November 08, 2013.

On the occasion of 20th anniversary of one of the worst Urbicide in the 20 century - 20 years since the destruction of the Old Bridge in Mostar

Press releases of the Institute for Research of Genocide, Canada

On this day 20 years ago, the famous Old Bridge in Mostar was destroyed by the Croatian Defence Council. It was built between 1557 - 1566, by a Turkish builder named Hayruddin. After years of renovation, the « new-old bridge » was unveiled in 2004 and became a UNESCO the World Heritage site.

The construction of the bridge began on October 24th, 1557. The construction of the bridge required 456 blocks of stones and it cost 300,000 akči (Ottoman Empire’s currency at that time). The stone was a famous tenelija stone, obtained from a quarry located approximately five kilometers south of the city. The workers were mostly carpenters and stone masons from Dubrovnik and Kaza Popovo. The bridge was completed nine years later in 1566. It is important to note that the city was named after the protectors of the local bridge.

Destruction of the Old Bridge – a symbol of Serbo-Croatian agression on Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and genocide against its citizens.

After the release of Tudjman’s 36 transcripts, it revealed that the destruction of the old bridge was part of Croatia’s deliberate campaign of aggression on Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was reflected as, among other things urbicide.

The evidence of methods of urbicide during the Croatian aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina is clear in Tudjman’s conversation with Janko Bobetko and Roso on November 6th, 1993 – four days before the destruction of the Old Bridge. At one point Tudjman seeks from Roso to “enforce some elements of intimidation against Bosniaks": so that can "secure these new Croatian borders, you have everything at your disposal, except for chemical weapons." To which Roso replied: "There is a problem as to the charging mixed type and they are very large, we can not separate them , 500 kg , it would destroy an entire city chemically ... I keep it as a trump card , our people from Bosnia and Herzegovina know it. "

Just four days later, an emergency meeting was organized regarding the destruction of the Old Bridge in Mostar." Tudjman demanded information about the destruction of the Old Bridge. Now Tudjman asks, " Well, by the way, the Mostar Bridge, who destroyed it?" Mate Boban - a significant contributor in the history of war cynicism- answered: "There were terrible rains." The Old Bridge was therefore destroyed by Pero Zubac’s poetry, and his "Mostar rains” Poem. Tudjman was still cautiously, asking, "Will we be accused again." This started the whole strategy of concealing crimes: an agreement to contact the connections in the Spanish battalion of the UN, to ask the foreign troops to lie that Corats did not destroy the Old Bridge in Mostar.

Mate Granic stated "to have this information, have it all, because if they say a good information, it is excellent, otherwise it is on CNN ..." . Tudjman : "Otherwise, among us , the destructio in a military sense, to whose favor does it go to? " Mate Granic , "To us." Because the greater panic arises when trying to conceal the actual role of the Croatian war in Bosnia.

Institute for Research of Genocide Canada would like to emphasize that Tudjman’s transcripts provide the most direct evidence of Croatian aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, these same transcripts are also used in ICTY as evidence during the Slobodan Praljak trial to prove his involvement in the destruction of the Old Bridge.

The Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found that the conflict between the HVO and the ABiH during this period was of an international character – aggression

The HVO besieged East Mostar between June 1993 and April 1994. During this period, East Mostar and the neighborhood of Donja Mahala in the west were subjected to a prolonged military assault by the HVO, including intense and uninterrupted gunfire and shelling. This firing and shelling caused many casualties, including the deaths of many civilians and representatives of international organisations. Ten mosques were badly damaged or destroyed. The HVO impeded and at times even completely cut off the passage of humanitarian aid. The Muslim population was thus forced to live in extremely harsh conditions, deprived of food, water, electricity and adequate care. Many women, including one 16-year-old girl, were raped by HVO soldiers before being forced across the front line to East Mostar. On 8 November 1993, as part of the offensive, a HVO tank fired throughout the day at the Old Bridge until it was unusable and on the verge of collapse. The bridge then collapsed on the morning of 9 November 1993. The Chamber found that although the bridge was used by the ABiH and thus constituted a legitimate military target for the HVO, its destruction caused disproportionate damage to the Muslim civilian population of Mostar. On the morning of 23 October 1993, HVO armed forces launched an offensive on the village of Stupni Do. Soldiers from the Maturice and Apostoli special units raped and sexually abused three women from the village. During the attack, they also killed 36 people, including three children aged 13, 8 and 3. The entire village was destroyed and the villagers were stripped of their belongings. The Chamber found that the conflict between the HVO and the ABiH during this period was of an international character. Evidence showed that troops of the Croatian Army fought alongside the HVO against the ABiH and that the Republic of Croatia had overall control over the armed forces and the civilian authorities of the Croatian Community (and later Republic) of Herzeg-Bosna. The Chamber found that a joint criminal enterprise (JCE) existed and had as its ultimate goal the establishment of a Croatian territorial entity with part of the borders of the Croatian Banovina of 1939 to enable a reunification of the Croatian people. This Croatian territorial entity in BiH was either to be united with Croatia following the prospective dissolution of BiH, or become an independent state within BiH with direct ties to Croatia. As early as December 1991, the leadership of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna (which included Mate Boban, president of the Croatian Community (and later Republic) of Herceg-Bosna) and Croatian leaders (including Franjo Tuđman, the president of Croatia) deemed that in order to achieve the ultimate goal, namely the establishment of a Croatian territorial entity as previously described, it was necessary to modify the ethnic composition of the territories claimed to be part of the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna. From at least the end of October 1992, Prlić, Stojić, Petković and Praljak were aware that achieving this goal went against the peace talks conducted in Geneva and would entail moving Muslim populations out of the territory of Herceg-Bosna.

Institute for Research of Genocide Canada would like to remind the public worldwide that the destruction was a barbaric act, which re-pressed, awakened conscience of the world. It is an act that proves the Croatian aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For 427 years, the Old Bridge stood as a symbol of outstanding architectural beauty and building skills; as well as a symbol of Bosnia and Herzegovina, attracting interest from poets, painters, travel writers , tourists around the world. It also impressed modern builders and architects that such a structure could be built in 1566. One who can bring down such architectural beauty and world- decoration cannot belong to man and civilization.

Professor Emir Ramic

Chairman of the Institute for Research of Genocide, Canada