A WARNING TO TUDJMAN AND THE SERBS

AIM, ZAGREB, February 15, 1994

The fiftieth day is passing since an explosion which, at 4.18 h a.m., at dawn of celebration of the birth of Christ, shook up the ancient city centre and startled the already benumbed citizens of Karlovac to that kind of noise.

Unfortunately and naturally, it has still not been established who and why tore down a part of the building of the Upper Karlovac Orthodox eparchy. The terroristic act was hurriedly and seriously condemned by the Government and the Catholic dignitaries, and President Tudjman, and numerous local and state officials. It was expected that the perpetrators would soon be brought to justice. After all, it was promised they would be. True enough, something is happening in connection with this event day and night, hundreds of flats are searched and even more informative interviews are going on, polygraphic measurements are made, but, unfortunately, the law, justice and the public have still not been satisfied.

The latest "bang" in Karlovac, terrified, embittered and offended many, and only those who deliberately shut their eyes and the naive can misinterpret this terroristic act.

Offended are the ones who feel Christmas as their greatest holiday, those who truly feel that it implies peace, love and forgiveness.

Embittered are the ones who know that this is a warning to Tudjman and the official policy to withdraw from all negogiations with both Milosevic and the Serbs from Krajina.

Terrified are the ones who are aware that this way of getting even with something and someone has gone too far and that it is impossible to stop it. The Serbs from Karlovac are especially terrified. Already "awarded" by the state by blasting of their own houses, dismissals, refusal of citizenships and curious recruitments, they look upon everything with big eyes. The building of the Upper Karlovac Eparchy was the last symbol of their cultural heritage.

First, "someone" tore down tombstones at the Orthodox cemetery in Dubovica (but, this was not exclusive, they were torn down at the Jewish cemetery too). Almost for two years, the Orthodox Church of St. Nicolas was tormented and finally torn down to its foundations - a monument in the centre of the old city. They say that it was first hit by an airplane bomb the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) devoted to the Catholic church of Saint Pentecost. But, the work was completed by city dynamiters - and one of the explosions took place precisely at midnight on the New Year's Eve 1993. Noone disassociated oneself from the destruction of the 270-year-old church, nor from the desecration of the cemetery, indeed - the local media were simply overwhelmed with joy. And then, the mortuary at the Orthodox cemetery was blasted, so that now the one at the Catholic cemetery is used.

Curiously enough, the perpetrator was caught, allegedly a mentally disturbed person. Noone wondered where did and how could such a person get the explosive.

When the Eparchy was torn down, the Mayor of Karlovac, Ivan Benic, found the courage and wisdom to condemn the crime the very same day. Publicly. Half secretly, in the relaxed atmosphere of the opening of an exhibition, though, he sympathised with those who said that this "building of criminals" should have been torn down a long time ago. The crime is thus silently diminished, justified by rumours that the Eparchy itself was the centre of the uprising of Serbs from Karlovac.

But, the building was broken into, forced and robbed ever since it was abandoned. It was penetrated into by whoever and whenever wished to. On several occasions it was searched from cellar to attic, and it was exactly known what was in it. How is it possible that all at once there were uniforms of the JNA in it, flags with Serbian symbols, prapaganda material of the banned Serbian Democratic Party? Only if all that had not been put inside right after or right before the destruction.

While the public authorities are silently carrying out their extensive work, the secret ones are planning what and how should be done and who should be allocated the responsibility for the act. And the public, at the market place and in the streets, in the inns and the underground knows it all. Obscure and inquisitive explanations of the Karlovac "bang" circle the city.

Different versions are in circulation: the first says that the building was torn down by the Serbs "over here" who wished to disgrace the homeland and help their rebelious relatives and compatriots; the second says that the destroyers are the Serbs again, but those "from over there", sent to do it by Bishop Nikanor himself; the third, the Serbs again, but the Orthodox priests who had placed the explosives in the building just before they left it and now blew it up by remote control. This was done to prevent possible turning towards the Croatian authorities; the fourth is launched by local journalists whose texts do not contain anything that could be interpreted as a reproach of the terrorists. They wonder what members of the UNPROFOR did on two occasions in the building, implying their involvement, of course, in collusion with the Serbs. But, this does not hold water, not even in the least, because the "blue guys" were here strictly in cooperation and under control of the authorities; the fifth version says that the Eparchy was blasted by the Moslems - revenging themselves both on the Serbs and the Croats at the same time for what they are doing in Bosnia&Herzegovina. And yet, where did the refugees, who are constantly watched both by the authorities and the citizens, get such a quantity of explosives? The sixth story loudly whispers about dissatisfied policemen as the possible "dynamiters". In this way they showed what they think about the new Chief of Police, Dubravko Derk from Cakovec, who is really doing a great deal to stop the outspread Karlovac terrorism of all kinds. If it is true that the destruction is a warning to Derk, then the "confidential" allegations are true that, among others, quite high police officials are responsible for the majority of blastings in Karlovac; the seventh, the least loud and perhaps the closest to the truth is the version that the extremist, opposed to Tudjman, wing of the Army is behind the explosion, and behind it, some of the highest officials of the state institutions. It is not advisable to elaborate this, and yet: where can the experts for blasting and explosives be found? Who guards the keys of the doors behind which large quantities of explosives are found? In a city where everybody follows everybody else, who could undisturbed and unobserved enter and exit the building, take in several hundred kilos (some even say a tone) of explosives? Who could have hours to distribute them so well and so professionally that only the Eparchy is destroyed, and not a single building in its neighbourhood? the urgent and secret investigation also speaks in favour of this hypothesis, which was initiated but also uncompleted in some Karlovac units of the Croatian Army; the eighth, crossword of interests and intentions could have yet another solution. The destruction of the building of the Upper Karlovac Eparchy could be useful for not only one, but several of the mentioned groups. And for the operational, actual cooperation of the villains, there is already too much evidence.

The fact that some time before the explosion the valuable church works of art disappeared is strictly kept away from the public. Some of the seven cases they were stored in were broken into. The policemen who guarded the building spread the story about them. After the destruction, it was publicised that the wealth was saved and taken to Zagreb, but that some of the objects were damaged. But none of the journalists saw them - it was possible to see only a list of what used to be there once. And the list was not correct. For instance, an invaluable iconostasis was on it, and it never had been in the cellar. Some of the relics, candles and incense were taken by the UNPROFOR to Krajina, but that is not all.

Therefore, the messages have been sent. The usual answers were received, too. The usual, formal disassociation of the authorities. For the time being, the also usual inefficiency of the "organs". And the usual impotent resignation of the Serbs "over here", and radicalization of the Serbs "on the other side".

NEVEN STIMAC (176 lines/30=6 pages)