Greek role in the Srebrenica massacre investigated

[Inquisitor]

http://www.independent.co.uk/img/newsite/furniture/new_indy_logo3.gif

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=650397

By Daniel Howden

29 June 2005

Greece has launched a judicial inquiry to discover the extent of its involvement in the Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War.

An Athens prosecutor announced a preliminary investigation to find what role Greek volunteers played in the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men, women and children in the UN enclave in Bosnia in 1995. With the 10th anniversary of the massacre on 11 July, and Bosnian Serb authorities admitting the extent of the massacre, any confirmed Greek involvement would embarrass Athens seriously.

Greece was a staunch ally of the Milosevic regime in the Yugoslav wars of succession in the 1990s but the presence of Greek paramilitaries fighting with Bosnian Serbs has not been fully investigated. The part played by the so-called Greek Volunteer Brigade in the assault on Srebrenica was widely reported in Greece at the time but veterans of the brigade have gone to ground since the formation of the war crimes tribunal that indicted the former Serb and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

Four members of the unit received medals of honour from the Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, within a month of Srebrenica's fall.

A report in 2002 by the Dutch government - whose own armed forces, in Srebrenica as UN peacekeepers, were heavily criticised for failing to protect civilians - describes how the unit raised the Greek flag in the town after the takeover.

It also cited video footage of the event and revealed that Greece sent arms shipments to the Bosnian Serb army in contravention of sanctions. The report detailed communications between the volunteer brigade and the Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic - now wanted for alleged war crimes - in which he urged them to raise the Greek flag over the conquered enclave. In an intercepted phone call, General Mladic is heard telling them to record the flag-raising for propaganda purposes.

The investigation could be a watershed for Greece, which despite belatedly distancing itself from Mr Milosivec, now on trial at The Hague, has done little to acknowledge its own support for the worst excesses of Serb nationalism in the 1990s. The Greek government has previously ignored calls for an investigation into the public recruitment of its citizens into paramilitary brigades to fight in the Yugoslav wars. In what appeared to be a pre-emptive admission, the Greek Justice Minister, Anastasios Papaligouras, told parliament last Friday that Greeks may have participated in the slaughter but said they were not members of the armed forces.

An article run at the time in the Greek daily Ethnos newspaper on the "heroic" exploits of the volunteers in Srebrenica, prompted an overwhelming response from enthusiastic readers wanting to sign up to fight.

Takis Michas, whose book Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milosevic's Serbia, lifted the veil of silence on the issue said many would be shocked at Greek complicity in Bosnia: "What seemed incomprehensible during the Bosnia and Kosovo wars was not so much that Greece sided with Milosevic, but that it sided with Serbia's darkest side."

[achilles]

Interesting article...quite catchy i would say especially after our last chit-chat ;)


Greece has launched a judicial inquiry to discover the extent of its involvement in the Srebrenica massacre, Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War.

Its important that Greece launched an investigation herself. I am positive that soon we will know what happened.

I suppose its simple. People tend to choose sides sometimes and i would never expect a Greek to side with the Bosnians/Albanians/Croatians. If i had to choose sides, I would fully support the Serbs myself full heartedtly. Needless to say, that i condemn all kinds of attrocities and i am convinced that if any Greek paramilitary was involved in the Srebrenica massacre, will be brought to justice and get punished accordingly.

[Inquisitor]

Interesting article...quite catchy i would say especially after our last chit-chat ;)

? :|

[Clearday-TRForce]

Inquisitor, ;)


interesting, but well-known article (scenario) for Turks.


Takis Michas, whose book Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milosevic's Serbia, lifted the veil of silence on the issue said many would be shocked at Greek complicity in Bosnia: "What seemed incomprehensible during the Bosnia and Kosovo wars was not so much that Greece sided with Milosevic, but that it sided with Serbia's darkest side."


Thanx to "The Independent - UK"

[Clearday-TRForce]

Needless to say, that i condemn all kinds of attrocities and i am convinced that if any Greek paramilitary was involved in the Srebrenica massacre, will be brought to justice and get punished accordingly.


and another good expression...

[achilles]

Interesting article...quite catchy i would say especially after our last chit-chat ;)

? :|

Is this what you are left with after reading my post? :lol:

Another small note...

On balance, Bosnia should be more happy for the fact that we facilitated the NATO campaign A LOT, through our ports and air bases, than feel outraged by any small scale paramilitary support that we provided to Milosevic...

[Inquisitor]

Is this what you are left with after reading my post? :lol:

ah...I didn't know I had not to post things were greeks are in bad light,even if that is about my Country...now I know...


On balance, Bosnia should be more happy for the fact that we facilitated the NATO campaign A LOT, through our ports and air bases, than feel outraged by any small scale paramilitary support that we provided to Milosevic...

lol you are a part of NATO,please now no BS if you were not already in the NATO agreenment,you would never do something like this...

but this point captured my attention...


small scale paramilitary support

wait...I remember someone saying numbers are not important :roll:

[achilles]

Oh gee, here we go again...



ah...I didn't know I had not to post things were greeks are in bad light,even if that is about my Country...now I know......
It can be annoying sometimes, when people do not understand what i am saying. Lets say that its the bad English that Greek schools are teaching us ;) My comment was implying that it was no coincidence that you posted this topic, right after the little disagreement we had. Thats all. Didnt i say myself that this thread was interesting in the first place?


lol you are a part of NATO,please now no BS if you were not already in the NATO agreenment,you would never do something like this...

Ah! What if? IF my grandmother had wheels she would be a Kawasaki Ninja. Stick to the facts and to what actually happened...Greece IS a NATO ally and Greece CONTRIBUTED to the NATO campaign that saved you. ;)



wait...I remember someone saying numbers are not important

wait...i just realized that you didnt understand at all the crux of my argument...shall we start doing circles again? ;)

[Inquisitor]

Oh gee, here we go again...

haha this is funny :D


It can be annoying sometimes, when people do not understand what i am saying. Lets say that its the bad English that Greek schools are teaching us My comment was implying that it was no coincidence that you posted this topic, right after the little disagreement we had. Thats all. Didnt i say myself that this thread was interesting in the first place?

lol it is not a coincidence?
actually as you can see the article is from today,so no,I did not search trough the net for something bad about greeks,it's just a news Ive found on the site I usually check everyday.


Ah! What if? IF my grandmother had wheels she would be a Kawasaki Ninja. Stick to the facts and to what actually happened...Greece IS a NATO ally and Greece CONTRIBUTED to the NATO campaign that saved you. ;)

...there was another man saying that IF we had the same serb army we'd have done the same they did to us...


wait...i just realized that you didnt understand at all the crux of my argument...shall we start doing circles again? ;)

probably I did not understand,I tought you were saying Bosnia should be more happy for the majority of things we did,than the bad we did,since the bad and the good we did can't be put on an equal scale.

[achilles]

actually as you can see the article is from today,so no,I did not search trough the net for something bad about greeks,it's just a news Ive found on the site I usually check everyday.

Well, allright whatever...



...there was another man saying that IF we had the same serb army we'd have done the same they did to us...

I knew you would say that, but see...i am more careful when saying something like that. I made clear that this was MY personal hypothetical assessment from which no safe inference could be drawn. I prompted you to take it for what it is...i.e. my own hypothesis ;) On the contrary, you were pretty certain on your 'what if' claim...see the difference?


probably I did not understand,I tought you were saying Bosnia should be more happy for the majority of things we did,than the bad we did,since the bad and the good we did can't be put on an equal scale.

My posts are all there...allow me to not want to repeat the same things over and over again...i spoke about the dual character of the conflict and explained it quite thoroughly...

[Inquisitor]

I knew you would say that, but see...i am more careful when saying something like that. I made clear that this was MY personal hypothetical assessment from which no safe inference could be drawn. I prompted you to take it for what it is...i.e. my own hypothesis ;) On the contrary, you were pretty certain on your 'what if' claim...see the difference?


?I told you too my personal POV,and no,I dont see the difference.You are sure of your statement,as I am sure of mine.


My posts are all there...allow me to not want to repeat the same things over and over again...i spoke about the dual character of the conflict and explained it quite thoroughly

Are we talking about the serbian-bosnian situation now :| ?

[achilles]

?I told you too my personal POV,and no,I dont see the difference.You are sure of your statement,as I am sure of mine.

Didnt i just explain that it was my personal hypothesis, and as a hypothesis, by definition, i cannot be sure? At the same time you are pretty convinced that Greece wouldnt have helped NATO if she werent an alliance member. Do you see the difference now or you suddenly retracted your comment? Or at least the certainty of your comment? ;)



Are we talking about the serbian-bosnian situation now :| ?

Hey, lets go grab a beer or two ;)

[Inquisitor]

Didnt i just explain that it was my personal hypothesis, and as a hypothesis, by definition, i cannot be sure? At the same time you are pretty convinced that Greece wouldnt have helped NATO if she werent an alliance member. Do you see the difference now or you suddenly retracted your comment? Or at least the certainty of your comment?

ah!you say I am "pretty" sure and I say I am sure.Now I see!:D


Hey, lets go grab a beer or two

heineken?

[achilles]

ah!you say I am "pretty" sure and I say I am sure.Now I see!:D

Nope, i was hypothezing and you were being aphoristic ;)




heineken?

I could use an ice-cold Heiny right now ;)

[Inquisitor]

Nope, i was hypothezing and you were being aphoristic ;)

...you want me to find in you rpost the word "sure"?



I could use an ice-cold Heiny right now ;)

make it 2 of them

[achilles]

...you want me to find in you rpost the word "sure"?

This is clearly up to you :lol: , dont forget to find the part where i made clear that that was my presonal hypothesis, which i made for the Albanians i think in the first place, if i remember correctly. Should i have repeated it for the case of Bosnians as well? ;) Plus, has this turned into a stupid conversation or is it just my impression?



I could use an ice-cold Heiny right now ;)
make it 2 of them

I ll go for a coupe of six-packs cause i never stop in round one...i just cant p-)

[Inquisitor]

This is clearly up to you :lol: , dont forget to find the part where i made clear that that was my presonal hypothesis, which i made for the Albanians i think in the first place, if i remember correctly. Should i have repeated it for the case of Bosnians as well? ;) Plus, has this turned into a stupid conversation or is it just my impression?

in fact it is...never mind,you win...



I ll go for a coupe of six-packs cause i never stop in round one...i just cant p-)

damn I can't drink so much...

[achilles]

damn I can't drink so much...

Its a matter of practice p-)