Several times on Blogmocracy, the actions of the Serbs in the FYRs (former Yugoslav Republics) have come up for discussion. What is lacking in these discussions is the background, history, and ethnic tension that underlies the actions. This post will attempt to clarify how a culture of Serbian Orthodox Christians can end up as war criminals. What drives civilized men to massacre? This is part one in a series. Next, Did the US and NATO pick the wrong side in the Yugoslavian Wars?
The above map is for the 1st Serbian Empire in the late 1300’s. Do note the proximity of Serbia from Constantinople and Rome, between the Muslim Ummah and Western Christian Europe. Keep the geography in mind when considering the animosity between Roman Catholics, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians. The geography is at the crossroads of three religions and is in the path of later Muslim Expansion from what is now Turkey.
The Serbs, as a civilization, have occupied the area of what is now Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Bulgaria. By 825 A.D. Serbs are fully converted to Christianity. Over the next generations, Serbia becomes folded into the Eastern Empire of Byzantium. In 1054 the problems begin, the East West Schism between the Roman/Western Catholic Church and Byzantine/Eastern Orthodox Church. The Serbs choose the Orthodox version due to Byzantine pressure while the coastal areas choose the Roman version because of pressure from Venice.
By 1463, the Ottoman Turks (Muslims) take Serbia. For the Next 400 years, the areas of Serbia is a violent area full of intrigue, assassinations, and war between East and West. The land changes hands many times and the population migrates back and forth following any safety that can be found. It is in this period that the Slavs in Bosnia Herzegovina convert to Sunni Islam instead of fighting the Ottoman occupation. In 1766, the Ottomans abolish the Serbian Orthodox Church and subjugate it to Constantinople, and Southern Serbia is colonized by Albanian and Turkish Muslims, uprooting the traditional Serb Orthodox populace.
The stage is set for continued conflict in the 20th Century. The Croatian Catholics are backed by Rome, the Bosnian Muslims are backed by Turkey and then heavily by Iran, the Serbian Orthodox are backed by Russia.
Events of WWII then set the stage for the Serbian actions in the 1990’s. The ethnic/religious splits listed above were exploited by Hitler when his armies invaded Yugoslavia. Hitler found willing allies in the Albanian, Kosovar, and Bosnian Muslims which were openly supported by the Palestinian Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini and Croatian Catholics led by the Pope in Rome and the Nazi Puppet leader of Croatia Ante Pavelic. The Palestinian Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini was a famous anti-Semite. He preached that the Muslims in Yugoslavia should join the 13th Handschar Waffen SS division and the Muslim Albanians should join the 21st Skanderbeg Waffen SS Division, these same divisions would be implicated and found guilty of war crimes such as murder, ethnic cleansing, rape, forced migration against the Orthodox Serbs.
The Catholic Church, through blessings and cooperation from Rome and the active participation of the clergy, especially the Franciscan order in Croatia, were directly responsible for total support of the creation of Ante Pavelic’s fanatical Catholic Ustashe. The end result is ethnic cleansing of Orthodox Serbs and the creation of the Jasenovac Concentration Camp in Croatia, staffed by Ustashe of both Catholic and Muslim religions were responsible for 750,000 Serbs, 60,000 Jews, and 25,000 Gypsies murdered. Yes murdered, not killed in war, murdered in a concentration camp so that the expanded Greater Croatian State could be for Catholics and Muslims only. More people were murdered in the Jasenovac Concentration Camp than died in actual war in Yugoslavia. Pope John-Paul II apologized for this atrocity in 1997.
During the later half of the 20th Century, Yugoslavia, which contained Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Vojvodina, and Kosovo, with all of its ethnic and religious differences is brought under one state by Josip Broz Tito, former leader of the Socialist ‘Partisans’ who fought the Nazi occupiers in WWII. He was able to keep the peace by squashing, violently at times, any hint of nationalism that would occasionally pop up. His leadership by force and personality could not survive his death.
After Tito dies in 1980, Yugoslavia starts to fall apart. The old ethinic hatred is brought right back up to the surface, by the 1990’s war occurs again. Alija Izetbegovic becomes president of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He is the connection to WWII. He was a recruiter for the SS Handschar division and collaborated with the ABWER and GESPTAPO to send Serbs to Jasenovac Concentration Camp. In 1970 he published the Islamic Declaration, where he argues for Sharia law and the creation of an Iranian style Muslim Republic in Bosnia. He also received massive funding from Iran to become president of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Bosnian and Kosovar Serbs become the victims of ethnic hatred and clashed with Muslims and Croatian Catholics. The poor economic condition of the erea at the time helped fuel the fire. Meanwhile, in Croatia, Fanjo Tudjman publicly denies the extent of the Massacre of the Serbs in WWII. This causes fear in the 13% Serbian population in Croatia. War in Croatia breaks out in 1990. The Orthodox Serbs in Croatia fear for their lives and property. Given the history, who can blame them? By 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina, led by Izedbegovic and backed by Croatia and Iran and other Muslim countries is at war against the Serbs in both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia proper.
By 1995, the Serbs have the upper hand and allow the anger of the atrocities against them from WWII all the way back to 1054 to get the best of them and the Srebrenica Massacre occurs in July of 1995, 8,000 mostly men are murdered. The Army of the Republic of Serbia and the paramilitary group Scorpions are responsible, I cant say if it was out of revenge for Jasenovac, or out of fear, or both.
For some reason, the caterwauling Christian Amanpour and the rest of the CNN/BBC crew never really bothered to explain to the American people why this massacre occurred. It is as if the Serbs acted in a vacuum, the approximately 800,000 total murders never happened. According to the press and the Clinton State Dept history in the Balkans started with Milosevic in 1988, the history from the above was never discussed; Izedbegovic was an innocent peacemaker, Croatia had never done anything wrong. Yes the Serb Army and Scorpions should not have done what they did in Srebrenica, but they did not act in a vacuum without any history.
End of part 1.
