By Helena Smith in Athens; The Observer, January 5, 2003
War crimes tribunal will hear secrets of support for Milosevic’s ethniccleansing
It is what Hellenes have long feared: the shattering of a conspiracy ofsilence that has surrounded the role of Greek volunteers who proudly flewtheir flag at Srebrenica, after participating in Europe’s worst massacresince the Second World War, when 7,000 men, women and children died.Next week, as Greece settles into the presidency of the European Union,Milan Milutinovic, Serbia’s recently retired president, will be broughtbefore the war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Greek involvement in theatrocity, as well as other secrets Athens would prefer buried, could berevealed when the 60-year-old testifies.
No one, it is said, played such a pivotal role in the alliance betweenAthens and Belgrade during the Nineties Balkan conflicts. As Yugoslavia’sambassador to Greece, Milutinovic was Slobodan Milosevic’s most trustedlieutenant. His links with Greece’s political, religious and businesselites were allegedly crucial to Serbia’s secret economic infrastructure.They allowed the country to evade United Nations sanctions and, accordingto the International Criminal Tribunal, contributed considerably towardsMilosevic’s war machine.
When the diplomat was promoted to Foreign Minister in 1994, he retainedhis Athens post for several months when, EU diplomats say, he stashed awayfunds to buy villas and other prime properties in Athens and Crete at thebehest of his boss.
With Greece’s admiring public, pro-Serbian church, tolerant media andgovernments that supported Milosevic, Athens was seen as a bolt-hole bythe now disgraced president. As Bosnian Serb ethnic cleansers torchedvillages, it was here Milosevic would escape to enjoy the hospitality ofGreek politicians. Marko Milosevic, his lascivious smuggler son, declaredGreece ‘my first home’.
‘This is our best-kept secret, the subject no politician of any persuasionhas ever wanted to broach,’ said Takis Michas, author of Unholy Alliance:Greece and Milosevic’s Serbia. ‘In an era where everyone is saying sorry,in Greece at least no one has shown remorse for the crimes in Bosnia whenundoubtedly a significant proportion of the political establishment bearsome responsibility.’
The US-published book, yet to be printed in Greek, records in shockingdetail the relationship between the two Orthodox nations, including theleaking of Nato military intelligence under socialist leader AndreasPapandreou.
The Greeks know their past may be catching up with them. After lastmonth’s long statement of contrition before the Hague tribunal by theformer Bosnian Serb leader, Biljana Plavsic, many believe it is only amatter of time before others open up too.
A Dutch documentary investigating Greek complicity in the Serb wars wasaired on local television in which a director of the semi-official AthensNews Agency, Nikolas Voulelis, admitted to widespread censorship. Duringthe wars the Greek media was fanatically pro-Serb, portraying YugoslavMuslims as ‘infidel Turks’ bent on destroying their Orthodox brethren.’Editorial interference was a given,’ he said.
But it was not only hospitality or money that the Greeks offered.Spiritual succour was provided by the Greek Orthodox church which sentpriests to the front line (several clerics received bravery medals fromPlavsic).
In a step repeated in no other country, Archbishop Serafeim invited theBosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to visit Athens in 1993. At a massrally attended by prominent politicians, the indicted war criminalproclaimed: ‘We have only God and the Greeks on our side.’
Last year, in a 7,000-page report that the Dutch authorities commissionedinto the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Greece was revealed to have sentshipments of light arms and ammunition to the Bosnian Serb army between1994 and 1995. The report describes how Greek volunteers were implored, inintercepted army telephone conversations, to raise the Greek flag afterthe town fell. In one, General Ratko Mladic asked that they record thescene on video for propaganda purposes.
Around 100 soldiers are believed to have joined the Greek Volunteer Guard,formed at Mladic’s request. The unit, which fought alongside Russians andUkrainians, was led by Serb officers and had its own insignia – thedouble-headed eagle of Byzantium. At least four of its members wereawarded the White Eagle medal of honour by Karadzic.
Although their ‘heroic’ exploits were widely reported in the Greek press,the volunteers have gone to ground since the creation of the war crimestribunal. No government or party has ever sought an inquiry into theiractivities.
