[spectre] On Memory and Oblivion (Greece's role in the Yugoslav wars)

[geert]

From: Balkan Human Rights list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkanhr/

On Memory and Oblivion (Greece's role in the Yugoslav wars)

(Translated by GHM from the Greek; original available at:
http://www.enet.gr/online/online_p1_text.jsp?dt=18/01/2002&c=110&id=78559)

By TAKIS MICHAS

Last July, at a meeting of the Greek Center for European Studies (EKEM),
Greek delegate to the EU Anna Diamantopoulou spoke about the bright
future awaiting Greece in Europe.  At the conclusion of her speech
I asked Ms Diamantopoulou if the "bright future" would also include the
Greek politicians who contributed morally, financially, politically and -
perhaps - militarily to the genocide in Bosnia.  In her (tape-recorded)
reply, the EU delegate stated that "the Greek standpoint was justified."

Several months prior to the CES meeting, at a conference organized at
the Athens Hilton, I posed a similar question to Foreign Minister George
Papandreou.  He replied that "one should look forward, not backward."

If one agrees with Vaclav Havel's view that the quintessence of progress
is the existence of a critical historical memory, then it is truly
disheartening to hear such responses from two people who supposedly
represent the modernizing project in Greece. For the grim reality is
that a large segment of the Greek political, financial and ecclesiastical
establishment bears part of the responsibility for the mass crimes
committed by the Serbs in Bosnia under Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic.

Specifically:

* Until the summer of 1995 (when the major massacres took place in Bosnia)
Greek entrepreneurs, with the full knowledge of the governments
(Mitsotakis - Papandreou), violated the UN Security Council oil embargo
and supplied the Serb and Bosnian Serb war machine with the necessary
fuel.  In one case, moreover, a Greek Prime Minister personally ordered
police cars to accompany the fuel tankers so that they would not be
stopped en route!

* Until Kostas Simitis's rise to power, the Milosevic regime maintained,
in violation of European Union directives, 250(!) bank accounts in Greece.
Funds used to purchase the products necessary for the Serb war effort
were channeled through these accounts.

* Throughout the war in Bosnia, Greek newspapers and TV stations
openly engaged in the recruitment of Greek paramilitaries who
participated in "battles" - under Ratko Mladic - in which brutal crimes
were committed against Bosnian Muslim civilians. Each time I brought
this issue (in writing) to the attention of the Greek authorities the
response was icy indifference.

* The Greek authorities (Papandreou period) provided a safe haven
for members of Milosevic's secret services, who had been accused of
murdering Kosovar Albanian activists in Europe, and who were being
sought by Interpol.

* Top-level Greek politicians, entrepreneurs and clerics provided
moral as well as material support to Radovan Karadzic despite the fact
that he was accused of mass crimes in Sarajevo, Zvornik, Prijedor, Foca
and elsewhere.

* The Greek governments (Papandreou - early-era Simitis) encouraged
state investments in Bosnia that contravened the Dayton accords and
encouraged Bosnian-Serb plans for the partitioning of the country.

These facts are just the tip of the iceberg and reflect publicly
available information.

* In addition, there are also serious indications that, throughout
the war, Greece was providing various forms of military assistance
to the Bosnian Serbs.

The time has come for the Simitis government to make public whatever
information it has at its disposal. Not only because it is necessary that
those who contributed to some of the worst crimes committed in Europe
since World War II face the law, but also because in revealing those facts
the government will convince everyone that the country has truly embarked
on a new path.

Other western countries have already begun a critical reexamination of
some of their policies. In the Netherlands the role of the Dutch UN forces
in the Srebrenica tragedy is being carefully scrutinized;  in Great
Britain the role of the Foreign Office and, in particular, of Lord Owen is
under fire. And in the U.S. questions are still being raised concerning
the CIA's prolonged concealment of aerial photographs of mass graves in
Eastern Bosnia.

* These issues are examined in detail in my book, "Unholy Alliance: Greece
and Milosevic's Serbia," (with comments by Samuel Huntington), due out in
April (in the U.S. and U.K.).

ELEFTHEROTYPIA - 18/01/2002