A BALKAN TALE

 Witnessing the Desperateness and the Hope

Vukovar was the first, starting station of our caravan, consisting of women – young and middle-aged, Macedonians, Turkish and Albanians from Macedonia, Serbs, Albanians and Sandzaks from Yugoslavia, Bosnjaks and Serbs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatians, Bosnjaks and Serbs from Croatia, Albanians from Albania. There were also four French women and three Frenchmen who were amazed, with mild fervor, because of the closeness and friendship which developed so quickly among us. We set off with an intention to face the reality and try to cross the borders – literally and figuratively – the borders between the countries which were once part of SFR Yugoslavia, the mental borders and the ones created in the hearts.

 Marijana Ivanova

The caravan of the women from the ex-Yugoslavia countries and Albania was initiated by the French organization Transeuropeennes and given meaning in cooperation with the local partners from the countries it passed through. In Macedonia the partner organization was the Open Society Institute of Macedonia Foundation.

Some new inhabitants

Before the war Srebrenica was a town with high standard of living. There had been a high rate of employment and a large number of people with high education. There had been lead, zinc and silver mines exploited around the town, also a gold deposit.
Nowadays in Srebrenica there are problems with the drinking water, electricity, there is not a baker’s, there is not a gynecologist, there is almost nothing. Almost no one from the native people has returned. Now in the town live some new people, mostly Serbs. However, efforts are made to return the population, regardless of the nationality. Efforts are also made for reconciliation. The ones who have survived the massacre, mainly women, say that reconciliation is possible, but the ones who are guilty for the crimes have to bear the responsibility. During our stay in Srebrenica, in the republic government of Serbia in Belgrade a commission was formed for the truth in Srebrenica and it comprises some members of the non-governmental organizations.
 

Vukovar was the first place of desperateness and hope that we visited.
No one knows the right number of the population and its national composition, but at the moment census is being carried out. The co-life is not that bad as expected.

The dead houses, alive people and monuments constantly remind of the dead people. We visited the town cemetery where now everyone is buried. There used to be catholic and orthodox cemeteries, but after they had been completely occupied, a new town cemetery was opened, for everyone. Paradoxically, the differences between people in Vukovar first vanished at the cemeteries. The mass tomb is also here, where 937 people were buried together, killed at the beginning of the war. Then we continued to Ovchare, where in 1991 the Serbian army massacred 263 people, patients and medical personnel in the Vukovar hospital. 200 corpses had been found and buried together. The non-governmental organizations in Vukovar are the ones who put most effort to establish co-life, apart from the emotions which seem never to calm down, apart from the hatred, pain, guilt. Somewhere they succeed, somewhere they do not. However, life goes on and the Serbs and the Croatians again try to live together.

City of Solidarity

During the war Tuzla was under siege by the Serbian forces which constantly bombed the town, but it never became divided.

We are standing silent, some of us making the sign of the cross over, some saying Fatiha, in front of the memorial plaque of 71 young people which died together. They had been buried together, at the place called Youth Avenue. We are looking at the photos of young faces at their tombs. Under each photo there is a metal tile – only few have half-moon or cross, most of them have only flowers carved...

While we are travelling to Zvornik, women from this area are talking about the horrors, the children, women, men, old people who were desperately running away from the chetniks in snow, in rain, and we are listening, while in our hearts new scars are made and we are looking at the magnificent nature, the rivers, the greenery and the mountains which hide goodness knows how many dead and massacred people.

Now in this area people return to their homes. There are no incidents, but the Bosnjaks do not have a good approach to health care, the schools are divided, people are unemployed.

At the monument at Potochari, near Srebrenica where happened the biggest mass massacre in the world after the Second World War, we are having a protection from the police. We are looking at the factory on the other side of the road, where the Muslims from Srebrenica had been kept before the massacre and Munira Subashic from the Mothers from the Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves Association says:
- We were gathered by UNPROFOR with explanation that we were going to be transferred to Tuzla. They kept us in the accumulators factory for five days, then the chetniks came, they separated the men and boys, 3.800 in total and they killed them. They took us to Tuzla after that.

Munira and the other members of the Mothers from the Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves Association are preparing for the burial of 1.800 corpses on 11th July this year. From Srebrenica there are 10.701 people missing, 5.500 found and only 200 identified. The Association has initiated the accumulators factory to be proclaimed a commemorable center.

Drina Bridge

The road is taking us further along the Drina valley, where in a symbolic way, on foot, we passed the bridge which is a crossing from Republica Srpska to the Republic of Serbia. The bridge has also another meaning – 1.300 people, men, women and children, Bosnjaks, were murdered on it and thrown into the water in 1995.

I am trying to realize how can a man do something like that to another man, but I do not succeed. I imagine human corpses floating in the river I am looking at now and I am thinking about the words said by Advija Shehomerovic, who recalled how at this place, at the banks of Drina, the ones who were shooting and the ones who were being shot at, long time ago used to have picnics together, used to come with their families, be friends...

Nish is the town which at the beginning of the war was known to be the “red” town where Slobodan Miloshevic had some great support, but later, in 1996/97, there was a strong citizens’ movement which became a leader to the alternative fight against its felonious regime. Osman Balic, the mayor of Nish, is Rom and he says that he is the only Rom having this or similar function in Yugoslavia. He is talking about the minorities’ rights and the efforts for their improvement.

Macedonia and Kosovo

We are entering Macedonia and going to Lipkovo. Many of us are recognizing the “symptoms” which brought to conflict in their places to live. We are thinking about taking everyone from this country with us, with the caravan, to see, realize, learn...

In Skopje we are meeting the European Union representative Alen Le Roa and we are talking to him about the Ohrid agreement, about the threats to the peace. While visiting the Southeast European University in Tetovo we are talking among ourselves about the power of knowledge, that the educated people are less burdened with nationalistic feelings. We hope that this university will become a place where the multi-ethnicity is tended in the best possible way.

- Nowadays Kosovo is a paradoxical place. About 51 percent of the people live in abject  poverty, on the other hand a lot is being built and there are a lot of wealthy people. For me the question of minorities in Kosovo is hard. Through the non-governmental organization where I am engaged, I work a lot on returning the people, Serbs, Romas and the others to Kosovo, says Jehona Gjurkeala from Prishtina...

Advija Gashi tells us about the period after 1994 when Miloshevic abolished all the competencies and people’s rights in Kosovo. Advija, as many others, was dismissed from work and her neighbor, Serb, every day brought her some bread. Kosovska Kamenica is a small place where there had not been a lot of ethnical clashes. We are meeting the mayor Shaip Surduli, Albanian and his deputy Nebojsha Simic, who is Serb. They are not saying that everything is perfect, but they solve the problems together. We are setting off to Grachanica, the Serbian enclave under KFOR protection. Women from Grachanica, Serbs and from Prishtina, Albanians, have contacts.

One of the most important objectives of our caravan – Kosovska Mitrovica. The town is divided into a northern part, where Serbs live and a southern part, where Albanians live. Between the two parts of the town there are French KFOR soldiers and a nice new bridge at the river Ibar, rarely passed. In front of the bridge, on the Albanian side, there is a fenced area with a few buildings and shops, and a sign: “You are entering the trust zone”. People from both sides come here and then each returns to its own side. UNMIK, KFOR and various citizens’ initiatives put efforts to unite the town, but there are no results.

We passed the bridge on foot, accompanied by the KFOR soldiers. Although we were to meet women, Serbs, from the non-governmental organizations which work in this part of the town, we could not get to them. We came across a group of people, men and women, which surrounded us shouting and some of them even showed great hatred and aggression. They did not let us enter that part of the town, and many of them even insulted us. I felt the fear of the Muslims, Albanian and Bosnjaks from our group and I was scared myself, both for them and all of us. After we had returned, we became aware of the danger we exposed ourselves to, because there are a lot of extremist armed groups.

Mostar without the bridge

After visiting Novi Pazar, we are going to Albania via Montenegro. We are delighted by the wild beauty and the flower bushes on the bank of the Skadar Lake. Further we are seeing some less beautiful things: a lot of pill-boxes from the Enver Hodza regime and a lot of poor places, among which there are some very wealthy houses – a result of the smuggling which reigned here in the last several years.

In Shkodra we are meeting representatives of some non-governmental organizations and the mayor Fatljim Nuri. We are talking about the poverty and the blood feud, especially developed in this area. Some of us are going to visits two families where the male members are staying at home, afraid of the feud. Besa Arifi from Tetovo is the one of our “delegation” and later she is telling us about the difficult conditions under which those families live, in constant fear that someone could enter their houses and commit the blood feud.

We are going back to Montenegro, we are passing Prevlaka and we are entering the Neretva valley. In Mostar, the capital of Herzegovina, some women are waiting for us at the Spanish Square.

In spite of the fact that I came “prepared”, with certain facts about the ruins of the town, and of course, the bridge, I did not expect to see consequences of so much savaging which seems to me that is bigger than the one in Vukovar. Mostar, the town I remember with some special tenderness from my only visit in the time before the break-up of SFR Yugoslavia, is now divided in Croatian and Muslim part and in contrast to the Croatian, the Muslim part is horribly ruined.

The old bridge does not exist any more and we are listening to the story about its origin: it was built during the reign of the sultan Suleyman the Great, in 1566. It was built by the architect Hajrudin, a student of the great Turkish architect Suleyman (who built the Blue mosque in Istanbul). The bridge was famous for its arc, 30 meters above the Neretva. In the 16th century it was a building miracle – built by placing stone above stone, and as a binder they used some cast lead and albumen.

The bridge was ruined in 1993 by the Croatian army headed by general Momchilo Perishic, today still active in the Croatian army. Ajsha and Senada, women from Mostar who took part in our caravan, told us about those hard times under Croatian occupation. The Croatian army, with intention to carry out exodus over the Muslim population in Herzegovina, expelled the Muslims and Serbs along the Neretva valley and they ran away towards Mostar. A lot of people, especially Muslims, were caught and taken to the notorious camps Gabela and Dretelj near Chapljina and Heliodrom in Mostar. In that time at the other side of the town was the Serbian army and while the Serbian population managed to rescue towards Nevesinje, the Muslims were caught between two fires. Shedding tears Ajsha is telling how the people did not have anything to eat, how they hid from the shells, how they watched ruining the old bridge with tears in their eyes. After the war had finished, for almost two years Mostar was cleaned from the piled rubbish and rubble, says Ajsha.

The caravan is going on to Knin, we are meeting the local authorities and the refugees, we are facing some nationalism, but at the same time a nice example of co-life between Serbs and Croatians in the village of Biskupija. We are finishing in Slovenia, with some different symbolism – we are crossing the border of developed, stable Europe. Our vision is this border to disappear.