president of the Association of Serbs Expelled from Western Slavonia Krsta Žarković believes that genocide was committed against the Serb people during Croatia’s military-police operation Storm in the Republic of Serbian Krajina in 1995, for which, even after three decades, no one has been held accountable.

"The clearest evidence of the planned genocide against Serbs is the meeting held by former Croatian President Franjo Tuđman with Croatia's military and political leadership on Brioni, before Operation Storm, where he gave the order: `expel, kill, and convert the Serbs,`" Žarković told SRNA. He noted that the genocide against Serbs in Croatia began as early as 1991, in the village of Kip in the Daruvar municipality, where paramilitary units under Tomislav Merčep raided the village, killing some residents, expelling others, and imprisoning some in Marino Selo. Žarković pointed out that the persecution of Serbs in Croatia continues even three decades after Operation Storm – through the glorification of the Ustaša movement and open calls for violence against Serbs, as evidenced at a recent concert by Marko Perković Thompson in Zagreb, making life increasingly difficult for those who remain. "Proof of this is also the Law on Cemeteries adopted by the Croatian Parliament, which reflects discrimination against Serbs, as names on Serbian graves are not allowed to be written in Cyrillic, especially for those who were killed in the last war," Žarković said. Žarković does not rule out the possibility that the international community might restore the political and cultural autonomy of Serbs in Croatia, if a new international conference on Balkan borders is convened. "Before the war, Serbs in Croatia were a constituent people and made up 12 percent of the population at the time. Today, they account for less than two percent, which clearly indicates that genocide and ethnic cleansing were committed, for which no one has ever been held accountable," Žarković emphasized. The criminal operation Storm began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian Army, police, and HVO units in the regions of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia. A day later, on August 5, the Croatian Army entered the almost deserted town of Knin and raised the Croatian flag, while convoys of refugees moved toward Serbia through Serb territories in BiH. According to the Documentation and Information Center Veritas, more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled during Operation Storm. The names of 1,893 Serbs killed or missing during and after the operation are recorded, 1,236 of whom were civilians - accounting for 65 percent - with approximately three-quarters of them over the age of 60. In its February 2015 ruling, the International Court of Justice classified Operation Storm as ethnic cleansing, but not as genocide, although global experts in the field claim that the operation had all the characteristics of genocide.