Bishop Atanasije Rakita served a memorial service for the killed and missing throughout the Storm Operation in Croatia yesterday at the St. Marko’s Church in Belgrade, thus commemorating 13 anniversary of the event.

The memorial service was organized by the associations of the missing and killed, while the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Jovan Krkobabic, Deputy Speaker of the National Parliament, Mr. Bozidar Djelic, the President of the Belgrade Assembly, Mr Branislav Belic, and his royal highness, Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, with his wife Katarina attended the service.

The Croatian Storm Operation led to the exodus of over 220, 000 Serbs from Croatia. According to some data, 1, 805 people were registered as missing throughout the operation, while the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights claims that approximately 700 civilians were killed throughout that operation. The documentary information center “Веритас“ registered the names of 1, 960 killed and missing Serbs, out of which 1, 205 civilians, and among them 522 women and 12 children.

Thirteen years after the Storm Operation, out of 220, 000 Serbs in displacement, approximately 70, 000 persons have returned to Croatia. The returnees are mainly the elderly and therefore almost 13, 000 died in Croatia already. Statistic data show that last year around 1, 400 people returned to Croatia, while 3, 800 people came from Croatia to Serbia.

Serbian President Boris Tadic said a day before the commemoration of the Storm anniversary that even though he had apologized for the crimes Serbs had committed against the members of other nations throughout wars in former Yugoslavia, none of the officials from the countries involved in those wars had offered an apology for crimes committed against the Serbs.

Minister of Labor and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic stated that Serbia would ask Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia for an urgent meeting at the ministerial level on the refugee issue and Sarajevo Declaration. We will ask for more active role of the international community – Ljajic said adding that reconciliation in the region wouldn’t be successful without closing the refuge file. Serbia is today among five states in Europe with the largest refugee population and we do not have any right to keep quiet about this – Ljajic said.

The secretary general of the Association of Serbs from Croatia, Mr. Milojko Budimir, said that Croatia hadn’t respected agreed arrangements and agreements. The National Strategy for resolving the problems of refugees and IDPs was adopted in 2002, however it wasn’t implemented in practice – Budimir said.

The Storm Operation anniversary was commemorated in the Republic of Srpska, too. The President of the Association of displaced Serbs from Krajina and Croatia, Mr. Petar Dzodan , said that he hoped the Government of the Republic of Srpska would demand while negotiating with Croatian authorities durable solutions for Serbs who fled from Croatia. According to him, there are 25, 000 refugees from Croatia currently living in the territory of Republic of Srpska, out of whom only one proportion resolved its status, and around 2, 000 are “in practice still under the protection of the Republic of Srpska“.