The President of the Republic of Srpska, Željka Cvijanović, has attended today in Gradiška the commemoration of the anniversary of the exodus of Serbs from Western Slavonia in 1995.
The President of the Republic of Srpska pointed out that the fate of the Serb population who had survived the exodus from the area of West Slavonian municipalities in the Croatian operation “Flash” was a warning to institutions of Srpska to uncompromisingly preserve the freedom for which the people had fought, and that the future we strive for must never be paved with oblivion.
The President Cvijanović reminded that at dawn on May 1, 1995, the aggression of Croatian military and paramilitary forces against the Serb people of Western Slavonia had begun.
“The area above this tame plain was soon filled with artillery projectiles that destroyed everything in front of them. Human lives, their property, houses, religious buildings, as well as all traces of the existence of the Serb people in this area”, said the President of the Republic.
The President of the Republic of Srpska noted that it had not been a classic military operation, nor a front-line battle of opposing armies.
“It was an attack on the territory under the protection of UN forces, a violation of all relevant international conventions and customs of war. It was a matter of brutal ethnic cleansing of the civilian population from its centuries-old hearths”, said the President Cvijanović.
According to the President of Srpska, those who were obliged to deter the aggressors and preserve peace in the area of Western Slavonia, silently watched the suffering, murders and exodus of people they were obliged to protect.
“More than 15,000 Serbs forcibly left the undefended territory in just 36 hours, and 283 people were killed or disappeared. In less than two days of the operation, more than a hundred civilians were killed, including 44 women and 12 children”, said the President of the Republic of Srpska.
The President of the Republic also noted that the fact that the largest number of civilians who had been killed during the bombing of refugee columns by Croatian forces spoke most vividly about the barbaric and genocidal character of the Operation “Flash”.
“It was not enough for the darkened minds to expel people. As five decades earlier, they carried out the death penalty on those whose only culprit was their religious and national affiliation. They tried hard, used many anti-civilization methods, but they did not succeed in that”, stressed the President Cvijanović.
The President of the Republic of Srpska stated that life always won in the end, and that the inscription on the monument dedicated to the victims would forever remind of the fact that “the ears of Western Slavonia are sprouting today in the fields and heights of the Republic of Srpska”.
“Many of those unfortunate people from the endless refugee column found their new home in the Republic of Srpska. The diligent Slavonians are our neighbors, fellow citizens, colleagues and friends today”, said the President of Srpska.
According to the President of the Republic, they are equal citizens of the Republic of Srpska, to whose development, together with others, is contributed every day.
“Their destiny is our warning to uncompromisingly protect the freedom we fought for, without denying it to anyone else. Their pain is part of our collective memory and that is why we will always gather to pay tribute to the victims. The future we strive for must never be paved with oblivion, but with memory and respect for the fallen compatriots”, said the President Cvijanović.
