BUDIMIR: OPERATION STORM LARGEST ETHNIC CLEANSING OF SERBS

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 3 /SRNA/ – The criminal Croatian military Operation Storm was an act of aggression against Republika Srpska Krajina and the largest ethnic cleansing of Serbs in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska Interior Minister Željko Budimir said.

Budimir stressed that, after the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbs from Lika, Kordun, Banija, Slavonia, and Srem suffered the greatest losses within the Serb people.

"Republika Srpska Krajina is a stark warning about the misguided Serb policies of those years and the divisions that occurred," Budimir told the press in Banja Luka ahead of a commemorative gathering marking the 31st anniversary of the exodus of Serbs from Republika Srpska Krajina during the criminal Croatian military Operation Storm.

He emphasized that the policy of the Serb people must be one of unified action to protect Serbs wherever they live.

Budimir recalled that, through amendments to legislation concerning veterans' rights, the Republika Srpska Government had, for the first time, addressed the status of veterans of the Republika Srpska Krajina Army.

"Unfortunately, in my opinion, not enough Serbs from Republika Srpska Krajina remained in Republika Srpska, as they dispersed around the world. I, too, was a child in the refugee convoy when the Croatian Army carried out aggression against BiH, namely Republika Srpska and the municipalities of Western Krajina," Budimir said.

The commemorative gathering, titled "Never Forget – The Blue Headscarf," was organised by the Veritas Documentation and Information Centre.

The ceiminal Operation Storm began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian Army and police, along with units of the Croatian Defence Council /HVO/, in the regions of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and northern Dalmatia. During the operation, more than 220,000 Krajina Serbs were expelled from their ancestral homes.

According to the updated records of Veritas, the names of 1,904 Serbs who were killed or went missing during and after the operation have been documented, including 1,250 civilians, about three-quarters of whom were over the age of 60.

The victims also included ten children under the age of 14 and 566 women, around four-fifths of whom were over 60 years old.

In its February 2015 ruling, the International Court of Justice characterized Operation Storm as ethnic cleansing, but not genocide, although experts in the field around the world maintain that the operation possessed all the characteristics of genocide.