STRONG SERBIA AND SRPSKA GUARANTEE THAT OPERATION STORM WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN

BELGRADE, JULY 25 /SRNA/ – A strong and stable Serbia and the existence of Republika Srpska are guarantees that the Serbian people will not experience another exodus or any repetition of Operation Storm, Nikola Vukelić, State Secretary in the Serbian Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran, and Social Affairs, told SRNA.

Ahead of marking three decades since the ethnic cleansing and exodus of Serbs from Republika Srpska Krajina, Vukelić emphasized that it should not be forgotten that the land from which they were expelled had been theirs for centuries.

"This year we mark 30 years and send a message that Serbs remember the crime committed against part of our people in Republika Srpska Krajina, and that we will not forget it," said Vukelić.

He emphasized that the message is also that life has triumphed, and the Serbian people emerged from it as victors.

"We preserved the population because those people came to Serbia and to Srpska, which welcomed them. Serbs received protection and refuge, primarily in Serbia, but also in Srpska, which are guarantees that another Operation Storm will not happen to us," Vukelić stressed.

He said that some Serbs from Republika Srpska Krajina might have been able to stay in that "newly-formed NDH," but risking everything and leaving all their property behind, they set out into uncertainty.

"They went towards uncertainty, but also towards freedom, because a Serb wants to live free, not enslaved," Vukelić pointed out, noting that he himself left Croatia with his family at the beginning of the war as a child.

He added that he is glad that in recent years, thanks to the initiatives of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and the President of Srpska Milorad Dodik, important and tragic events from national history are commemorated in a dignified manner.

He called on citizens to gather in as great a number as possible this year to mark three decades since Operation Storm in order to pay tribute to the victims and remind everyone what can happen if the past and history are forgotten.

The criminal operation Storm began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian army and police, as well as HVO units, on the areas of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia.

The following day, August 5, Croatian forces entered Knin, which was almost deserted, and raised the Croatian flag, while convoys of refugees moved across Serb territories in BiH towards Serbia.

According to data from Veritas, during Operation Storm more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled, and there are records of 1,893 killed or missing Serbs during and after the operation, of whom 1,236 were civilians /65%/, and about three quarters were over 60 years old.

The International Court of Justice, in its ruling from February 2015, qualified Operation Storm as ethnic cleansing, but not genocide, although global experts in the field claim the operation had all the characteristics of genocide.