A mixed group of war veterans from the region, former members of ARBiH, HVO, HV, VRS, and VJ, visited monuments and sites of suffering in Bijelo Polje near Mostar on 8 September 2020. The visit was organised in cooperation with ARBiH and HVO veterans from Bijelo Polje.
In cooperation with veterans of the Army of RBiH and of the HVO from Bijelo Polje near Mostar, some 30 war veterans from BiH, Croatia and Serbia visited Bijelo Polje. The veterans and peace activists visited the central monument to killed members of HVO by the Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Potoci, the central monument to shahids and fallen fighters of the Army of RBiH by the Karađoz-beg Mosque in Potoci, the monument to the fallen fighters of VRS in Zijemlje, as well as Sutina where 114 Bosniak and Croat civilians were killed. The veterans also visited the Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar, and on 9 September 2020, they will attend the official commemoration for Croat civilians killed in Grabovica near Mostar.
The war veterans and peace activists were greeted at the monuments by religious officials and were also joined by the minister for veterans’ affairs of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Oliver Soldo and his assistant Halil Ćućurević. The president of the Bijelo Polje Veterans’ Organisation Enver Karabeg introduced the veterans to the wartime past of Bijelo Polje, while Zoran Zovko, the president of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton branch of HVIDRA, said how he hoped a similar visit would be organised in Mostar itself.
“This visit today is a step towards establishing normal life in the city of Mostar and Mostar truly needs more normal events such as this. I can call this normal, where people talk to each other, with all their similarities and differences, and show mutual respect. I hope that this message will echo across the city of Mostar and that all tensions, especially those imposed in this time before the elections, will be positively resolved and turned into a proactive struggle for something of your own while respecting others and sending the message that we can all together continue to develop this city,” said Oliver Soldo, the minister for veterans.
Amer Delić, a war veteran of the Army of RBiH and member of the Centre for Nonviolent Action, said that honouring all victims does not mean justifying the objectives they perhaps supported, but is instead a gesture of human decency and mourning over the loss of human lives.
“For the veterans themselves, the idea of jointly commemorating those killed is, on the one hand, close to their hearts, but also invokes anxiety over the risk of being misunderstood and denounced as traitors in their own communities. Condemnation and lack of understanding happen precisely when the community wrongly assumes that respecting the victims of others means denigrating own victims and justifying the war efforts of the other side. By going to all commemorations, we send the message that we respect everyone and that the aim is not to denounce some collectively while recognising others collectively, but that our common ground, that which brings us together, is mourning for the loss of each human life, united in our determination never to let the war, its injustices and killings happen again,” said Delić, a war veteran from Zavidovići.
He added that he himself hosted a similar visit to monuments and sites of suffering in Zavidovići and that, apart from the importance of expressing grief over the loss of human lives, these actions are also important as a way to accept responsibility.
“As a veteran of ARBiH, it was important for me when veterans of other armies came and visited our monuments, when we had an opportunity to tell them what it was like in Zavidovići during the war, and it also helped me understand that it would be important for others to receive such visits. We do not deny our differences and different views, but we are united in doing as much as we can to make sure war doesn’t happen again. We accept responsibility for what was done in our name, even though we didn’t take part in it directly, we believe it is important that we have an opportunity to meet today, to talk, pay our respects to the victims, visit sites of suffering and commemorations… I see this as a symbolic step towards establishing communication, building mutual trust and respect. Encounters such as this are always an opportunity to find out about instances of suffering you had been unaware of, to learn, to re-examine yourself, and all of this is important for peacebuilding,” Delić added.
“This is a confirmation of hope for a better future in this region, and it has been a long time coming. I’m glad it was done this way, we have honoured those who stood in the front lines of their peoples. Veterans from Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were here and I hope this is a step towards Mostar, towards the city centre, I hope our example will lead to a similar event being organised in the city itself,” said Stanislav Krezić, an HVO veteran and prison camp survivor from Potoci near Mostar.
Organised by CNA, to date war veterans have visited monuments and sites of suffering in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, Derventa, Sijekovac, Prnjavor, Bugojno, Tuzla, Doboj, Derventa, Zavidovići, Šamac, Modriča, Vitez, Busovača, Brčko, Srebrenica, Bihać, Velika Kladuša, Novi Grad/Bosanski Novi, Vozuća, Goražde, Jajce), Serbia (Kruševac, Vlasotince and Leskovac, Niš), and Croatia (Pakrac, Daruvar, Lipik). Mixed groups of war veterans have also attended official commemorations, and to date we have honoured victims in BiH in Gornji Vakuf, at Site 715 near Zavidovići, in Stog near Vozuća, in Novi Grad/Bosanski Novi, Sanski Most (Hrastova glavica), Sijekovac near Brod, Laništa near Brčko, Trusina near Konjic, Ahmići near Vitez, Grabovica near Mostar, Skelani near Srebrenica, Briševo and Zecovi near Prijedor, Korićanske stijene on Mount Vlašić, Stupni Do near Vareš, and in Serbia in Grdelička klisura near Leskovac, Varvarin near Kruševac, Aleksinac, as well as in Croatia in Pakrac, Varivode and Gošić near Knin.
“When I sit with these people from all the different armies, to me it’s a sign that for them the war has ended, and that is more than enough reason for me to give it my support. Wherever we went, tensions in the community were relaxed because both civil and religious authorities participated. It has now been officially recognised in Croatia and it looks completely different than before when many condemned it,” said Zvonko Lucić, a war veteran of HV from Zagreb.
Video from the visit: