RAŠKOVIĆ-IVIĆ: "STORM" - CROATIA AND EUROPE’S DISGRACE

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 3 /SRNA/ – Sanda Rašković-Ivić, daughter of the former political leader of the Krajina Serbs in Croatia, Jovan Rašković, told SRNA that the Croatian military-police Operation Storm is a major disgrace for both the state of Croatia and Europe, which to this day has not been properly condemned and which, unfortunately, continues.

“The fact that the state of Croatia is again this year celebrating Operation Storm, the largest act of ethnic cleansing in post-war Europe, is a disgrace not only for Croatia but for all of Europe, which turns its head and remains silent. Some are even present,” said Rašković-Ivić. She expressed confidence that history will ultimately show who was on the right side and just how wrong Croatia’s actions today are. The criminal Operation Storm began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian Army and Police, along with HVO units, in the areas of Banija, Lika, Kordun, and north Dalmatia. The next day, August 5, Croatian forces entered the nearly abandoned town of Knin and raised the Croatian flag, while convoys of refugees were crossing Serb-controlled territories in BiH heading toward Serbia. According to “Veritas,” more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled during the Storm. 1,903 names are registered as killed or missing during and after the operation - of whom 1,247 /66%/ were civilians, around three-quarters of whom were over 60 years old. The International Court of Justice, in its February 2015 verdict, classified Operation Storm as ethnic cleansing but not as genocide, although global experts in the field argue that the operation had all the elements of genocide.