Serbia’s Brand of Reconciliation: Embracing Old War Criminals
- 6 years ago
Serbia’s Brand of Reconciliation: Embracing Old War Criminals
The title of the lecture: "The heroism and humanity of Serbian soldiers in their defense against the NATO aggression." The European Union warned against letting a war criminal give a lecture to the academy,
but the general received high praise from the defense minister, Mr. Vulin, a former close political ally of Mr. Milosevic’s widow, Mirjana Markovic.
Dimitar Bechev said that There is no other country which buys into the narrative which Serbia
has of itself, the sense of being a victim of the West in the same period during the 1990s,
23, 2017
BELGRADE, Serbia — When a general convicted of war crimes gave a lecture last month to cadets at
the military academy in Serbia’s capital, he received a warm welcome from the defense minister.
Jelena Milic, the director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies in Belgrade, said
that Serbia would not be pressed to align its foreign policy solidly toward the West until it began and completed negotiations on Chapter 31 of its accession agreement with the European Union, which spells out member states’ foreign, security and defense policies before they join the bloc.
After being released from The Hague in 2015, General Lazarevic received a hero’s welcome at the Serbian airport,
where he was met by two government ministers, the head of the Serbian military and other senior officials.
The title of the lecture: "The heroism and humanity of Serbian soldiers in their defense against the NATO aggression." The European Union warned against letting a war criminal give a lecture to the academy,
but the general received high praise from the defense minister, Mr. Vulin, a former close political ally of Mr. Milosevic’s widow, Mirjana Markovic.
Dimitar Bechev said that There is no other country which buys into the narrative which Serbia
has of itself, the sense of being a victim of the West in the same period during the 1990s,
23, 2017
BELGRADE, Serbia — When a general convicted of war crimes gave a lecture last month to cadets at
the military academy in Serbia’s capital, he received a warm welcome from the defense minister.
Jelena Milic, the director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies in Belgrade, said
that Serbia would not be pressed to align its foreign policy solidly toward the West until it began and completed negotiations on Chapter 31 of its accession agreement with the European Union, which spells out member states’ foreign, security and defense policies before they join the bloc.
After being released from The Hague in 2015, General Lazarevic received a hero’s welcome at the Serbian airport,
where he was met by two government ministers, the head of the Serbian military and other senior officials.