President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik stated that on May 15, 1992, a horrific war crime against young members of the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army) occurred without any provocation. This crime was undoubtedly well-planned and marked the beginning of the exodus of about 80,000 Serbs from the Tuzla region.
- On that day in 1992, children, clean-shaven young men of 19, 20 years old serving their mandatory military service in the JNA, who just wanted to return home peacefully and with dignity, were killed. Members of Muslim paramilitary formations, their “Green Berets” and “Patriotic Leagues,” repeated the crime that had occurred only two weeks earlier on Dobrovoljačka Street in Sarajevo, where a column of young soldiers was also ambushed – emphasized the President of Srpska.
In a statement to Srna on the occasion of marking 32 years since the crime against innocent JNA members in Tuzla, Dodik said that the monstrosity of the instigators and perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly crime is highlighted by the fact that the local TV station broadcasted it live, with footage still visible today, allowing the mothers of the young soldiers to directly watch their sons’ suffering, which is morbid.
- What is even more heinous is that Muslims celebrate this day and the crime against innocent soldiers serving their mandatory military service as the so-called “Day of Tuzla’s Defense.” Yes, today they celebrate the murder of a young generation, those were children, young men, and the beginning of the ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Tuzla region where only 1.6% of Serbs live today – stressed Dodik.
He questioned the kind of society we live in and the kind of Bosnia and Herzegovina they are talking about when one nation celebrates the day when more than 70 young men were killed who were peacefully heading home, adding that it is a moral question for all those who today in Tuzla have the audacity to celebrate the “Day of Liberation.”
- From whom were they liberated? From Serbs, whom they ethnically cleansed, killed some, and took their houses, apartments, and everything they built together in Tuzla until that 1992 and the beginning of the civil war?! And today, while celebrating the day of killing and the beginning of ethnic cleansing, they tell us about some joint life and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state. BiH is not even a ‘d’ of a state, but just a yoke around our necks – Dodik concluded.
The President of Srpska recalled that there is no punishment for this crime, because, according to established practice, Serbs in BiH are not victims, nor are the wounds of Serbian mothers considered wounds.
- We are supposed to forget the killing of a Serbian wedding guest on Baščaršija, Dobrovoljačka, the “Tuzla Column,” Sijekovac, Brod, Kupres, and the crimes in Podrinje and elsewhere where Serbs were not victims. But the perpetrators of these crimes and their sponsors want to label us as a genocidal nation and expect us to calmly accept it!? What is next – to abolish Republika Srpska, take away our property, hand us over to the jaws of Sarajevo’s judiciary, and we should just nod and bow our heads!?
To their dismay, we will never allow that. They won’t see that scenario, written by the biggest proven Serb-haters – fake Christian Schmidt and Michael Murphy, advocates of an Islamic BiH. Serbs have not bowed their heads before greater trials, and we won’t today. Republika Srpska is unquestionable and eternal, and as long as there is a single Serb, Serbian victims will not and must not be forgotten. The truth is on our side, and the facts and arguments are irrefutable – Dodik concluded.
Muslim paramilitary formations attacked the column with JNA soldiers, who were peacefully withdrawing from the Tuzla barracks, on May 15, 1992.
In this attack, which was broadcast live on a local TV station, 54 soldiers were killed, 78 were wounded, and 44 were captured, of whom five were later killed, and the others were tortured and mistreated.
The JNA column, consisting of 600 soldiers and their officers and 200 vehicles, was attacked by members of the Muslim MUP, Territorial Defense, and “Green Berets.”
From 1992 to 1995, 1,265 Serbs were killed in the Tuzla region, while around 80,000 were expelled.
Source: RTRS
