"I know that there was an attack on Dubrovnik and that Montenegro participated in it. I also know that it happened in the '90s," says twenty-year-old Marko, a student from Podgorica.
He also told Radio Free Europe (RSE) that he "knows nothing" about the victims.
Of the 55 percent of young people in Montenegro who know about the attack on Dubrovnik, 63 percent do not know or refuse to answer the question about the number of people killed in that attack, according to the results of research by the Center for Civic Education (CGO) in September of this year.
Today marks thirty-three years since the attack on Dubrovnik, Croatia.
During the siege of Dubrovnik until May 1992, 116 civilians, 194 Croatian defenders and 165 members of the JNA from Montenegro died.
The attack began on October 1, 1991. It was carried out by the forces of the then Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) with the participation of Montenegrin reservists.
33.000 civilians were expelled and more than 2.000 residential buildings were destroyed, including Dubrovnik's Old Town, which is under the protection of UNESCO.
Damir Suljević, coordinator for human rights at CGO, says that young people born in the 90s did not have the opportunity to gain objective knowledge about these events.
"Unfortunately, there is still a large number of young people who believe that the military action was justified," says Suljević.
What do young people know about the attack on Dubrovnik
Marija, a literature student from Nikšić, says that the attack on Dubrovnik came from Montenegro and Serbia, which were in Yugoslavia.
"I think a few hundred people died. I also know about the statement of a Montenegrin politician (Milo Đukanović) who said that he 'froze chess because of the checkerboard,' the symbol on the Croatian flag," Marija told RFE/RL.
He believes that the attack was caused by the war propaganda of politicians in Belgrade and Podgorica.
At the time of the attack, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) was in power in Montenegro. The president of the country was Momir Bulatović, and the prime minister was Milo Đukanović. Serbia was headed by Slobodn Milošević.
"I'm sorry that Dubrovnik was destroyed because the consequences of the attack, and above all the lives lost, affect both countries even today," concludes Marija.
And Vuk, a law student from Nikšić, knows that the attack on Dubrovnik was carried out by the JNA with the participation of Montenegrin reservists:
"And I know that the material damage was huge, but I don't know the number of human victims".
For Dijana, a student at the Faculty of Medicine, the attack on Dubrovnik is "part of the conflict between Montenegro and Croatia".
"Unfortunately, the tensions that are the result of that war are still present. Even today, people, for example from Nikšić, travel to parts of Croatia with caution," Dijana believes.
Attitudes of young people through CGO research
The CGO survey showed that more than half of those who heard about the attack stated that it was an unjustified military action, while 16 percent believed that the attack was justified.
Damir Suljević points out that two-thirds of young people stated that Montenegro participated in the wars of the '90s on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, while almost one-fifth of those surveyed believed the opposite.
He believes that in their case the education system "failed".
"Unfortunately, they do not get objective knowledge through the formal education system and without what are ideological admixtures that come from family or other people in their environment".
He reminds that the '90s are studied in the final grades of primary and secondary school, but in the last weeks of the school year when students' attention is less focused on the material.
"These topics must be studied continuously and not only through the subject of history. Civic education was a subject through which these topics were dealt with in an objective way."
No one has been prosecuted in Montenegro
It is estimated that around 7.000 reservists from Montenegro participated in the attack on Dubrovnik.
For war crimes committed during the siege of Dubrovnik before the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, General Pavle Strugar was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in the shelling of the city.
Vice Admiral Miodrag Jokić was sentenced to seven years, while Admiral Milan Zec was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
To date, no criminal proceedings have been initiated in Montenegro due to war crimes in the Dubrovnik area.
An apology to Croatia for the suffering and losses caused by Montenegrin soldiers, especially in the area of Dubrovnik, was sent by Milo Đukanović in 2000 as Prime Minister of Montenegro.
The minister does not know the number of victims of the attack on Dubrovnik
Minister of Human and Minority Rights Fatmir Đeka told RSE that he does not know how many victims there were during the attack on Dubrovnik, from both sides.
"It's normal that I didn't know a lot of things either. I didn't even have the opportunity to look at some things in such detail, not even the number of victims."
"That's why it's all the more reason to teach not only children, but society as a whole about the events in Dubrovnik and other crimes," said Đeka.
He spoke on the subject of the siege of Dubrovnik at the opening of the exhibition of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights.
Đeka said that he was a teenager during the attack on Dubrovnik and that he remembers those events.
"And I am one of those who teach my children about it. And not only for Dubrovnik, but also for what happened in Bosnia and Kosovo, so that things like this do not happen again and that through the culture of memory, we work affirmatively for our children , to be a society of tolerance".
Bonus video:
