The Bosnian Serb capital of Pale was not the only place where the fall of Srebrenica in July, 1995, was greeted with joy and jubilation. More subdued, yet hardly dissimilar, were the proud feelings for the “brave Serbs” expressed in Athens, Salonika, Larissa, and many other Greek cities. This was a fight between us (the Orthodox commonwealth) and them (Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, and the West),and we won.
One could sense the excitement in the voices of Greek television news casters as they reported the “fall” of Srebrenica and the “total defeat” of the “Muslims.” Their excitement was understandable. After all, this victory was a combined Greek-Serbian achievement, epitomized, according to media reports, by hoisting the Greek flag alongside Serbia’s in defeated Srebrenica. Placed there by Greek paramilitaries who were fighting alongside the Bosnian Serbs, this surreal scene underlined the fact that there existed a single country in the European Union that did not share the same perceptions with the West concerning the conflict in Bosnia.
The same night the Bosnian village fell, the Greek national television station MEGA conducted a telephone interview with a brave Greek from Srebrenica: “After the artillery stopped its bombardment we moved in and ‘cleaned up’ the place!” he informed the audience, his voice trembling from excitement.
According to the Greek daily Ethnos, four flags were raised in the ruins of Srebrenica's Orthodox Church: the Serb, the Greek, that of Vergina, and that of Byzantium. “They are flying now side by side,” reported Ethnos, “a living proof of the love and solidarity of the two peoples and of the gratitude which the Serb soldiers feel for the help from the Greek volunteers who are fighting on their side.”
One could sense the excitement in the voices of Greek television news casters as they reported the “fall” of Srebrenica and the “total defeat” of the “Muslims.” Their excitement was understandable. After all, this victory was a combined Greek-Serbian achievement, epitomized, according to media reports, by hoisting the Greek flag alongside Serbia’s in defeated Srebrenica. Placed there by Greek paramilitaries who were fighting alongside the Bosnian Serbs, this surreal scene underlined the fact that there existed a single country in the European Union that did not share the same perceptions with the West concerning the conflict in Bosnia.
The same night the Bosnian village fell, the Greek national television station MEGA conducted a telephone interview with a brave Greek from Srebrenica: “After the artillery stopped its bombardment we moved in and ‘cleaned up’ the place!” he informed the audience, his voice trembling from excitement.
According to the Greek daily Ethnos, four flags were raised in the ruins of Srebrenica's Orthodox Church: the Serb, the Greek, that of Vergina, and that of Byzantium. “They are flying now side by side,” reported Ethnos, “a living proof of the love and solidarity of the two peoples and of the gratitude which the Serb soldiers feel for the help from the Greek volunteers who are fighting on their side.”
Category
📚
Learning