Ambassador Janković: “Storm” is a crime that must not be forgotten

He pointed out that the Serbs who suffered and were expelled from Croatia have been unjustly neglected by the international community, while neither many survivors nor their descendants have the opportunity or conditions to return to their homelands where they have lived for centuries. The magnitude of the crimes committed before, during and after Operation Storm is also evidenced by demographic indicators: according to the 1991 census, more than 580,000 Serbs lived in Croatia (over 12% of the country's population), while in 2021 only around 124,000 (3.2%) remained.

Recalling that the Operation Storm, as well as the mass murders of Serbs, are still glorified and celebrated in Croatia as the victory and liberation day, with the general jubilation that is often accompanied with the Ustaše iconography and honouring of the war criminals of the former fascist Independent State of Croatia, as evidenced by the recent concert of Marko Perković Thompson in Zagreb, Ambassador Janković stated that this is truly incomprehensible and unacceptable, noting that any presence at such events practically means the participation at the celebrations of a brutally carried out ethnic cleansing and war crime.

He particularly emphasized that unlike Croatia, which glorifies Operation Storm and celebrates its anniversary as a victory day, Serbia marks it as a Day of Remembrance for the suffering and persecution of Serbs. He also  reiterated that by choosing the path of reconciliation and cooperation with everyone in the region, Serbia reserves the right to remember and the right to fight against the oblivion of Serb victims and against the jubilations over their graves, concluding therefore that operation „Storm“ is a crime that must not be forgotten.

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