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Mila
Tsar
Retired AE Moderator
Joined: 17-Sep-2005
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Topic: "Go home, already!" Posted: 07-Dec-2005 at 13:22 |
The headline is a humorous summary, I hope.
When northern Bosnia and Herzegovina was ethnically cleansed of their
Bosniak and Bosnian Croat populations, there was a vast swath of the
nation where many cities, towns, and villages remained completely in
ruins and empty.
When Croatia began the Lightning Operation, during which it reclaimed
the 75 per cent of its territory which had been occupied by Serbia
since 1991, it also created 250,000 Croatian Serb refugees.
Most of them settled in these devastated cities, towns, and villages in
northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. This made it difficult for Bosniak and
Bosnian Croat refugees who survived the war to reclaim their homes and
communities.
Most Bosniaks opted instead to build new communities outside the
boundaries of their hometowns, rather than deal with the tension of
reclaiming homes in communities that were now 100 per cent
Serb-populated. This was especially difficult because it wasn't like
they were moving to a city where the Serbs were born and remained the
whole war, where suffering was for the most part limited. They were
returning to areas with citizens not from Bosnia and Herzegovina who
did not understand what the Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats had suffered
while they were celebrating in the newly Orthodox-only streets of
Croatia. Since both sides were victimized, both sides were especially
aggressive against the other.
Now - finally - Croatia is trying to bring some of these Serbs back so
Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats can reclaim their communities in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
BANJA LUKA, December 7 The Croatian
Governments campaign for refugee return under the slogan Where
there is place for all Croatia is a home for all her citizens!, was
presented on Wednesday in Banja Luka and will conclude until December 15
in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro.
The Croatian Government, the OSCE Mission and their partners
delegations of European Commission and UNHCR - have launched this
campaign on return and reintegration of refugees and displaced persons,
together with TV clips, posters, radio jingles and other promotion
material.
The aim of the campaign is to provide the relevant information to the
refugees who live outside Croatia so that they could make a decision to
return and contribute to creating a positive climate in the Republic of
Croatia for return and promoting importance of establishing dialogue in
the society based on European values.
Croatian Ambassador to BiH Josip Vrbosic told a press conference that
his government wishes to raise the awareness of the Croatian public on
sustaining return and create an advantageous ambiance for sustaining
return.
With this campaign we are delivering information to the refugees that
live outside Croatia on the grounds of which they could be able to
reach a reasonable decision on return to Croatia, said Ambassador
Vrbosic.
The campaign was launched on December 1 in Zagreb and during the next week, it will be presented in Belgrade and Podgorica.
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Maju
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Posted: 07-Dec-2005 at 20:45 |
It's good signal. I fear it won't work well though.
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NO GOD, NO MASTER!
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Mila
Tsar
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Posted: 07-Dec-2005 at 21:03 |
It'll work for the good Serbs who miss their homes in Croatia and want
to return - and that's the people who it should work for, and I'm glad.
The nationalists know they're more annoying in Bosnia, so they'll stay here.
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ill_teknique
Colonel
Joined: 28-Jun-2005
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Posted: 07-Dec-2005 at 21:13 |
Originally posted by Mila
It'll work for the good Serbs who miss their homes in Croatia and want
to return - and that's the people who it should work for, and I'm glad.
The nationalists know they're more annoying in Bosnia, so they'll stay here.
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i.e. Banja Luka and the dipslay they put after Serbia won that qualifying game.
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Mila
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Posted: 07-Dec-2005 at 21:16 |
Hehehe - things like that usually aren't as bad as they seem. You know what Bosnians are like...
My friend Eva, she's Jewish. She said to me on my birthday, "I didn't
get you anything. There was a terrorist bombing in Netanya yesterday,
five Israelies died, I thought that would be present enough."
And Mirjana calls me a T-rkish wh--e all the time. .
Some of those people might actually have Muslim and Catholic friends,
it's just our nature to be that way when something happens.
If Turkey, Croatia, or Italy had beat Bosnia and Herzegovina you'd see a few people out in the streets as well, I'm sure.
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ill_teknique
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Posted: 07-Dec-2005 at 21:49 |
It was messed up here too. Especially the crookedness of the game did not help to ease post game tensions lol.
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Jay.
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Joined: 24-Nov-2005
Location: Canada
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Posted: 19-Dec-2005 at 21:08 |
Originally posted by Mila
The nationalists know they're more annoying in Bosnia, so they'll stay here.
| Uhh, what makes "them" so annoying?
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YuGo
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Joined: 20-Dec-2005
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Posted: 20-Dec-2005 at 17:09 |
As a person from Bosnia and Herzegovina, it seems like a good idea! Although I doubt most of these refugees will ever return to their former homes. It is not because they want to annoy Bosnia, but it goes deeper than that, and in reality it differs from person to person. I mean, would the average Bosniak family from Srebrenica, Banja Luka, Prijedor, Trebinje etc. be excited to return to their former homes? The same is for Serbs from Knin, Gospic, Pakrac, Karlovac, Jasenovac, etc. I know in Teslic, we have large population of Serbs from central Bosnia and Herzegovina aswell. Places like Travnik, Tuzla, Maglaj, Zenica, and the Herzegovenian town of Mostar have virtually no Serbs left. In all these places, whether it was crimes against Muslims, Croats or Serbs it is hard for the minorities to retearn to these towns. I am sure you know, it would be hard to find a job, feel uneasy about letting your children go to school that teaches them biased information (from whichever side).. the list goes on, I just wanted to let that out, and to say that it is not as Black and white as some people might think. It has been 10 years since the war, are these families ready to start their life over again for the second time!?
Anyways. I am happy the Croatian government is doing this, it shows they have moved on a lot since the early 90's.. Hopefully the same kind of things will be done for muslims, and Croats to return to RS, and same for Serbs to Federation.
Edited by YuGo
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