WHO IS NASER ORIC?

Isnam Taljic accepts International Literary Prize "Srebrenica" from Naser Oric
on July 25, 2008. Photo courtesy: Bosnjaci.Net Magazine

Naser Oric is a former Bosniak military officer who commanded the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina while defending the besieged enclave of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia.  Before the war, he was a former bodyguard of Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. During the war, between 1992 and 1995, Srebrenica was surrounded and terrorized by notorious Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic.

Contrary to opinions of Chuck Sudetic and similar neutralists, Oric was never undisciplined "warlord" and he never hated Serb people. Milosevic's son Marko adored and supported Naser Oric while he stood trial at the International Criminal Tribunal, which ended in full acquittal of Oric from all charges brought against him.

Oric was a honorable soldier who defended his town and his people from savage Serb brutality. He never targeted Serbian civilians in his counter-attacks on Serb army positions in villages around Srebrenica. A very small number of Serb civilians died in the cross-fire owing to Naser Oric's policy and discipline in keeping civilian deaths as low as possible.

Serbian terrorists in villages around Srebrenica were not so careful in saving Bosniak lives. They regularly prevented humanitarian aid from entering the besieged enclave, which in turn caused starvation and deaths among many Bosnian Muslim civilians in Srebrenica. Serbian terrorists also attacked Srebrenica on a daily basis, causing property damage and deliberate deaths among the Bosniak population who flocked to the enclave seeking safety from Serbian ethnic cleansing campaign.

Shortly after being acquitted of all charges brought against him, Naser Oric made the following statement (translated from Bosnian language):

"I am sorry that, as you put it, Serbs feel unhappy and angry. However, I don't think like that. To me, there is other side, political side who thinks like that. And since I am a soldier, I know that Serbs... true Serbs who are also soldiers, know well that I fought them fair and square on a battlefield. Therefore, I don't think they are jealous because of my acquittal; they knew for a long that I was never a war criminal, and that I was a soldier fighting on a battlefield for survival, and nothing else."