Posted on 01/04/2003 9:38:15 PM PST by a_Turk
War crimes tribunal will hear secrets of support for Milosevic's ethnic cleansing.
It is what Hellenes have long feared: the shattering of a conspiracy of silence that has surrounded the role of Greek volunteers who proudly flew their flag at Srebrenica, after participating in Europe's worst massacre since the Second World War, when 7,000 men, women and children died.
Next week, as Greece settles into the presidency of the European Union, Milan Milutinovic, Serbia's recently retired president, will be brought before the war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Greek involvement in the atrocity, as well as other secrets Athens would prefer buried, could be revealed when the 60-year-old testifies.
No one, it is said, played such a pivotal role in the alliance between Athens and Belgrade during the Nineties Balkan conflicts. As Yugoslavia's ambassador to Greece, Milutinovic was Slobodan Milosevic's most trusted lieutenant. His links with Greece's political, religious and business elites were allegedly crucial to Serbia's secret economic infrastructure. They allowed the country to evade United Nations sanctions and, according to the International Criminal Tribunal, contributed considerably towards Milosevic's war machine.
When the diplomat was promoted to Foreign Minister in 1994, he retained his Athens post for several months when, EU diplomats say, he stashed away funds to buy villas and other prime properties in Athens and Crete at the behest of his boss.
With Greece's admiring public, pro-Serbian church, tolerant media and governments that supported Milosevic, Athens was seen as a bolt-hole by the now disgraced president. As Bosnian Serb ethnic cleansers torched villages, it was here Milosevic would escape to enjoy the hospitality of Greek politicians. Marko Milosevic, his lascivious smuggler son, declared Greece 'my first home'.
'This is our best-kept secret, the subject no politician of any persuasion has ever wanted to broach,' said Takis Michas, author of Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milosevic's Serbia. 'In an era where everyone is saying sorry, in Greece at least no one has shown remorse for the crimes in Bosnia when undoubtedly a significant proportion of the political establishment bear some responsibility.'
The US-published book, yet to be printed in Greek, records in shocking detail the relationship between the two Orthodox nations, including the leaking of Nato military intelligence under socialist leader Andreas Papandreou.
The Greeks know their past may be catching up with them. After last month's long statement of contrition before the Hague tribunal by the former Bosnian Serb leader, Biljana Plavsic, many believe it is only a matter of time before others open up too.
A Dutch documentary investigating Greek complicity in the Serb wars was aired on local television in which a director of the semi-official Athens News Agency, Nikolas Voulelis, admitted to widespread censorship. During the wars the Greek media was fanatically pro-Serb, portraying Yugoslav Muslims as 'infidel Turks' bent on destroying their Orthodox brethren. 'Editorial interference was a given,' he said.
But it was not only hospitality or money that the Greeks offered. Spiritual succour was provided by the Greek Orthodox church which sent priests to the front line (several clerics received bravery medals from Plavsic).
In a step repeated in no other country, Archbishop Serafeim invited the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to visit Athens in 1993. At a mass rally attended by prominent politicians, the indicted war criminal proclaimed: 'We have only God and the Greeks on our side.'
Last year, in a 7,000-page report that the Dutch authorities commissioned into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Greece was revealed to have sent shipments of light arms and ammunition to the Bosnian Serb army between 1994 and 1995. The report describes how Greek volunteers were implored, in intercepted army telephone conversations, to raise the Greek flag after the town fell. In one, General Ratko Mladic asked that they record the scene on video for propaganda purposes.
Around 100 soldiers are believed to have joined the Greek Volunteer Guard, formed at Mladic's request. The unit, which fought alongside Russians and Ukrainians, was led by Serb officers and had its own insignia - the double-headed eagle of Byzantium. At least four of its members were awarded the White Eagle medal of honour by Karadzic.
Although their 'heroic' exploits were widely reported in the Greek press, the volunteers have gone to ground since the creation of the war crimes tribunal. No government or party has ever sought an inquiry into their activities.
Don't forget those nasty Armenians who slaughtered so many noble Turks. Greeks, Serbs, Armenians always commit genocide.
Fusion, do not overlook it - Turkish/Albanian forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles again.
That the editorial board and the "Third Way leftists" and their "Neo-Con" allies have a stake in the New World Order intervention in Bosnia represented is a given. The use of NATO power on behalf of the Muslims in the Balkans is something old fashioned Conservatives found not only disgusting but a violation of long standing principals. In fact, Kardassi the Republican majority Congress DENIED Clinton military authorization for the Kosovo air war being just one example.
The fact that you support NATO intervention in the Balkans (if indeed that is your position) puts you in a minority on this forum. This has nothing to do with being anti-Turk in any way. Turkey is a valuable ally for the West and has been for 50+ years. That does not mean I excuse Turkey because she is an ally. If my valuable business partner was beating on his wife at home for example I would not ignore it nor would I ignore an allies failings and the reverse applies to Turkey. Turkey has every right and responsibility not to be brow beaten into policies it does not like and to tell America when she is acting improperly. Unless the US is an empire now truly and we impose our will on our allies rather than convince them.
I oppose what NATO did in the Balkans for many reason, traditional non intervention in foreign conflicts not affecting the national security of the USA, the belief in sovereignty that applies to the USA and other nations equally if they do not violate the first principle I mentioned, and finally regardless of the fact all the above were violated supporting independence movements based on Islamic identity has proven a fundamental threat to the security of Americans and of Christians and Jews and non Muslims in general.
My posts I believe indicate just such a thing.
PS: What were US Army patch wearing Muslim headhunters doing in the UN's so called safe haven? Why was it up to just Greeks, Russians and Serbs to fight al-Qaeda allied/supplied and trained Muslims in the Balkans and not NATO before 9/11? That is where the shame, and I think criminal behavior exists, in the collusion with forces like al-Qaeda in the Balkans by NATO statesmen during the Clinton years.
PPS: Safe haven's unlike demilitarized areas like the concept of an open city are not a principal of international war or the Geneva conventions so the Serbs violated no laws in attacking the enclave from which armed Muslims were using to launch attacks. In fact they were justified in doing so on military grounds.
PPPS: What shame does Turkey feel in the support it gave the Chechens? Chechen fighters are a bigger threat to my existance and to yours than Serbs trying not to live under al-Qaeda sympathizing Muslims.
No shame - that is right! They have killed Muslim Turks to liberate themselves from the slavery of Muslims. In fact, the West has a lot to learn from the brutality Greeks and other Orthodox (including the brother Serbs) have endured. Greece - as much as I disagree with its leftist leanings as of late - wisely stayed out of Clintoon's War against the Serbs.
Back to the Muslim Turks: Muslims have no business in Europe period! Turks should stay where they are or better yet go back to the Mongolian plains from whence they emerged. Turkey like the Soviet Union is an artificial state built on the blood and bones of the millions of Christians martyred by Muslims.
And to any Islam-o-fascists a 7.62MM.
Under GWB's leadership virtually the entire KLA officer has been rounded up and chucked in prison.
Seems GWB thinks Milosevic was right
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