What Tuđman said ahead of Storm

What Tuđman said ahead of Storm

Some of the footage constitutes for the basis of the Hague war crimes indictments against the three Storm generals: Ante Gotovine, Ivan Čermak and Mladen Markač.

The Hague prosecution considers the contents of the video as proof of existence of a criminal enterprise to forcibly remove Serb population from Croatia.

“To solve it, but to solve it in what way? That’s the topic for today’s discussion. To deal blows that will make the Serbs all but disappear, in other words, those we don’t reach immediately, must capitulate in the next few days,” late Croatian president Franjo Tuđman told the meeting.

The Hague prosecution sees this sentence as proof that ethnic cleansing was planned, while the Croatian state television (HRT) reporter says the prosecution quoted Tuđman only up to the point where he says Serbs should practically disappear, whereas, according to the HTV, the rest of the sentence “shows Tuđman meant the Serb military forces, not the Serb population”.

“Therefore, our main task in not Bihać, but rather dealing such blows on several fronts that will leave the Serb forces unable to recover, making them capitulate,” the footage shows Tuđman saying.

“We need to take into account that some troops will act directly toward Knin, and especially… gentlemen, remember how many Croatian towns and cities were destroyed, which is still not the case with Knin today…,” Tuđman continued.

Gotovina responded: “President, at this point we are in complete control of Knin. That’s not at all … if the orders are to strike at Knin, we’ll have it completely destroyed in a matter of hours”.

Gotovina then discusses tactics with Tuđman and speaks about ways for residents to leave the area.

“As I said, and as we said, they should be given an exit here, so they can… because it is important that the civilians go through, and then the army and when the columns go past, this will have a psychological effect on both,” Tuđman said.

According to the HTV, Tuđman told his generals the operation received backing from Germany and NATO.

Tuđman: We also have the U.S. support, but up to a certain point, if you, gentlemen, will carry it out in a professional manner, as you did in Western Slavonia, to last a couple of days, and that means, three, four days, please, eight days maximum.

Some parts of the video refer to the tactics to use propaganda to encourage the exodus of the Serb civilians.

Tuđman: A leaflet to say this: general disarray, Croatian army victory achieved with the world’s support, etc. “Serbs, you are already withdrawing”, etc, “while we ask you not to, we guarantee…”, meaning, thus provide them with an exit, and at the same time seemingly guarantee their human rights [smiles].

Croatia’s state prosecution earlier confirmed that the footage was genuine.

Estimates show that at least 150 Serb civilians died during Operation Storm, while tens of thousands were driven from their homes in Croatia, with property destroyed to make sure they would never return.

Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markač and Ivan Čermak currently stand trial at the Hague Tribunal.