KARAN: OPERATION FLASH - WAR CRIME AND ETHNIC CLEANSING

GRADIŠKA, MAY 1 /SRNA/ – Opereation Flash was a war crime and the ethnic cleansing of the Serb people from Western Slavonia, thus the truth must be protected from revision, said Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan today.

Karan stated that with the fall of Western Slavonia, and later the Knin Krajina, a process that led to the total disappearance of the Serb population from the territory of Croatia was completed.

"We cannot avoid linking the suffering of the 1990s with what happened in the NDH, where genocide was committed against the Serb people, Jews, and Roma," Karan said in his address in Gradiška, where the 31st anniversary of the pogrom of Serbs in the Croatian operation Flash is being marked.

He added that there was a continuation of the idea of expelling Serbs and destroying their homes, noting that while this goal was achieved, those areas were left without spirit and life.

"That is why this crime became a Pyrrhic victory," Karan said.

He noted that operation Flash was only the final phase of the pogrom, preceded by the operations Otkos and Orkan, and that 100,000 expelled Serbs was the result of these three operations.

He emphasized that the truth about innocent victims must be preserved from oblivion and revision.

"Our duty is to build a strong and stable Republika Srpska as a guarantee of survival in these areas," Karan said.

He added that Gradiška today sends a message that the Serb people has not disappeared and will not disappear, that they have survived the most difficult times and emerged from them stronger and more determined to preserve their freedom and Republika Srpska.

Karan stressed that forgetting is the greatest ally of injustice, while truth is the only path to lasting peace and reconciliation.

"We are not gathered here today to spread hatred or deepen divisions, but to pay dignified tribute to the victims," Karan said.

He noted that Republika Srpska has become a new home for many expelled, where memories of their ancestral homes are preserved, and that it is an obligation to remember and testify so that such events never repeat.

"As every May 1, we are at a place that has a painful and deep meaning for the Serb people, remembering one of the most difficult days in modern history," Karan said.

He noted that during the war, the bridge in Gradiška was a boundary between the life left behind and the uncertainty ahead.

The address by the president of Republika Srpska ended the marking of the 31st anniversary of the Croatian operation Flash.

On May 1, 1995, Croatian armed forces carried out an offensive under the codename "Flash" against the Serb-controlled region of Western Slavonia, which was part of Republika Srpska Krajina, at a time when the area was under UN protection.

In this operation, within just 36 hours, 15,000 Serbs were expelled and at least 263 were killed, including 107 civilians, among whom were 12 children.