By promoting the book "Knights of Karađorđe's Star JVUO 1941 - 1945" in the premises of the Pljevlja Municipal Assembly, the local government is deepening divisions and further inciting hatred towards Bosniaks and Muslims, a group of 30 non-governmental organizations and civic activists announced.
They said that the local parliament should not be a place from which "the message is sent that ethnic cleansing is something to be promoted and celebrated."
The promotion of this book has been announced for September 20.
The civil sector says that portraying Chetnik leaders as heroes has a clear goal - to justify the policy of ethnic cleansing they carried out against Muslims and to humiliate the descendants of their victims.
They warned of a "dangerous wave of pro-fascist ideological revisionism" in Montenegro, within which "a book is now being promoted that glorifies Chetnik commanders, collaborators of Hitler and Mussolini."
They point out that Pljevlja is a city where Chetniks killed "thousands of civilians of the Islamic faith, most of whom were children and women" during World War II.
"We recall that Pavle Đurišić's Chetniks committed the most heinous crimes of ethnic cleansing precisely in Pljevlja, Foča and Čajniče, where over 8.000 women, children and the elderly, civilians, members of the Islamic faith, were killed. Brutal rapes, torture, and burning of houses were also committed, which historiography has documented in detail," the statement reads.
The very title of the book, as well as its layout, they said, reveal the ideological intent: "The cover depicts Pavle Đurišić, Draža Mihailović and Momčilo Đujić, the most famous members of this quisling movement."
They believe that the promotion is part of a disinformation campaign aimed at rehabilitating the Chetnik movement and covering up crimes.
"Part of the same campaign is the erection of a monument to Pavle Đurišić, the increasingly frequent singing of Chetnik songs in public places, the organization of memorial services for collaborators, which are reported in detail in the media, the public glorification of Chetniks - war criminals, with the regular omission of key facts from their biographies."
They said that the official organizer of the promotion is the Committee for the Construction of the Church of Reconciliation, headed by Novica Stanić, a former independent MP and president of the Movement for Pljevlja.
"Stanić is known to the public for his call to members of his movement to pray for all Hague prisoners, and especially for the president of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav Šešelj," the statement reads.
They believe that the local government, led by the Mayor Dario Vranes from the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) and the Speaker of the Assembly Jovana Tosic from the Democrats, "governs the municipality as if it were mono-ethnic," even though in Pljevlja, in addition to Serbs, Montenegrins, Bosniaks, and members of other ethnic groups also live. "Instead of building unity, the government is rehabilitating Chetnik ideology and relativizing their crimes against Bosniaks and Muslims," claim NGOs and activists.
They said that it is therefore important to recall historically established and indisputable facts.
"The Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland was proclaimed by decree of King Petar II Karađorđević on June 10, 1942, and disbanded as quisling, also by decree of the same king on August 29, 1944, by which he took away the command from Mihailović and called on the so-called 'Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland' to join the People's Liberation Partisan detachments of Yugoslavia without conditions. The Chetniks ignored this and until the end of the war they fought against the Partisans, collaborated with the Ustashas and the Nazis, and committed crimes with the aim of ethnic cleansing the Muslim population."
They said that this dangerous ideology, "infused in the 1990s," led to numerous and massive crimes, including the genocide in Srebrenica.
"Pljevlja also remembers a member of Šešelj's party and Chetnik vojvoda Milika Ček Dačević, the leader of the paramilitary formations that controlled the city in mid-1992. At that time, there were 25-30 bomb attacks and explosions in Pljevlja, and in one night alone, seven craft shops owned by Muslims were set on fire. In the Pljevlja village of Bukovica, which is inhabited by a majority Muslim population, from 1992 to 1995, six people were killed, two committed suicide due to the effects of torture, 11 people were kidnapped, around 70 were subjected to physical torture, and many were exiled. No one was held accountable for these crimes," they remind.
They say that nationalism and hatred did not disappear after the war-torn 2020s, and "they received a special impulse in Pljevlja after the XNUMX elections."
"That period was marked by a series of nationalist outbursts, including the attack on Emir Pilav and his father, the breaking of the windows of the Islamic Community building with the message 'a black bird has flown, Pljevlja will be Srebrenica', and events glorifying criminals. It is particularly shameful that the local government further contributes to the spread of hatred and fueling nationalist tensions, using the money of all citizens, including those they directly offend, for events such as the celebration of the Orthodox New Year 2024 on July 13th Square, which turned into a Chetnik rampage. All of this is happening with the tacit approval of parties that declare themselves to be civic," the statement reads.
They said that non-governmental organizations and civic activists do not agree with the fact that the local government in Pljevlja "is destroying the community with its activities and teaching new generations about division and hatred."
"Such actions threaten security, and it is the responsibility of all of us who care about Montenegro to stand in their way. We once again call on representatives of state authorities to react decisively against fascism, condemn the promotion of hatred and finally ban it," reads the statement signed by:
- Daliborka Uljarević, Center for Civic Education (CCE)
- Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Human Rights Action (HRA)
- Filip Kuzman, Antifascists of Cetinje
- Ervina Dabižinović, Center for Women's and Peace Education ANIMA
- Milka Tadić Mijović, Center for Investigative Reporting of Montenegro (CIN CG)
- Velija Murić, Montenegrin Committee of Lawyers for the Protection of Human Rights
- Adnan Čirgić, Montenegrin PEN Center
- Milena Popović Samardžić, Ipso Facto
- Demir Ličina, Association Štrpci – against oblivion
- Miloš Vukanović, Association of History Professors of Montenegro - HIPMONT
- Nevenka Vuksanović, Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM)
- Maja Raičević, Center for Women's Rights
- Aida Perovic, Prima
- Ivana Vujovic, Juventus
- Jovan Ulićević, Spectrum Association
- Zenepa Lika, Dr Martin Schneider-Jacoby Association – MSJA
- Slavica Striković, Women's Action
- Milica Kovačević, Center for Democratic Transition (CDT)
- Zlatko Vujović, Center for Monitoring and Transition (CeMI)
- Budimirka Mira Saveljić, Women's Safe House
- Zorana Marković, Center for the Development of Non-Governmental Organizations (CRNVO)
- Olivera Nikolić, Media Institute of Montenegro
- Dina Bajramspahić, civic activist
- Jovana Marović, civic activist
- Paula Petrićević, civic activist
- Milena Bešić, civil activist
- Nikoleta Đukanović, civic activist
- Sabina Talović, civic activist
- Milica Kankaraš Berber, civic activist
- Dušan Pajović, civic activist
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