TAKIS MICHAS HARASSED BY GREEK VOLUNTEERS
Respected Greek journalist, Mr Takis Michas, is under attack by former Greek volunteers who participated in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. Official reaction of the Chicago-based Congress of North American Bosniaks follows:
PHOTO: Takis Michas, author of the book "Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milošević's Serbia."
The Congress of North American Bosniaks, umbrella organization representing approximately 350,000 American and Canadian Bosniaks, strongly condemns a lawsuit against a respectful Greek journalist, Takis Michas for his writing about the presence of Greek paramilitaries in Bosnia supporting the Serbian aggression.
The lawsuit was launched by Stavros Vitalis, a former self-admitted Greek participant in the Srebrenica genocide who claims that the Greek volunteers were there in order to help the Serbs whom he characterizes as the “real victims”.
This is of course a false assessment that is being perpetrated with the intent of distorting the truth and contradicts all the historical facts that have already been established by the international courts, including the decision in which Serbia was found responsible for violating its obligation to prevent genocide in Srebrenica. The facts are that more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were slaughtered by Serbian forces, including Greek volunteers, simply because they belonged to a different ethnic and religious group.
The Congress of North American Bosniaks believes it is incomprehensible that participants in the genocide are not only allowed to walk free, unpunished for their crimes, but they are able to harass highly respected journalists for telling the truth. This is a further insult to injury to all the victims of the Srebrenica genocide and their families.
This is simply a case of trying to intimidate journalists, like Takis Michas, from telling the truth and publicly criticizing the Greek involvement and public attitudes towards the Srebrenica genocide. This is not only an attack on free speech but a repulsive attempt at distorting the truth and spreading of hate propaganda that somehow tries to justify war crimes. This also comes at a time when Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, is about to face trial for his role in leading and orchestrating the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is important that journalists are allowed to express their views on all aspects of the events that took place in the region, so that we can prevent them from occurring in the future.
Unfortunately Greek government has not prosecuted those who took part in war crimes in Bosnia and operations that resulted in tragic death of Bosnian civilians, namely around Srebrenica where 8,000 Bosniaks were summarily executed by Serbian forces. As evidenced by the statement from Stavros Vitalis actions of the volunteers “were widely endorsed by Greek society because of the warm friendship that connected Andreas Papandreou with Radovan Karadzic”.
Greek government should take steps to apologize to the families of those who were killed, for their role in not doing anything to prevent the spread of hatred towards Bosniaks and for allowing the Greek volunteers to operate freely without fear of being prosecuted for their crimes. Furthermore, we ask of the Greek justice system to throw out the frivolous charges against Takis Michas, and ensure that freedom of the press is upheld according to the standards of the European Union.
Semir Đulić
Spokesperson
posted by Srebrenica Genocide at 8:34 PM
15 Comments:
I would like to express my unconditional support for Mr Takis Michas. He is a brave journalist who deserves nothing but respect.
I think you made a mistake by using the term "mercenary" and paramilitary, their official name was Greek Volunteer Guard(Grcka Dobrovoljacka Guarda).Looking at their views and reasons why they came to Bosnia you can conclude that they were Orthodox Christian "Jihadists". We should respect what Vitalis said : that they were members of the regular Bosnian Serb Army which means they have a larger responsibility when Srebrenica is in question.
Definition of mercenary by GC: "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party" (Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention of August 1949).
Does this look like something a mercenary would say:‘‘I am an Orthodox and I must help
my Serb brethren against the Muslims.’; ‘‘We are fighting
for a Greater Greece in a Europe free from Muslims and Zionists.’;‘‘The Vatican, the Zionists, the Germans and the Americans conspire against the
Orthodox nations. Their next target after Serbia will be Greece.’
I second what Emir said. My solidarity is with Mr. Michas.
A very interesting post, thanks for sharing and educating.
Anonymous, from the point of Bosnian experience foreign mercenaries and volunteers were considred to be the same thing.
In Greece, they prefer to call them 'volunteers', while in Bosnia they are mostly refered to as 'foreign mercenaries'. However, I believe your term "Orthodox Christian Jihadists" to be more accurate.
To avoid confusion in the title of the above article, I have changed it to: "Takis Michas Harassed by Greek Volunteers." Hope that helps.
If they were members of the Bosnian Serb Army were they paid by the Bosnian Serb Army? Presumably Vitalis can confirm that they were on the VRS payroll and produce documentary evidence accordingly. I assume that he is also willing to confirm that they did not receive any payment from external sources.
Anonymous of 8 August, I presume that any reasonably well-prepared mercenary taking part in an organised venture with suspected support from para-official sources would make statements intended to reinforce the credibility of his claimed status.
The group had an official name. The evidence suggests that this was an organised enterprise, not an ad hoc assembly of raggle-taggle enthusiasts.
Vitalis might be asked to give details of the original backgrounds of his volunteers and how they were brought together, and also details of the training and other preparation they received, particularly as regards legal status.
As a Greek who loves his country enough to... dislike very strongly the activities of Greek neo-nazi criminals(!!!) in Bosnia, I denounce this preposterous lawsuit!
I'd also remind you that most "Greek volunteers" in Bosnia were in fact neo-nazis, by their _own admission_, NOT ordinary Greek people!
Furthermore, another respected Greek journalist and book-author, Mrs. Christiana Loupa, in an article of hers wrote the following (in my own English translation):
[quote]
"...There were statements by individuals (Greek volunteers in Bosnia) with their FULL names, in a known Greek magazine, such as:
-“We felt satisfied when we killed Muslims”,
-“when we killed Muslims there were moments when we celebrated it, in order to mitigate the intensity of battle” (i.e. as a form of… relaxation)
-“Muslims fought clumsily and we killed them by the tens, at a time”,
-“in thirteen minutes we’d kill roughly three hundred of them”.
Also they (the volunteers) admitted destroying a mosque in Srebrenica just "to pass their time" (!!!) and said they had a Serb commander there, who had spent many years in in the (French) Legion of Foreigners and is WANTED, till today, as a war-criminal, by the Hague International Court...
[end of quote]
Well, I wrote an e-mail to Mrs. Loupa, asking for the source of her article. This COULD be very important, of course...
E.g. if these guys were really able to "kill 300 muslims in only 13 minutes" then they'd only need a modest 6 hours for ANOTHER... Srebrenica massacre!!! Moreover, their victims were UNARMED people -of course- since it's impossible to "kill 300 people in only 13 minutes", otherwise!!!!!
The URL of Mrs. Loupa's article and other important details are in my blog post of July the 31st, unfortunately (most of it) in Greek at the moment...
I also wrote some comments in http://genocideinvisegrad.wordpress.com, and will come back on this.
My sincere sympathy, to genocide victims and also to ANY journalist facing intimidation (Mr. Michas, for example)...
Thanks Omadeon. Well said. It always amazes me how the neo-fascist mindset associates love for country with bullying, hurting and in this case of the Greek Volunteer Guard killing people.
The mindset that condoned the creation of these Greek "Christian Orthodox Jihadists" troops has deep roots. Greek nationalism was never merciful nor sympathetic to any Moslems (Palestinians & Egyptians are a huge exception) or non-Hellenes in their midst. There's a lot of bad blood (historically) between the Turks and Greeks and it's unfortunate that innocent Bosnians had to pay for it.
If we look at how the Greeks have treated their own ethnic Moslems...we really shouldn't be surprised by their involvement in Srebrenica.
I realize that there's a new generation of Greeks trying to disassociate itself from traditional Orthodox-Greek-Nationalism (which is so much a part of the modern Greek national identity) but the fact is...for most older Greeks..."Moslem or Turk" may as well be swear words.
It's really all about historical resentment: Konstantinopolis and Agia Sofia and Smyrni and Aivali and Pontus....and thus...I really don't get it? Why didn't they just cross the Aegean and fight those
"Bastard Turks" instead of going to Bosnia?
Their adventure strikes me more as one of a bunch of bloodthirsty psychopaths. Wimps.
They wouldn't dare venture to Trebzon or Izmir...but in Bosnia...Moslems were an easy pray, a sure kill (an improvized army and few arms).
And if they'd dare venture into Ayvalik....they'd find themselves confronted by Turks...who may still speak some Greek...and cherish memories of Crete & Greece, their families were forced to flee. Just because they were Moslems.
While I deeply empathize with countless Greeks whose ancestors were victims of Venizelos' ambition and Kemalists' bloody ruthlessness, I simply do not comprehend...WHY centuries after the liberation from the Ottomans, Greece doesn't take a second look at its own VERY deep ties with today's Turks (including blood ties) and its own history of ethnic cleansing, bloody slaughter and annihilation of its own Moslems.
And I very much want to convey a message to any Orthodox Greek believer who comes across this blog. My Moslem grandparents were NOT Crypto-Christians. They were very much true believers. Their belief in Allah was real (I'm the one who doubts). Although nor very orthodox in their lifestyle and interpretation of Islam, they weren't just "Moslems of convenience".
@Zlata
Well, personally I am not a "Greek Orthodox Believer", to start with.
Secondly, it seems that you haven't understood exactly WHO these people are, the "Greek volunteers".
We're talking about less than 100 extremist, blood-thirsty militarist individuals, most of them members of neonazi organization "Golden Dawn", some of them professional murderers. At least one of them was also a mercenary in mass slaughters elsewhere. Their own military commander was arrested by the police for gun-smuggling (From Serbia to Greece) a few years later. The few of them who were in Serajevo had joined Arkan's infamous gang and later on their links with Arkan's Serbian Mafia were revealled.
And we're also talking about a strange, irrational, preposterous "lawsuit" by another man (Vitalis) who was the organizer of these criminals, by his own admission.
Excuse me, but these thugs do NOT represent anything Greek at all. I call them traitors: To kill unarmed civilians in another country _is_ treason (apart from being a war-crime) because -here we are- it causes bad impressions about Greece as a whole.
In fact, Greece as a whole was extremely misinformed (including myself) during the nineties, as regards the war in Bosnia. Nobody had heard of war-crimes, except later on, rather vaguely (and under the false impression that they were committed equally by all sides).
As regards religions, sorry but I do NOT respect religions. I respect PEOPLE, and respect their right to believe in a religion. However, they ("religious people") don't even respect their OWN CHILDREN, indoctrinating e even their own little children to their filthy minds full of hate, causing SO MUCH bloodshed, eventually, because they are Muslim or Christian or I don't care what...
(I'd have a lot more to say about the issues you raised, but we'd be off-topic in this post. E.g. the overwhelming majority of Greeks TODAY condemn all atrocities and more than 60% of them also despise the influence of the Church in public affairs, DEMANDING SEPARATION between Church and State in Greece).
monaxia: i was born in athens/greece into an albanian-greek-italian-austrian family. the greek part of my family was murdered by the nazis with the help of orthodox fascists.
when i saw and heard what was going on in terms of greek involvement in the slaughtering of civilians i renounced my citizenship and as a former diplomat gave an interview to a turkish daily. i did not want these crimes commited in my name. as a consequence they ignored my renouncement and stripped me of citizenship on the grounds of violation and harming greek reputation abroad.
i sued them and we are now at european level and they are certain to lose. anyway, i will never set again my foot on greek soil as long as orthodox fascists have a single word to say in terms of politics or society.
greek politics and the orthodox church are way back in the dark ages of the crusades and everything they were unable to do to beat the ottoman army then, they take out on muslim people.
shame on you!!!
From Owen (Blogger is now rejecting Open ID comments)
Omadeon, when Takis Michas courageously wrote to the Woodrow Wilson International Center last year to protest about their invitation to Alexander Lykourezos, friend and supporter of Mladic and Karadzic, to preside over their award ceremony, Sharon McCarter wrote back on behalf of the Center observed "The Center notes that Mr. Lykourezos’s views on the Bosnian crisis of the 1990s are views shared by much of the Greek population". I'm not sure what evidence she was drawing on then but enough of the Greek population were still sufficiently supportive of his views to elect Lykourezos their Member of Parliament from 2000 to 2003.
http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2008/05/alexandros-lykourezos-srebrenica.html
(Incidentally the Center and its craven Board couldn't be bothered to answer various messages. I think it's not unreasonable to take that as evidence of their bad faith in defending their association with Lykourezos.)
Lykourezos at YouTube
observing that personally he didn't believe that 7000 people were killed at Srebrenica.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JTgvaYQf6Do
From Owen
Takis Michas interviewed in Ingeborg Beugel's documentary "The Greek way" for Ikon TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBnWyCGk9bY&feature=related
From Owen:
Just to point out that, as I'm sure anyone watching will realise, the title and additional comments at the beginning and end of the series of three YouTube clips have been added to the original Ikon TV documentary, presumably by whoever posted it to YouTube.
Takis Michas is a man who deserves respect for speaking up when so many powerful interests preferred - and prefer - to remain silent. We have to trust that the Greek courts and the Greek authorities will not permit him to be harrassed in the name of racism and war crimes.
UPDATE (4/9/2009): Greek volunteers in Bosnia had described witnessing (and agreeing with) the Serbian TORTURE of muslim prisoners:
in an old interview, rediscovered thanks to Ms. Christianna Loupa, a Greek journalist (who answered my e-mail request after a long delay because I used her old address) the interviewer Mr. Vradelis wrote about the interviewed Greek volunteers (under the sub-heading of “Torture”):
“Almost with satisfaction, they describe the torture inflicted by the Serbs on Albanian and Arab mercenaries of Bosnia…” (in Greek: “Περιγράφουν σχεδόν με ικανοποίηση τα βασανιστήρια στα οποία υπέβαλαν οι Σέρβοι τους Αλβανούς και τους ‘Αραβες μισθοφόρους των Βόσνιων μουσουλμάνων…”).
Source: « Greeks in Srebrenic and the Big Massacre », by Stelios Vradelis (in Greek: «Οι Έλληνες στη Σρεμπρένιτσα και η μεγάλη σφαγή» του Στέλιου Βραδέλλη, «Ταχυδρόμος» 13/11/2004).
Unfortunately, the interviewer’s pro-Serb bias shows through:
* Firstly, he ommitted from the (published) interview the specific statements describing (and agreeing with) the Serb torture of muslim prisoners.
* Secondly, he took the label “mercenaries“ for granted…
Well, I hope that BOTH Mr. Vradellis AND these interviewees ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS...
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