Top Official Admits to Intended Ethnic Cleansing of Serbs

Republican Riot

Saying it, so you don’t have to.March 09th 2009 03:22:43 AM
Even Croatia Admits it Now: The Serbs Didn’t Start the War
Posted by Julia Gorin

Well not exactly Croatia, which isn’t capable of admitting anything, but a single Croatian voice — as usual. From De-Construct.net:

Tudjman’s Police Minister Admits Croatia Started the War by Attacking Serbs
Feb 13th, 2009 | By De-Construct.net | In Croatia, Former Yugoslavia, Interview

“According to Tudjman’s concept, Serbs had to disappear from Croatia”, Josip Boljkovac, Franjo Tudjman’s minister of police

Serbs and Yugoslavia were Under Attack, Not Croatia

In the exclusive interview, Franjo Tudjman’s Internal Affairs Minister Josip Boljkovac admitted Croat leadership carried out planned attacks on Croatia Serbs in 1991, in order to start a war. “Tudjman wanted the war at any cost, following the concept according to which Serbs must disappear from Croatia,” Boljkovac said.

Croat media censored reports from Boljkovac’s testimony at the trial against former Osijek mayor Branimir Glavaš, war criminal responsible for horrific crimes against the local Serbs, concealing parts of his testimony which charge Croatia with instigating the war.

“During the testimony, Glavaš accused me of persecuting him because he destroyed the bridge on river Drava in Osijek [Croatia]. He claimed he had destroyed the bridge to protect the town from JNA [Yugoslav National Army] tanks, and I responded that, at the time, JNA was a regular army of an internationally recognized state, while Croatia, which was not recognized, was part of Yugoslavia. Then I explained who started armed conflicts in that part of Slavonija,” Boljkovac told Frankfurt-based daily Vesti.

In a sensational interview published on February 12 and carried by the several media outlets in Serbia, Croatia’s war-time minister of police said it was the Serbs and Yugoslavia who were being attacked in 1991, and not Croatia.

“Back then, in 1991, Serbs and Yugoslavia were under attack, not Croatia. Gojko Šušak, Branimir Glavaš and Vice Vukojević launched antitank rockets on Borovo Selo in order to provoke a war. The bridge in Osijek was destroyed for the same reason,” Boljkovac said.

He explained Croat war-time leader Franjo Tudjman “wanted the war at any cost”:

“The war was not a necessity — it was an intention. According to Tudjman’s concept, Serbs had to disappear from Croatia,” Boljkovac stressed, adding he was against the war and didn’t allow Serbs who were serving in the police in Croatia to be fired which, in turn, made him a target for assassination by Croat [diaspora].
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Boljkovac Confirmed What Serbia has been Saying for the Past Two Decades

No one was particularly surprised in Serbia by Boljkovac’s admission that Croat leadership instigated a civil war by launching planned attacks against Serbs in Croatia and Yugoslav Army.

Vladislav Jovanović, Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991-1995, told Glas Javnosti Boljkovac’s statement about Croatia bearing the exclusive responsibility for the war is absolutely correct.

“[Boljkovac’s] testimony only further confirms what was known from day one and what Serbia has been pointing out for nearly two decades — that there was no ‘Serbian aggression’ against Croatia; instead, Croatia Serbs were forced to defend themselves. That is Boljkovac’s hindsight for the factual state of affairs. After the ‘Storm’ and ‘Lightning’ [ethnic cleansing operations], even Tudjman admitted the war was imperative for Croatia to secede, Jovanović reminded.
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Asked why Serbia stood by during the Krajina pogrom (Operation Storm, August 4-7, 1995), the single biggest act of ethnic cleansing during the civil wars in 1990s, when over 250,000 Serbs were expelled from Croatia, Jovanović said he believes late President Milošević was issued an ultimatum by [the] United States.

“The day before the attack on Krajina, Milošević was visited by an American ambassador in Zagreb [Croatian capital], Peter Galbraith. I did not attend the meeting, but I believe Galbraith had put a knife under Milošević’s throat, warning him against Serbia’s involvement. I’m sure a direct threat of bombardment of Serbia was also issued, in order to prevent any Serbian military reaction,” Jovanović said.

Mixture of Facts and Fiction

Former head of Counter-Intelligence Service [Kontra-obavestajna sluzba, KOS], general Aca Vasiljević [said]…”When he was in power, Boljkovac was a loyal and obedient servant, he was always eager to please….Tudjman had stated long time ago: ‘If we didn’t want the war, there wouldn’t have been any,’ while Boljkovac was a proponent of the idea of an independent Croatia at any cost already back in the 1970s…. In the 1990s, he participated in the war, surrounded by the extremists, people who came from the terrorist wing of Ustasha organization, like Gojko Šušak,” Vasiljević said.

Živadin Jovanović, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s last foreign affairs minister, said it was good there is at least someone in Croatia who speaks “partial truth.”

“It is absolutely correct that was a civil war and there is no basis for charges of ‘aggression on Croatia’. I don’t know Boljkovac personally, but this wouldn’t be the first time former government members become wise after the fact. Hindsight wisdom is a trait of impaired politicians, even though it can be useful to historians….[T]he essential fact [is] that Croatia’s strategy was secession, separatism and, as such, it enjoyed support of Germany, Austria, Hungary and Vatican,” Živadin Jovanović said.