25.01.2018.

The Battle of Košare and Paštrik are the Bravest and the Most Beautiful Image of our Armed Forces

A press conference on the occasion of filming a documentary-feature film “Standing in Defence of the Fatherland – the War Stories from Košara and Paštrik“ about the combats during 1999, was held today on the Belgrade Fair in Studio 4 of the Public Broadcasting Service (RTS).

The present were addressed by Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin, the author of the film and editor of the Information programme of RTS, Slađana Zarić, Colonel Duško Šljivančanin, retired General Dragan Živanović, and retired Lieutenant Colonel Vidoje Kovačević.

Minister Vulin stated that it was high time in the eve of the twentieth anniversary we let those heroes to say the truth, and let others feel ashamed. That battle, as the minister pointed out, had showed a great strength and great courage of our soldiers, and then decades later it showed great cowardice and shame of our politicians. He also stressed that we must not allow others to write our history, or that others tell our future generations what their fathers did, and to make them feel defeated and humiliated when their fathers did not allow that.

- Let those who attacked this country feel ashamed. We have no reason to feel ashamed, we only have reason to be proud. When the President of Serbia and Supreme Commander Aleksandar Vučić broke that conspiracy of silence by erecting monument to Tibor Cerna, the truth could not be kept hidden any more. Serbia finally got its chance to express gratitude and to repay by dedicating monuments, boulevard, street, film and truth about our heroes. They are the example of what Serbia should be like in the most tragic and difficult moments. It is not because we want the war to repeat, but because we wish to remember those who showed the best image of this people in the imposed war. We do not agree to a lie that we caused, initiated or asked, in any way, for the NATO Aggression and the attack on our country. We are not responsible for that. Even after all these decades, all those who became wise after the events have happened, have still not managed to find a sufficiently good explanation of how we are to be blamed for the war after all. Now they are no longer saying that we are to be blamed, but they say that everything that happened should be forgotten, and that we should continue living. The only thing that I accept is that we should continue living, but I do not accept that we are not to tell the truth; the truth about these people, their courage, their self-sacrifice and expertise – Minister Vulin said.

According to his words, the battles of Košare and Paštrik are the bravest and most beautiful image of our armed forces, the most tragic place, the place of truth where it was shown that perseverance, stubbornness, toughness and skill of our armed forces have no equal in any other.

- That battle demonstrated a great strength and great courage of our soldiers, and then, decades later, it demonstrated a great cowardice and shame of our politicians. These battles have not been talked about for almost 20 years. This terrible truth has not been talked about for almost 20 years, and this is the first time that the state of Serbia, Serbian Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence have addressed the battles of Košare and Paštrik in an organised and scientific fashion. This is the first time that we have not been ashamed of our selves nor our truth, that we have not been ashamed of our superior officers and soldiers who were defending us and managed to defend us, and this is the first time that we have given them a chance to tell the truth to save it from oblivion and keep it in history. And it is the truth of which we are not ashamed and it makes us proud. We are proud of each soldier, each offices and warrior of Košare and Paštrik and we are proud of every officer and warrior who participated in defence against NATO Aggression – Minister Vulin pointed out.

As the minister of defence said, some other countries and nations would not have kept quiet for 20 years, and they would be immensely proud from the first day.
- We have been waiting for 20 years. We are righting the wrong and we are proving that in every generation of the Serbian people, when the times are difficult and the most tragic, there are always some heroes of Košare and Paštrik born. Just like always and in every war. And even when we think that there are no such heroes, that it is all the heroic stories from the past, and when that terrible moment comes, this people shows its energy and why it has been lasting for so long and why it is capable of resisting the far more powerful and stronger. It is like that because the heroes of Košare and Paštrik are born in every generation. We have no right not to tell that truth, to leave it to future generations so that the others can learn our history, to allow our children to know who their fathers were and why they have right to live in their country freely, nor we have right to allow them not to know the truth about Košare and Paštrik – Minister Vulin stressed and added that it would not be the last joint project, because he personally cared to document everything from the wars of the nineties, NATO aggression, to preserve the truth through testimonies of all those who had waged wars and defended their country and their people.

- We will deal with film, publishing, and each of these heroes will have an opportunity to have their experiences published instead of just being kept in some archives, so that the nation can be familiarised with them, to save them from oblivion just like we learned about the heroes of the First and Second World War from their telling and memoires. And just like that, we will learn about the heroes of the wars of the nineties and resistance to the NATO Aggression from their telling, experiences and views. None of them is to leave the stage of life without leaving behind testimonies of that dreadful time when they made us proud no matter how difficult it was and no matter how much we wish every single day that those times never repeated. Everything that we do, even when we make a film about Košare and Paštrik our desire is for the war never to happen again. Never. But we much like wish to show respect, our appreciation and our gratitude to everyone who sacrificed his life and health for his country – Minister Vulin underlined.

This country exists owing to those men – Minister of Defence stressed.

- Though it is the matter to be judged by military historians, and the time will come when they will speak about it, it is not difficult to conclude that if the battle of Košare and Paštrik had not taken place, and if that first and the toughest attack succeeded, and if the land intervention had been successful, they would have hardly stopped only in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija; and we would hardly have had the Agreement of cease of hostilities, but instead, we would have had capitulation; and we would hardly have had the Resolution 1244 on the basis of which we are still entitled to Kosovo and Metohija, which makes our legal grounds to continue our struggle for Kosovo and Metohija, but instead, because of the capitulation, we would have had some other state in our territory that we would be forced to recognise. This is just my opinion, and the military historians will give their judgement, but these are the facts – Minister Vulin added and thanked the RTS for its great efforts, sincere desire and need to make the film about Košare and Paštrik, and about every warrior and commanding officer who had agreed to come and tell his truth and talk about difficult moments which they had kept just for themselves.

- I would like to thank them for the human courage to face the cameras, for sharing with us that terrible and proud moment. In the times to come, they as well will see the true magnitude of what they have done. Maybe in this moment they are still unaware of the greatness of what they did; neither the officers nor the soldiers. Perhaps, it is only the next generation that will understand what they did, how much all of us should truly be grateful, and it is up to us to prepare that truth in this way as well for the future generations which we must not burden with shame, since these men did not leave the burden of shame. We as well must not allow that others write the history for them, that others tell them what their fathers did, to try to make them feel defeated and humiliated since their fathers did not allow it – Minister Vulin concluded.

The author of the film Slađana Zarić explained that the specificity of this film, in comparison to the others that dealt with this topic, was that it involved all the units which participated in the events in 1998 and 1999 in Košare and Paštrik.

- I wanted to tell you a story and depict the hell that reigned there. It is very difficult for us, after so much time that passed, to comprehend what those people endured. Not for a moment did they falter. I would like to pay respect to the superior officers of that time, but I would stress the role of the soldiers in particular. Our youth died in Košare. Those were the soldiers who were 18, 19 or 20, who did not say no at any time. Košare is very important battle and it will have its great place in the history of the Serbian people. I believe that some future generations will learn great deal from this film, because the film will present the huge importance of precisely that moral value, perseverance and the way how the fatherland should be defended – the author of the film said and thanked the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces for having had confidence in her to work on such a project.

General Živanović, who at the time commanded the 125th Motorised Brigade, expressed his satisfaction with the film finally being made about those events in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija from 1998 to 1999, and because all the participants could express their opinion and notions so that it could remain as a lesson to the future generations. He added that all had until that moment wrote about a part of the experiences which was kept in archives and used by the colleagues who train the professional segment of the Serbian Armed Forces.

Colonel Duško Šljivančanin, then Commander of the 53rd Border Battalion, explained that it was the cruellest and the hardest segment of our state border in any sense.

- In that part of the state border, our soldiers of the border units have always lost their lives, and the names of the watch towers confirm that. That border was more defended that secured. On that 9th April 1999, the members of the 53rd border battalion, or 120 soldiers who were at that moment on the watch tower Košare, received the first, initial and the toughest attack inflicting losses to the aggressor, and stopped them at the state border and enabled the 125th motorised brigade and other units to arrive to defend the state border – Colonel Šljivančanin said and added that the film should be dedicated to those who waged those difficult fights.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Vidoje Kovačević, then Chief of Staff of the 63rd Parachute Brigade, spoke about his first impression during the arrival of the parachute combat group on the location of the combat actions.

- We gave huge psychological and positive momentum both to the units of the border battalion and the 125th brigade. I would like to emphasise that the Parachute Brigade considered it a great honour to be engaged and we are proud of having participated in the protection of the sovereignty of the FRY and protection of our people and fatherland – colonel Kovačević said.

The film is being made to mark the 20th anniversary of the battles of Košare and Paštrik in the co-production of the Public Broadcasting Service, Ministry of Defence, and Military Film Centre “Zastava Film”, and the first showing is scheduled for the next year. Film is a sign of gratitude to all those who protected the border of the fatherland in 1999, but it is also a tribute to all those who gave their lives to defend the country.