Tuesday, April 11., 2017
"Zashto (Why)?"
"Zashto (Why)?"
Serbia to Commemorate All Victims of 1999 NATO Bombings of Yugoslavia
Following the
initiative of Sputnik Serbia to erect a single universal monument
commemorating all the victims of 1999 NATO aggression of Yugoslavia,
more and more prominent politicians, scientists and well-known public
officials are voicing their support of the idea. Here are just a few of
them.
Almost
two decades ago, back in 1999, NATO launched an aggressive bombing
campaign on Yugoslavia. However until now, there has been no unifying
memorial dedicated to all the victims of the 78 days when NATO bombs
fell on Belgrade, then the capital of Yugoslavia and nowadays the
capital and largest city of Serbia.
It would be wrong to say that the city does not remember the victims.
There is a memorial to the victims of the bombing of the headquarters
of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), where 16 mostly-young people died,
asking the simple question: "Zashto (Why)?"
The country's leaders also lay a wreath every year at the monument
to the members of the Army of Yugoslavia and patients of Belgrade’s
“Dragiša Mišović” Clinic and Hospital killed in May 1999.
There is also a memorial tombstone to a three-year-old girl Milica
Rakic, who was killed by a NATO shell fragment when she was getting
ready to sleep.
"We were just children" reads the inscription on the tombstone.
On June 12, 2000, the first anniversary of the end of the NATO
bombing, the country's authorities unveiled the Eternal flame memorial
(Večna vatra in Serbian) to the military and civilian victims. However
the inscription on the monument contains quotes from the poems
by Serbian poet Branko Miljković and a list of countries that bombed
Yugoslavia.
There are also monuments in other Serbian cities however there is no unifying memorial with the names of all the victims of the NATO aggression. Besides, the exact number of those killed has not been officially released yet. The official data only says that the death toll stands at more than 2,000 people.
After Sputnik Serbia
came up with the initiative to erect a universal monument
to commemorate all the victims of 1999 NATO aggression of Yugoslavia,
more and more prominent politicians, scientists and well-known public
officials are voicing their support of the idea. Here are just a few
of them.
The idea has already been blessed by the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Irinej.
On Sunday, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić told Sputnik that the government has every intention to erect a monument of this kind.
"It
is our duty to those who had been cruelly killed, to their families,
to Serbia, against which this crime has been committed," said President
of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić.
It should be a monumental piece of art, commensurate with the country's pain, he said. Which will remind the whole peace-loving world about the horrific and disgraceful deed which led to the deaths of mainly civilians and the destruction of villages, cities and infrastructure.
At the same time, the politician said, it should serve as a warning that such a deep wound can never be forgotten and should never be repeated. Emir Kusturica meanwhile said that the monument should serve as a reminder that what happened to the Serbian people last century was a project aimed at their elimination. Aimed at turning the Serbian people from victims into criminals
©
AP Photo/ str
Serb
civilians and reporters walk around a residential area damaged during a
NATO attack on a neighboring army compound (300 kilometers south of
Belgrade), Wednesday, April 28, 1999.
memorial
to the victims of the bombing of the headquarters of Radio Television
of Serbia (RTS), where 16 mostly-young people died, asking the simple
question: "Zashto (Why)?"
Laying wreaths at the memorial to the victims killed in bombing of KBC "Dr Dragisa Misovic"
"We were just children" reads the inscription on the tombstone.
a memorial tombstone to a three-year-old girl Milica Rakic, who was
killed by a NATO shell fragment when she was getting ready to sleep.
There are also monuments in other Serbian cities however there is no unifying memorial with the names of all the victims of the NATO aggression. Besides, the exact number of those killed has not been officially released yet. The official data only says that the death toll stands at more than 2,000 people.
©
Sputnik/ Радоје Пантовић
On Sunday, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić told Sputnik that the government has every intention to erect a monument of this kind.
"Serbia will cherish all the commitments to the
innocent victims of aggression on our country. It is our duty and an
indication of our attitude towards our future. A disaster of this kind
should never happen again," he said.
Earlier President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolić, President of the
Republika Srpska, one of two constitutional and legal entities of Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician
Emir Kusturica, President of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Vladimir Kostic and Deputy Director of the Institute for the Protection
of Cultural Monuments Ivana Prodanovic Rankovic also voiced their
support for the idea.
©
Photo: Facebook/ Студенти за истину
"The international aggression on Serbia, which
by its intentions and enormity might well be labelled as terrorism, is a
crime without punishment in that part of the world which calls itself
civilized and which had united under the name of NATO," said Milorad
Dodik, President of the Republika Srpska.
"However if there is no punishment, we should support the idea of a
memorial in Belgrade, which would be a constant reminder of the innocent
victims and of the cruelty and inhumanity of NATO," he added.It should be a monumental piece of art, commensurate with the country's pain, he said. Which will remind the whole peace-loving world about the horrific and disgraceful deed which led to the deaths of mainly civilians and the destruction of villages, cities and infrastructure.
At the same time, the politician said, it should serve as a warning that such a deep wound can never be forgotten and should never be repeated. Emir Kusturica meanwhile said that the monument should serve as a reminder that what happened to the Serbian people last century was a project aimed at their elimination. Aimed at turning the Serbian people from victims into criminals
"As people who have survived the most horrific
sufferings in the last century, who were bombed by the allies four times
during the Second World War with the 1999 bombing an Apogee of all
that, we deserve a monument which will recall all these crimes
against us. We deserve it for the sake of future civilizations and
against the novel idea of bombing us to democracy," the filmmaker said.