On April 26, 2013, when Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic defended in the parliament that he had reached the Brussels Agreement a few days earlier in the EU capital, he said, among other things:
“We don’t need more victims than the ones we’ve made, we need life.” Both in the north and in the south and throughout Serbia. We are not going to tell bedtime stories and wake up tomorrow with the Kosovo Storm”.
Along with the demarcation, he actually presented the storm to the public two years earlier, in the midst of the then barricades in the North, which have remained the longest-lasting of all to this day, and before the opening of the so-called technical dialogue in Brussels:
“If Thaci goes on the offensive against the Serbs, we will certainly not sit idly by the Kosovo ‘Storm’, but it is best that Belgrade and Pristina reach a solution as soon as possible, with the mediation of the international community, and the only real solution is the one that is permanent, and therefore just, and that is the demarcation,” Dacic told Alo in October 2011.
The demarcation, the respective “division”, was mentioned by the then prime minister several times, but as he himself admitted, “he had no one to listen to him”.
“In the coming years, we should expect even stronger pressure to recognize Kosovo, and that’s why we should start discussions on demarcation,” he told Vecernje Novosti in July of the same year.
“I’m afraid of the violent integration of the north and that we don’t get another ‘Storm’ again.” Therefore, Serbia must do everything to save its people,” he added, two years before reaching an agreement that integrates the hitherto autonomous North into the Kosovo system.
Vucic’s Storm
The Prime Minister of Serbia at the time had no one to listen to him, but he himself continued with the same rhetoric in the following years while, as a result of the agreement, the institutions of Serbia withdrew from Kosovo.
The storm became an unavoidable ‘keyword’ for the next prime minister, i.e. the current president – Aleksandar Vucic, in numerous addresses to the domestic public. In the meantime, he confirmed that he was also in favor of demarcation, but that his plan for Kosovo “failed”.
From then on, he most often announces Storm and Flash with negation – that there will be no Flash and Storm; but with Storm, he also announces or describes the actions of the Kosovo Police in the North, which Pristina claims to be used to fight organized crime or introduce “reciprocity” politically.
Immediately before the action of the Kosovo Police at the end of May 2019 in the North, in which more than a dozen members of the border police of Kosovo were arrested, he announced that it was a question of the day and the moment when the Albanians would attack the Serbs.
“No matter how difficult it was, and it is very difficult, because NATO is located in Kosovo, we will not allow the persecution of the Serbian people.” We have had enough Storms, Flashes, many misfortunes and we will not allow more such misfortunes of our people”, he said from the speaker of the parliament, just a day before the big arrest.
During the action itself on May 28, 2019, in an extraordinary address he said:
The Serbs are literally being beaten at the Technical School in Zubin Potok. They break into houses, break everything in the house. Serbs are unarmed, they show how powerful they are. No casualties so far. Our people are upset like never before, but they are hardened wolves. I said it yesterday, what I also said in Kosovska Mitrovica, we will not allow a new Storm and Flash.
And during the license plate crisis in September of last year, when the Kosovo authorities actually introduced the so-called reciprocal measures and decided to start removing Serbian city plates in the North as well, the president announced that there would be no ” persecution, no storms, no flashes”. He also spoke about the persecution on several occasions, and then for the first time one could also hear about the Serbian IRA in the North, indicating that Albanians were talking about it.
The storm is often announced before certain talks in Brussels, that is, during the period when important decisions were made. With the arrangements for the so-called freedom of movement, it was most often related to energy issues.
Mentions of Valac and Gazivod, along with Storm and Lightning, plans for a general attack on the North and long guns, were also key words in the frequent addresses of the President of Serbia. However, this kind of narrative was particularly prominent with the topic of delimitation, which resurfaced in 2018 and partly during 2019.
Division and Storm
The Serbian public was most often warned about the Storm in the North scenario during 2018 and 2019, when the topic of demarcation, that is, division, was thrown into the public discourse.
“And what if during the summer someone starts to occupy the North of Kosovo?” And what would be our answer? Would our response be military, or would our response be to have another Storm like we had in the past? Serbia’s politics must be more responsible than the politics of the 90s and 2000s, we must preserve our people at their hearths, but at the same time we must not allow the tragedy that happened to them at that time to happen to them.”, Vucic said in the middle of the Brussels talks on June 24, 2018.
Three days later, on June 27, 2018, Vucic, speaking after the joint military-police exercise “Joint Strike 2018” in Kraljevo, said:
“We do not threaten anyone, we are always ready for compromises, dialogue and peace, but we are not ready, I repeat, and we will never accept any new Storms, nor are we ready for a new exodus and crime against Serbs.” We will not allow that to anyone.”
He only confirmed a few days later that he was repeating himself about the Storm and the Flash. “I told you many times – like Storm, Flash and all other criminal actions against our people will not happen.” And I hope I was clear enough, this is the tenth time I have repeated something like that,” he said on July 8, 2018.
In a letter to Serbs from Kosovo on August 3 of the same year, he said:
“Today, Serbia is ready to fulfill its obligation to you and protect your lives and peace, if necessary.” As long as I am at its head, Serbia will not allow organized violence against Serbs and their holy places, nor their persecution. There will be no new “Storm” in Kosovo. “Peace for Serbia and the Serbian people is the highest value, which, in addition to everything else, we strive to protect through the difficult conversations we have with the political representatives of the Albanians and the international community.”
A day later, he wished them a good weekend, good weeks and months. Speaking to journalists on August 4, 2018, after a meeting with the then Patriarch Irineja, in front of the Patriarchal House, he said:
“I wish the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija not only a good weekend, but good weeks and months ahead and I want them to feel safe.” I know how difficult it is for them, especially in Metohija, but also for Serbs everywhere. It’s not easy in the North either, it’s even more difficult south of the Ibar, but what they need to know is that the Serbian state will not allow any persecution of the Serbian people, like we had in 2004, like we had in ’95 and in the month of May during the Flash, and at the beginning of August during the Storm. Serbia will never allow something like that to anyone again.”
He also had a message for KFOR and NATO: “I especially expect and demand from them to protect the peace by preventing any possible attempt, by anyone and under any pretext, to seize and steal from you the Hydroelectric Power Plant ‘Gazivode’, the substation ‘Valac ‘ or any other key piece of infrastructure on which your survival depends.”
That’s when he scheduled an emergency meeting of the National Security Council due to the possibility of, as it was announced at the time, “destabilization of the security situation in the north of Kosovo and Metohija.”
Vucic, in particular, announced that summer, as he said, Priština’s obsession with the North and plans to occupy it. “Obsession with the North”, ” taking up”, “occupation”, “Storm is the only thing that interests Albanians”, “hunger for occupation” – these were the terms that the Serbian president used intensively in 2018, between two burning topics – the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, and the demarcation , when due to the resistance to division, another one emerged – a conflict with the church, especially with the so-called the southern wing, which was “quieted” already in the fall of 2018, that is, in the spring of the following one.
“Those who talk about a frozen conflict do not understand that it is not sustainable – that each will wait for an opportunity to strike the other in order to achieve that advantage on the ground.” And every day we will worry about whether they will attack us in the North, where they will hit us, with whose support, with whose help – will they get the support of the Americans, as in the Storm, or will they now get the support of someone else. So we will cry for our people and for the killed people and for the exiled people” – he spoke again on August 16, 2018 about the Storm and crying in the RTS news, and before his visit to Kosovo on September 9. The statement that the North is “strategically important as a territory because 98% of Serbs live there” was also remembered at the time.
He also announced disasters and liquidations in November 2018, when arrests were made in the Gray building, which is seen as the building of the vice-president of the Serbian List, Milan Radoicic, in connection with the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, and Radoicic himself then escaped arrest, i.e. liquidation, as he also stated and the president.
At the same time, taxes of 100% were introduced on products from Serbia and the “trade war” began. The president called the actions from Pristina and the support of the West “100% games”, counting that it was the fifth incursion of long guns into the North.
Storms 2019: Taxes 100%, police actions, failed demarcation policy, arrival of Kurti…
Although in the period of the actualization of plans for demarcation, Vucic announced a historic speech in North Mitrovica in September 2018, from that time, messages about how his plan on (ethnic) demarcation suffered defeat are also remembered – from September 2018, through the following year, when he even said that his idea of demarcation was buried, which “will cost the Serbs”.
Thus, the threats to occupy the North continued in 2019. “Since the Albanians do not want the status quo, it is a question of the moment, that is, the day and month when they will attack the Serbs.” There are two possibilities for solving the Kosovo issue – the recognition of independent Kosovo, as seen by the Albanians and the international community, and the second possibility, which has actually completely failed – demarcation, is the summary of the address in the Serbian parliament on May 27, 2019.
“No matter how difficult it was, and it is very difficult, because NATO is located in Kosovo, we will not allow the persecution of the Serbian people.” We have had enough Storms, Flashes, many accidents and we will not allow more such accidents of our people”, he said on the same occasion.
And 2019 was also turbulent, and the Storm and the Flash were often mentioned again. And then there were three major actions of arresting police officers in the North, mentioned above in May, in October the arrest of the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo and in the same month when two policemen were arrested in connection with the murder of Oliver Ivanovic.
There was also a crisis with 100 % taxes on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina introduced by the then Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramuš Haradinaj.
In that year, elections were also held in Kosovo, when Aljbin Kurti came to power for the first time.
In October 2019, on TV Prva, Vucic told the Serbian opposition that they allowed the March persecution to happen, while the SNS will “never do that to anyone” and neither will Storm. “We lost a lot of people and we lost a lot of hearths,” he said.
“As I have said many times, we will never allow the year 2004, as allowed by those from the DOS regime, with the persecution of the Serbian people, nor the Storm, nor many other things”
New judgment days – announcements from various places and with tabloid confirmation
The scenario of the tragedy of the Serbs in Croatia in the summer of 1995, which threatens to be repeated for the Serbs from Kosovo, is announced by the President of Serbia from various places and occasions – from television studios, through factory halls, military exercises, reviews, tours of the growing economy, tours of health institutions and points for vaccination during the pandemic, to Andric’s wreath itself and meeting the children.
Having previously met with dozens of children from the “Serbia is Calling” sports camp, which was organized for young athletes from Kosovo, Republika Srpska and the diaspora, he made a new dramatic announcement, but instead of Storm and Flash, he specified a message about the liquidation, in a similar tone as when Milan Radoicic escaped the first arrest:
“They are preparing the liquidations of our people in the North and I tell you that openly and I warn them not to do it under the guise of fighting crime and I don’t know why.” Don’t kill people, and we don’t want to kill anyone, we need peace and stability”.
The decision of the Kosovo authorities of June 29 to implement the registration of vehicles in the North on RKS plates and to abolish the Serbian plates of cities in the Republic of Kosovo from September 1, and to issue an entry-exit document to persons entering Kosovo with Serbian ID cards as a reciprocal measure, Vucic explained to the public on the same day as follows:
“The decision has only one goal, to expel the Serbs from Kosovo, to create a new Storm where they, within two months, their Ministry of Internal Affairs to convince the Serbs to register in the so-called RKS Albanian plates. If they register, great, I guess they will give them leaflets. This was also done in the Second World War, so that we are free when they occupy us. This is how they will now work in the North of Kosovo, so they will convince the Serbs about everything they offer. Well, if they don’t convince them, then they will steal not only license plates but also vehicles, and then which of the Serbs will survive, they don’t even know, nor do they care, since they expect that all the Serbs will leave.”
Again mentioning the danger of Storm and Lightning for the Serbs in the North, Vucic also announced “a general attack on the North by October 1 at the latest”, emphasizing that “Quinta supports the Albanians” and that the Serbian List “will not tolerate that anymore”.
The President’s dramatic announcements have been followed for years by the covers of Serbian tabloids and special programs on national television.
In anticipation of the latest announcement about the Storm and Flash of the Serbs from the North until October 1, which was repeated this summer by other government officials, including the appearance of the Serbian Prime Minister, to make such announcements even more dramatic, the tabloids in Belgrade also tried their best at the beginning of this July.
Everything that Aleksandar Vucic said on June 29 at “the harshest press conference with which he will go down in history” was the topic of these media for days.
There are three messages: A storm is brewing, Kurti wants war, and Europe supports the attack on the Serbs, although Vucic used the term “Quinta” in his original address.
Although headlines in tabloids usually follow the president’s speeches, there are also the opposite situations, when a dramatic warning is highlighted on the cover, and then such a question is asked to Vucic at a media conference or in the studio of one of the television stations.
When Vecernje Novosti published “FOUR TARGETS FOR CHAOS IN KOSOVO” on its front page on October 9, 2020, about the fact that “Serbs in Kosovo, especially those in the enclaves, will be the target of organized provocations and attacks by Albanians in the coming days, and all with the aim of creating instability that would lead to a new halt in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina as well as obstruction of cooperation with the Special Court in The Hague”, Vucic also said that there would be no new Storms.
The President of Serbia has often in various broadcasts during these few years, with regular mentions of Storm and Flash, to describe the situation in Kosovo, most often in the same sentence or monologue announced that violence will not happen.
Also, along with them, he often vividly plays with other catchphrases, proverbs and quotes.
“There will be no new storms and flashes and persecution of our people, nor the persecution of 2004. If that is a threat and a great sin, then I am the most sinful man in the world,” he said on October 16, 2021, on TV Prva, but also added, with paraphrasing Gandhi’s quote:
“During the storm, small birds hide and try to hide at all costs everywhere, so that they are nowhere to be found, and eagles fly the most at that time, so in difficult times you can see who has courage, who has guts, and to put it slang, mice are hiding”.
Also, sometimes the mention of Storm and Flash is the backbone of his verbal address, and sometimes he only mentions it casually. Before leaving for the Brdo-Brioni summit, on May 21 this year, also for TV Prva, he spoke about “the people who changed the borders of Serbia and Yugoslavia”:
“Those people changed the borders of Serbia, then Yugoslavia – in 1990, 1991, 1992. Then they attacked Serbia, killed our children, destroyed our bridges and our villages and towns. Then they said it was because of a humanitarian disaster. And if you say – well, we Serbs have done all kinds of things – to get over it, even though it is not easy to get over it, then in 2004, they attacked the Serbs in Kosovo, expecting that the storm would repeat itself. Then in 2008, since the Serbs did not flee from Kosovo, they decided on the independence of Kosovo. So, in 2008, you made a decision contrary to the UN, the UN General Assembly. You changed the borders of a sovereign country, at least 85.90-95 of you, how many countries recognized Kosovo in total. So when did you remember, respected gentlemen, to respect the principle of the immutability of borders?!”
Tonight, he will also speak on TV Prva, after an interview with the American ambassador in Belgrade, Christopher Hill, will be broadcast on RTS. Next week in Brussels, he will meet with Albin Kurti before the next moves from Belgrade and Pristina are made on the field on September 1.
The Real Storm
In the Croatian operation “Storm”, from August 4 to 8, 1995, the Serbian people, more than 200,000 of them, forcibly left their homes after the fall of the then Krajina, which was not recognized by the Croatian authorities established after the breakup of Yugoslavia. There is a figure of just under 2,000 missing or dead Serbs, of which more than half are civilians, almost three-quarters are over 60 years old and more than 500 are women.
During this operation, the Croatian armed forces committed systematic and widespread crimes against the civilian population of Serbian nationality.
According to the data of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights from 2001, 410 civilians who decided to stay in their homes when the military operation started were killed during and immediately after this operation, but it is emphasized that this list is not final.
During the commemoration of the anniversary this August, the Humanitarian Law Fund (HLF) reminded that, even after 27 years, justice for the victims of the “Storm” has not been achieved, neither in Croatia when it comes to the prosecution of crimes, nor in Serbia, where no victim of the “Storm” even today has the status of a civilian victim of the war.
“In addition to the fact that the victims and their families are invisible to the institutions of Serbia, the markings ignore the facts about the forced mobilization of refugees, but also about the ethnic cleansing that Serbian forces carried out before the “Storm” in the territory of the so-called Republic of Serbian Krajina. In addition to the central commemorations, the representatives of the authorities in Serbia throughout the year instrumentalize the memory of the “Storm” for the purpose of intimidation, war incitement, confrontation with political opponents and historical revisionism”, they indicated in the HLC on August 4 of this year.
Tatjana Lazarević, KoSSev