The 25th anniversary of the start of the bombing of the former Yugoslavia was marked on March 24.
For 25 years now the Serbian and Albanian people mark and commemorate March 24 with mutually opposing views and experiences, stressing the victims on their side, while seemingly ignoring the suffering of the other.
Serbs morosely remember this tragedy, in which, in addition to the members of the army, civilians were killed, while people see it as the beginning of the occupation. Albanians, on the other hand, perceive this day as salvation from suffering under the Milošević regime, at the same time as the beginning of a humanitarian disaster, and then the liberation of Kosovo all the way to its independence, now with the almost obligatory claims of „genocide“.
Exactly the same messages were sent on this anniversary.
Pristina officials reacted mostly on their social networks throughout the day.
On the other hand, from the town of Prokuplje – where the first NATO bomb fell, the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, addressed the nation.
It was his words at this central event marking the anniversary of the NATO bombing that caught the attention of the Belgrade tabloids at the beginning of this week.
Previously, on the day of the anniversary itself, the front pages were filled with commemorations of a quarter of a century since the NATO aggression against FR Yugoslavia, with a focus on the memories and sadness of the Serbian people, the victims, and the tragedy that befell the country 25 years ago.
On Sunday, March 24, Novosti stressed the day when „the US-led alliance destroyed and killed thousands of people because of a fake humanitarian disaster in Kosovo and Metohija.“
With the central headline on its Sunday front page, „NATO crime in Serbia a demonstration exercise for the whole world“, this daily devoted 10 pages to this topic for its readers.
Srpski Telegraf prepared a special addition to their regular paper for Sunday concerning the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing and promoted it on the front page with the title „Crime without punishment“.
News outlets such as Vesti, Alo, and Dnevnik had similar news items, while Informer tabloid decided to quote the current Minister of Defense of Serbia on the day of the 25th anniversary:
„Vučević: Kosovo will be Serbian forever.“
The next day, the Serbian president’s quotes from Prokuplje dominated the headlines.
One of his most quoted messages was the following:
„They killed our children, ripped apart our territory, but despite everything, we are stronger and Serbia is alive“ – read the front pages of Kurir and Novosti.
Kurir also reported on its front page:
„Nineteen of the most powerful and strongest attacked Serbia, without any right and for the first time without a decision of the Security Council. Nevertheless, Serbia has been awakened.“
Politika, Dnevnik, Alo opted for a similar encouraging quote from the Serbian president from Prokuplje:
„They will never take away our freedom.“Serbia is free, defiant, and brave“.
Srpski Telegraf also quoted Vučić, namely the part of his speech in which he says that „Serbia can recognize and despise those who serve foreigners.“
On March 25, the same tabloid highlighted the confession of General Jovan Milanović with the details of the 1999 bombing:
„NATO code apocalypse – Plan to raze Serbia to the ground. A famous informant on the details of the aggression.“
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
