Timeline Serbia thru 1997
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Dusan was medieval king who extended
Serbian
boundaries to its farthest limits.
(SFC, 9/4/98, p.D5)
Serbia and much smaller Montenegro form the Yugoslav
federation. Serbia's population is 7.5 million, not including its
southern, mostly ethnic Albanian-populated province of Kosovo (2
million), which has been under NATO and U.N. control since 1999. Serbs,
of Slavic origin, comprise 90 percent of the country's people, while
ethnic Hungarians, Muslims and other minorities account for about 10
percent.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.66)
In 2002 The economy showed signs of recovery recently after 13 years of
Milosevic's mismanagement and the end of international sanctions
imposed to stop Milosevic from waging war on his neighbors. The
national currency, the dinar, has been relatively stable since
Milosevic's ouster. Authorities have launched reforms in hopes of
joining the European Union.
(AP, 9/29/02)
6,000BC The
site of Lepenski Vir on the Danube River at the Iron Gates gorges
was occupied by people living in huts. Sculpted boulders at the site
represent the first monumental art from central and eastern Europe.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.24)
33-34AD Road builders linking Roman legionary camps
during the reign of Tiberius left inscriptions in the rock in the
Lepenski Vir region on the Danube near the Iron Gates gorges.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.25)
103-105AD Apolodorus of Damascus built a bridge over
the Danube for Emperor Trajan. It connected the Roman provinces of
Moesia Superior and Dacia (the Yugoslavian and Romanian banks
respectively).
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.26)
1300-1400 Krusevac was the capital of an empire that
included Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, p.A28)
1300-1400 The monastery at Grancanica was built near
Pristina.
(WSJ, 6/24/99, p.A1)
1315 The Church of the Holy Virgin
was built in Musutiste, Kosovo. In 1999 returning Albanians blew up the
church in retaliation for the Serb destruction of their mosque.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A12)
1346 Apr 16, King Stefanus IX of
Serbia proclaimed himself czar of Greece.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1355 Dec 20, Stephen Urosh IV of
Serbia died while marching to attack Constantinople.
(HN, 12/20/98)
1380 Jul 24, Giovanni da
Capistrano, Italian monk, was born. He liberated Belgrade from the
Turks and was later canonized a saint as San Juan de Capistrano. His
name was applied to the southern California mission, best known for its
annual convocation of swallows.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1389 Jun 15, The Serbs were
defeated by Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Kosovo at the Field of the
Blackbirds. In the battle, the Serb prince Lazar was captured by the
Turks and beheaded. Lazar's bones were placed in the monastery at
Grancanica in Kosovo. Sultan Murad, the Ottoman leader was killed in
the battlefield by the wounded son-in-law of King Lazar. Serbs say that
Albanians aided the Turkish invaders. Historical evidence shows that
both forces were multinational and that Serbs and Albanian fought on
both sides. In 1999 Ismail Kadare, Albanian author, wrote "Elegy for
Kosovo," in which he retells the story of the battle. Bosnian King
Tvrtko and other Balkan princes along with Albanians fought under the
command of Serbian Prince Lazar.
(SFC, 12/29/96, BR p.7)(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A8)(WSJ,
5/5/98, p.A20)(HN, 6/15/98)(WSJ, 3/25/99, p.A17)(WSJ, 5/7/99,
p.A1,18)(SFEC, 7/23/00, BR p.7)
1389 Serbs, defeated by the
Ottoman Turks, moved from Kosovo to the Krajina region of Croatia.
(WSJ, 4/22/99, A12)
1448 Oct 19, The Ottoman Sultan
Murat II defeated Hungarian General Janos Hunyadi at Kosovo, Serbia.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1456 Jul 14, Hungarians defeated
the Ottomans at the Battle of Belgrade, in present-day Yugoslavia. The
1456 Siege of Belgrade decided the fate of Christendom.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1456 Jul 22, At the Battle at
Nandorfehervar (Belgrade), the Hungarian army under prince Janos
Hunyadi beat sultan Murad II. The siege of Belgrade had fallen into
stalemate when a spontaneous fight broke out between a rabble of
Crusaders, led by the Benedictine monk John of Capistrano, and the
city's Ottoman besiegers. The melee soon escalated into a major battle,
during which the Hungarian commander, Janos Hunyadi, led a sudden
assault that overran the Turkish camp, ultimately compelling the
wounded Sultan Mehmet II to lift the siege and retreat.
(MC, 7/22/02)(PC, 1992, p.150)(HNPD, 7/23/98)
1459 The Serbs fell under Turkish
rule and all of Serbia became the property of the sultan and all Serbs
became bond-slaves to the land. Serbian national identity survived with
the restoration in 1557 of the Serbian patriarchate at Pec.
(HNQ, 3/25/99)
1459-1912 The Ottoman Empire ruled over the Kosova
region of Serbia.
(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A8)
1463 The Ottomans conquered Bosnia.
(www.bartleby.com/67/314.html)
1471 In Pec the Qarshise Mosque
was built. It was destroyed by Serbs in 1999.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A12)
1521 Sep 28, Turkish sultan
Suleiman I's troops occupied Belgrade.
(MC, 9/28/01)
1521 Suleiman I, the Ottoman
Sultan, conquered Belgrade and invaded Hungary.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1529 Oct 15, Ottoman armies under
Suleiman ended their siege of Vienna and head back to Belgrade. The
Ottomans siege of Vienna was a key battle of world history. The Ottoman
Empire reached its peak with the Turks settled in Buda on the left bank
of the Danube after failing in their siege of Vienna.
(WSJ, 3/27/96, p.A-16)(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)(HN,
10/15/98)
1594 The baths at Novi Pazar were
built in Serbia’s Sandzak region.
(Econ, 6/7/08, p.65)
1683 Dec 25, Kara Mustapha
(b.~1634), chief of the Ottoman janissaries, appeared before the grand
vizier in Belgrade. He was sentenced to death and executed for the
military loss at Vienna.
(WSJ, 12/5/06,
p.D12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_Mustafa)
1688 Sep 6, Imperial troops
defeated the Turks and took Belgrade, Serbia.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1690 Oct 8, Belgrade was retaken
by the Turks.
(HN, 10/8/98)
1717 Aug 22, The Austrian army
forced the Turkish army out of Belgrade, ending the Turkish revival in
the Balkans.
(HN, 8/22/98)
1739 Sep 18, Turkey and Austria
signed peace treaty-Austria ceding Belgrade to Turks. [see Sep 23]
(MC, 9/18/01)
1739 Sep 23, The Austrians signed
the Treaty of Belgrade after having lost the city to the Turks.
(HN, 9/23/98)
1791 Aug 4, The chief item in the
Peace of Sistova agreement between the Austrian Empire and Turkey was
the return of Belgrade to Turkey. The peace initiative resulted from
the terms of the Convention of Reichenbach between Prussia and Austria.
Belgrade had been taken in 1789 by the Holy Roman emperor Joseph II.
(HNQ, 6/25/99)
1804-1999 In 2000 Misha Glenny authored "The Balkans:
nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-1899."
(WSJ, 5/1/00, p.A32)(SFEC, 5/7/00, BR p.5)
1809 Jul 5-1809 Jul 6, Napoleon
beat Austria’s archduke Charles at the Battle of Wagram. He annexed the
Illyrian Provinces (now part of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro), and abolished the Papal States.
(http://tinyurl.com/vx8dk)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wagram)
1859 The Zastava manufacturing
plant in Kragujevac began operations.
(SFC, 5/20/99, p.A12)
1860 The Serb King Knez Mihaljo
was assassinated.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A1,15)
1876 Sep 1, The Ottomans inflicted
a decisive defeat on the Serbs at Aleksinac.
(HN, 9/1/99)
1877 Dec 14, Serbia joined Russia
in war on Turkey.
(AP, 12/14/02)
1877-78 Treaty of San Stefano, signed after
Russo-Turkish War, assigned Albanian-populated lands to Bulgaria,
Montenegro and Serbia; but Austria-Hungary and Britain block the
treaty's implementation. Albanian leaders meet in Prizren, Kosova, to
form the League of Prizren. The League initially advocated autonomy for
Albania. At the Congress of Berlin, the Great Powers overturned the
Treaty of San Stefano and divided Albanian lands among several states.
The League of Prizren began to organize resistance to the Treaty of
Berlin's provisions that affected Albanians.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1878 Mar 3, Russia and the
Ottomans signed the treaty of San Stefano, granting independence to
Serbia.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1878 Jul 13, The Treaty of Berlin
amended the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which had ended the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. The Congress of Berlin divided the
Balkans among European powers. The Slavic converts to Islam in the
Sandzak region of southwestern Serbia were separated from their ethnic
cousins in Bosnia.
(AP, 7/13/97)(HN, 7/13/98)(WSJ, 6/16/99, p.A20)
1878-1918 Bosnia came under the rule of the
Austrian-Hungarian Empire. A representative from Vienna governed the
area.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.65)
1885 Sep 18, A coup d’etat in
Eastern Rumelia led directly to a war between Serbia and Bulgaria. The
Balkan peace settlement established by the 1878 Treaty of Berlin was
undone when a coup d’etat in the disputed province of Eastern Rumelia
resulted in Eastern Rumelia (separated from Bulgaria in 1878)
announcing its re-unification with Bulgaria. Serbian prince Milan
responded by demanding Bulgaria cede some of its territory to Serbia.
An international conference convened and became deadlocked in November
and Serbia declared war.
(HNQ, 4/2/99)
1885 Nov 17, The Serbian Army,
with Russian support, invaded Bulgaria.
(HN, 11/17/98)
1885 Nov 19, Bulgarians, led by
Stefan Stambolov, repulsed a larger Serbian invasion force at
Slivinitza.
(HN, 11/19/98)
1885 Nov 26, Bulgaria moved into
Serbia.
(HNQ, 4/2/99)
1886 Mar 3, The Treaty of
Bucharest concluded the Serb-Bulgarian war, reestablishing prewar
Serbo-Bulgarian borders but leaving Eastern Rumelia and Bulgaria united.
(HNQ, 4/2/99)
1892 Public transportation began
in Belgrade.
(SFC, 1/14/98, p.C3)
1902 Sep 1, The Austro-Hungarian
army was called into the city of Agram to restore the peace as Serbs
and Croats clashed.
(HN, 9/1/99)
1903 Jun 11, King Alexander and
Queen Draga of Belgrade were assassinated by members of the Serbia
army. Peter Karageorgevic was later elected to replace him.
(HN, 6/11/98)(AP, 6/11/03)
1906 Apr, In Serbia General
Gruuios, the Premier and Minister of War, resigned because King Peter
refused to adopt his suggestion and dismiss the regicide officials.
(SSFC, 4/16/06, p.A13)
1909 Feb 16, Serbia mobilized
against Austria and Hungary.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1909 Mar 2, Great Britain, France,
Germany and Italy asked Serbia to set no territorial demands.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1911 The Black Hand was the
nickname for a secret society, Unity or Death, formed in 1911 by
Serbian army officers seeking liberation of Bosnia from Austrian
domination. These nationalist leaders sought the creation of a Greater
Serbia.
(HNQ, 5/29/99)
1912 Oct 17, Bulgaria, Greece and
Serbia declared war on Turkey. [see Oct 18]
(MC, 10/17/01)
1912 Oct 18, The First Balkan War
broke out between the members of the Balkan League-- Serbia, Bulgaria,
Greece and Montenegro--and the Ottoman Empire. A small Balkan War broke
out and was quelled by the major powers. Albanian nationalism spurred
repeated revolts against Turkish dominion and resulted in the First
Balkan War in which the Turks were driven out of much of the Balkan
Peninsula. Austria-Hungary’s 1908 annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
spurred Serbian efforts to form the Balkan alliance with its
neighbors. As a result of the war on Turkey, Serbia doubled its
territory with the award of Northern Macedonia. Albanian leaders
affirmed Albania as an independent state. [see Oct 8]
(V.D.-H.K.p.290)(CO, Grolier’s/ Albania)(HN,
10/18/98)(HNQ, 3/27/99)(www, Albania, 1998)
1912 Nov 24, Austria denounced
Serbian gains in the Balkans; Russia and France backed Serbia while
Italy and Germany backed Austria.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1912 Dec 3, Turkey, Serbia,
Montenegro, Greece & Bulgaria signed a weapons pact.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1912 Dec 4, An armistice was
signed to end the First Balkan War. Following several victories over
the Ottoman army, coalition forces occupied Macedonia and forced the
Ottoman Empire to seek an armistice.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1912 European powers awarded
Kosovo to Serbia rather than the new Republic of Albania. [see Nov,
1913]
(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A12)
1913 May 30, Conclusion of the
First Balkan War.
(HN, 5/30/98)
1913 Jun 1, Serbia and Greece
concluded a secret treaty for joint action against Bulgaria; joined by
Romania. Dissatisfied with their share of the spoils, Serbia, denied
its proposed outlet to the Adriatic Sea, sought compensation in
Macedonia along the Vardar River which the Bulgarians rejected while
Greece asked for control of Thessaloniki and "a certain part" of the
eastern Macedonian territories, which Bulgaria rejected as well.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jun 24, Greece and Serbia
annulled their alliance with Bulgaria following border disputes over
Macedonia and Thrace.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1913 Jun 29, Anticipating
assistance from Austro-Hungary the Bulgarian army attacked its former
allies. This Second Balkan War was at first waged entirely on
Macedonian soil. Bulgaria defeated Greek and Serbian troops.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Jul 1, Serbia and Greece
declared war on Bulgaria.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1913 Jul 10, Rumania entered the
Second Balkan War war and four days later the Ottoman Empire joined the
general assault on Bulgaria. Faced with four fronts, Bulgarian armies
were defeated piecemeal and the government at Sofia was forced to seek
peace. Atrocities were widespread. For example, in pursuing the
Bulgarian army Greek forces systematically burnt to the ground all
Macedonian villages they encountered, mass-murdering their entire
populations. Likewise, when the Greek army entered Kukush (Kilkis) and
occupied surrounding villages, about 400 old people and children were
imprisoned and killed. Nor did the Serbian "liberators" lag behind in
destruction and wanton slaughter throughout Macedonia. In Bitola,
Skopje, Shtip and Gevgelija, the Serbian army, police and chetniks
(guerrillas) committed their own atrocities.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Aug 10, The Treaty of
Bucharest ended the Second Balkan War. It was concluded by the
delegates of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. The
entire "disputed zone" was taken by Serbia, Greece secured its position
in Thessaloniki and southeastern Macedonia, the Ottomans regained all
the territories lost in the First Balkan War to Bulgaria with the
exception of eastern (Pirin) Macedonia, and the Romanians seized
Southern Dobruja.
(www.maknews.com/html/articles/stefov/stefov61.html)
1913 Aug 10, The Great Powers
recognized an independent Albanian state. Demographics were ignored,
however, and half of the territories inhabited by Albanians (such as
Kosova and Chameria) were divided among Montenegro, Serbia and Greece.
(www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos149.htm)
1913 Sep 23, Serbian troops
marched into Albania.
(MC, 9/23/01)
1913 Oct 18, Austrian-Hungary
demanded that Serbia and Albania leave.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1913 Nov, Treaty of Bucharest
ended the Second Balkan War. The Great Powers recognized an independent
Albanian state. Demographics were ignored, however, and half of the
territories inhabited by Albanians (such as Kosova and Chameria) were
divided among Montenegro, Serbia and Greece.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1913 The Roman Catholic archbishop
of Skopje wrote about Prizren following the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire as Serbs massacred Albanians: "They knock on the doors of
Albanian houses, take away the men and shoot them immediately… As for
plunder looting and rape, all that goes without saying. Henceforth the
order of the day is: Everything is permitted against the Albanians -
not merely permitted but willed and commended.
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.A16)
1914 Jun 28, Austrian Archduke
Francis Ferdinand, heir to Austria-Hungary, and his wife, Sofia,
were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a Serb nationalist. As the
royal couple rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open touring
car, seven young radicals from an obscure Serbian-Bosnian nationalist
group, called the Black Hand, lay in wait. An initial assassination
attempt failed, but a wrong turn brought the car near Gavrilo Princip,
who fired two shots at point-blank range into the couple's bodies.
Within minutes, both the Archduke and Sophia were dead. Princip was
arrested, but political tensions were so high between Austria-Hungary
and Serbia that war broke out as a result. Like falling dominoes,
international alliances brought one country after another into the
conflict. The event triggered World War I.
(HFA, '96, p.32)(V.D.-H.K.p.252, 284-285,290)(AP,
6/28/97)(HNPD, 6/28/98)
1914 Jul 23, Austria and Hungary
issued an ultimatum to Serbia after the assassination of Archduke
Ferdinand; the dispute led to World War I.
(AP, 7/23/98)
1914 Jul 25, Russia declared that
it would act to protect Serbian sovereignty.
(HN, 7/25/98)
1914 Jul 26, Austrian-Hungary
condemned a Serbian ultimatum.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1914 Jul 28, Austria-Hungary
declared war on Serbia, beginning World War I. The New York Stock
Exchange closed for 4 1/2 months.
(CFA, '96, p.50)(HN, 7/28/98)
1914 Aug 6, Austria-Hungary
declared war against Russia and Serbia declared war against Germany.
(AP, 8/6/00)
1914 Dec 2, Austrian troops
occupied Belgrade, Serbia.
(HN, 12/2/98)
1915 Sep 24, Bulgaria mobilized
troops on the Serbian border.
(HN, 9/24/98)
1915 Oct 9, Belgrade,
Serbia, surrendered to Central leaders.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1915 Oct 11, A Bulgarian anti
Serbian offensive began.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1917 Jul 20, The Pact of
Corfu was signed between the Serbs, Croats & Slovenes to form
Yugoslavia. [see Dec 1, 1918]
(www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1917yugoslavia1.html)
1918 Oct 29-1918 Oct 31, The
Kingdom of Greater Serbia was proclaimed at Sarajevo in Bosnia bringing
that state into what was later called Yugoslavia. [see Dec 1]
(BWH, 1988)
1918 Nov 7, The Yugoslav
National Conference at Geneva decided on the union of Croatia and
Slovenia with Serbia and Montenegro. [see Dec 1]
(BWH, 1988)
1918 Nov 24, Another proclamation
took place of the United Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
[see Dec 1]
(BWH, 1988)
1918 Nov 26, Montenegro deposed
its king who opposed union and voted to join the new Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes. [see Dec 1]
(BWH, 1988)
1918 Dec 1, The Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes [later in 1929 to be called Yugoslavia] was
proclaimed by Alexander Karadjordjevic, the son of King Peter of
Serbia. It included the previously independent kingdoms of Serbia and
Macedonia, the Hungarian-controlled regions of Croatia and Slovenia,
the Austrian province of Dalmatia, Carniola and parts of Styria,
Carinthia and Istria. King Alexander I renamed the Balkan state called
the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to Yugoslavia in 1929.
(AP, 10/3/97)(HNQ,
3/26/99)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/map/yugoslavia/1900/)
1918 Kosovo became part of the
newly created Yugoslavia and was dominated by a Serbian monarchy until
WW II.
(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A8)
1919 Oct 3, The Serbian, Croatian
& Slavic (Yugoslavia) parliament agreed on an 8 hr work day.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1919 Serbs attacked Albanian
cities; Albanians adopted guerilla warfare. Albania was denied official
representation at the Paris Peace Conference; British, French and Greek
negotiators decided to divide Albania among Greece, Italy and
Yugoslavia. This decision was vetoed by American president Wilson.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1920 Jun 4, The Treaty of
Trianon, signed at Versailles, was forced upon Hungary by the
victorious Allies after WWII and resulted in Hungary giving up nearly
three-fourths of its territory to Romania, Czechoslovakia and the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croat and Slovenes. Hungary lost more than half its
population, including some 3 million Hungarians. Hungary ceded the
hills of Transylvania to Romania.
(HNQ, 7/5/98)(WSJ, 1/2/97,
p.1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon)
1920 Oct 10, The Carinthian
Plebiscite determined the border between Austria and the newly
formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carinthian_Plebiscite)
1923 Jun 27, Yugoslav Premier
Nikola Pachitch was wounded by Serb attackers in Belgrade.
(HN, 6/27/98)
1929 Oct 3, The Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia. King Alexander I renamed the Balkan state called the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, Yugoslavia. The Kingdom had
been formed on December 1, 1918 and was ruled by the Serbian
Karageorgevic dynasty. It included the previously independent kingdoms
of Serbia and Macedonia, the Hungarian-controlled regions of Croatia
and Slovenia, the Austrian province of Dalmatia, Carniola and parts of
Styria, Carinthia and Istria.
(AP, 10/3/97)(HN, 10/3/98)(HNQ, 3/26/99)
1932 A new dome-topped parliament
building was completed in Belgrade.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A16)
1941 Mar 4, Serbian Prince Paul
visited Hitler.
(SC, 3/4/02)
1941 Apr 6, German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop gave orders for the attack on
Yugoslavia to roll forward. Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to bomb
Belgrade prior to the final drive into the capital. From August 6 to
10, more than 500 bombing sorties were flown against Belgrade,
inflicting more than 17,500 fatalities. Most of the government
officials fled, and the Yugoslav army began to collapse. German
Luftwaffe Marshall Alexander Lohr commanded a surprise air attack on
Belgrade and 17,000 died. Lohr was later tried and executed for the
bombings.
(www.thehistorynet.com/wwii/blbelgradebybluff/)(SFC,
4/8/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 5/20/99, p.A21)
1941 Apr 6, German troops invaded
Yugoslavia and Greece. Italian and Albanian forces attacked and jointly
occupied Yugoslavia. Germany, with support of Italy and other allies
defeated Greece and Yugoslavia.
(WUD, 1944, p.1683)(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A20)(www,
Albania, 1998)
1941 Apr 13, German troops
captured Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The invasion took 12 days and Hitler
soon installed Gen. Milan Nedic as a quisling leader. Nedic proceeded
to wipe out the Jewish community of Serbia. In 1997 Philip Cohen wrote
"Serbia's Secret War: Propaganda and the Deceit of History."
(HN, 4/13/99)(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A18)
1941 May 30, Serbia enacted
anti-Semitic measures.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1941 Aug 20, Slobodan Milosevic,
premier of Serbia, was born.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1941 Sep 19, 1st meeting of
partizans Tito and Draza Mihailovic in Yugoslavia.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1941 Oct 20, Nazi occupiers
murdered 500 inhabitants of Kragujevac, Serbia.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1941 Oct 27, Nazis directed the
evacuation of the gypsy ghetto in Belgrade.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1941 Nazi documents from this year
showed that the Einsatzgruppe, a Nazi-run Serbian police unit, executed
11,164 people, mostly Serbian Jewish men, suspected communists and
Gypsies. The unit was allegedly run by Peter Egner, who emigrated to
the US in 1960, and received citizenship in 1966. In 2009 Serbian
authorities sought his extradition.
(AP, 4/14/09)
1942 Nazi documents of this
year showed that the Einsatzgruppe, a Nazi-run Serbian police unit,
killed 6,280 Serbian Jewish women and children by gassing them with
carbon monoxide in a specially designed van. The unit was allegedly run
by Peter Egner, who emigrated to the US in 1960, and received
citizenship in 1966. In 2009 Serbian authorities sought his extradition.
(AP, 4/14/09)
1942 The Sava River Bridge was
built to replace an earlier span blown up in 1941 by the retreating
Yugoslav army to impede the Nazi advance.
(SFC, 4/1/99, p.A12)
1943 Fitzroy Maclean parachuted
into German-occupied Yugoslavia as Brigadier commanding the British
Military Mission to the Tito partisans. He later wrote his memoir:
"Eastern Approaches" that described his 2-years there.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.A20)
1944 Apr 16, The Belgrade Zemun
airdrome was bombed by Allied forces for the 3rd day in a row. The
bombing was carried out by the 414th Bomb Squadron stationed at
Amendola, Italy.
(SFC, 4/1/99, p.A12)
1944 Apr, Orthodox Easter, Allied
bombing of Nazi occupied Serbia resulted in the deaths of some 4,000
Serbian civilians. An account of the raids, requested by US Gen'l. Carl
Spaatz, found that most of the bombs struck at least 600 yards from
their targets.
(SFC, 4/1/99, p.A12)
1944 Oct 20, The Yugoslav cities
of Belgrade and Dubrovnik were liberated during World War II. Russian
and Yugoslavian troops were freed.
(AP, 10/20/97)(MC, 10/20/01)
1944 Oct 27, Tito reached free
Belgrade.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1945 After WW II the Sandzak
region of Serbia was divided between Serbia and Montenegro. The region
contained some 300,000 Sandzak Muslims.
(WSJ, 6/16/99, p.A20)
1945 Kosovo became part of the
post-war Communist Yugoslavia under Tito.
(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A8)
1945 An uprising in Kosovo was put
down by Tito’s Communists.
(SFC, 3/14/98, p.A8)
1950s Tito’s security chief,
Alexander Rankovic, a Serb, repressed Kosovo separatism.
(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A8)
1955 May 26, Khrushchev arrived in
Belgrade.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1964 Slobodan Milosevic joined the
Communist Party after graduating from Belgrade Law School.
(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A19)
1965 Mira and Slobodan Milosevic
were married.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.B3)
1961 The Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) was founded in Belgrade by Third World leaders such as India's
Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser and Indonesia's Achmad
Sukarno, under the aegis of Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito, to try to
avoid alignment with either the United States or the Soviet Union.
(Reuters, 9/10/06)
1968 Tito purged Serbian novelist
Dobrica Cosic for nationalism. Cosic developed a complex and
paradoxical theory of Serbian national persecution that later evolved
into the Greater Serbian program of Slobodan Milosevic.
(WSJ, 5/7/99, p.A18)
1968 In Kosovo ethnic Albanians
staged their first pro-independence demonstrations.
(USAT, 3/24/99, p.4A)
1972 The jellyfish population in
the Black Sea exploded following the completion of a dam in a section
of the Danube that runs between Serbia and Romania.
(WSJ, 11/27/07, p.A14)
1974 Aug 30, In Yugoslavia an
express train, traveling from Belgrade to Germany, ran full speed into
a Zagreb, Croatia, rail yard killing 152.
(www.cmj.hr/2001/42/6/12.htm)(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)
1974 In Yugoslavia under Tito a
decentralized federal system allowed the Kosovo region to develop its
own security, judiciary, defense, foreign relations and social control.
Mahmut Bakalli drafted a constitution that gave the region a status
equivalent in most respects to the other republics of Yugoslavia.
(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A8)(SFC, 11/11/98, p.A16)(SFC,
3/27/99, p.A13)
1979 Jun 20, Nikola Kavaja (d.2008
at 77) hijacked a US passenger jet with the intention of crashing it
into Yugoslav Communist Party headquarters in Belgrade. He abandoned
his hijack mission in Ireland, saying at the time he was not sure of
the exact location of the downtown party office and did not want
innocent civilians to die if the jet missed the target.
(AP,
11/12/08)(www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/world/europe/12kavaja.html)
1980 May 4,
Marshal Josip Broz Tito (b.1892), Communist dictator of Yugoslavia
(1943-1980), died three days before his 88th birthday. He was a Croat
and tried to spread the Serbs out over the six Yugoslav republics so
that they would not dominate the country. His policy was considered a
major cause of the Bosnian war in the '90s.
(AP,
5/4/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Broz_Tito)(WSJ, 8/8/95, p.
A-10)(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1981 Mar 26, Police and Albanian
demonstrators battled in Kosovo.
(www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8454/8454.ch01.html)
1981 Mar, Kosovar Albanian
students organized protests seeking that Kosovo become a Republic
within Yugoslavia. The protests were harshly contained by the
centralist Yugoslav and Serbian governments.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbs_in_Kosovo)
1985-1989 Jack Scanlon served as the US ambassador in
Belgrade.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.A14)
1987 Dec, Slobodan Milosevic, head
of a nationalist faction, staged a palace coup and purged Pres. Ivan
Stambolic over his moderate treatment of ethnic Albanians. Milosevic
had risen to power as head of Serbia’s Communist Party
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 12/27/96, p.B3)(SFC,
7/24/97, p.C3)
1988 Mar, The first McDonald's
behind the Iron Curtain opened in Belgrade.
(WSJ, 2/6/96, p.A-11)
1988 Oct 31, Journalists demanded
greater press freedom in Yugoslavia.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1989 May 8, Slobodan Milosevic was
elected president of Serbia.
(www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/mil-ii990524e.htm)
1989 Jun 28, In a speech at Kosovo
Polje Slobodan Milosevic stated that "Yugoslavia is a multinational
community and it can survive only under the conditions of full equality
for all nations that live in it."
(www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10258)
1989 Bujar Bukoshi was elected the
prime minister of the Kosovo Regional Government.
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A14)
1989 The Milosevic regime in
Yugoslavia made constitutional changes to consolidate power over the
provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Kosovo, whose 1.9 million people are
90% Albanian, lost its autonomy and was placed under Serbian rule. The
constitution passed without the approval of the parliament of Kosova.
The Serbs fired most Albanians and closed many enterprises. Muslim
unrest followed and Kosovo was occupied. 90% of the population of
Kosovo was made up of some 2.2 million ethnic Albanians.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 5/11/96, p.A-10)(WSJ,
8/5/96, p.A13) (SFC,12/10/97, p.C2) (www, Albania, 1998)
1989 Wealthy émigrés
lent the Milosevic regime some $87 million as a "Loan for the
Regeneration of Serbia." Lenders never got back their investment.
(WSJ, 8/9/99, p.A14)
1989 Radio B-92 was founded by a
Youth Council that vanished in the dissolution of Yugoslavia. It got a
legal license for 15 days but has not had legal status since. It
continued to operate and was the only independent station broadcasting
in 1996.
(SFC, 12/3/96, p.A12)
1989 The Zastava car plant in
Kragujevac, Serbia, produced 180,950 cars. In 1999 NATO bombed parts of
the plant which also made arms.
(Econ, 10/1/05, p.47)
1990 Feb 25, Enver Hadri, a human
rights leader, was allegedly shot in the head by Veselin Vukotic and
two other men while he was stopped at a traffic light in Brussels,
Belgium. Hadri had papers on him incriminating former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic in assassinations. All three gunmen were
believed to be hitmen working for the Yugoslav secret service. Veselin
was arrested in Spain in 2006.
(AP, 2/27/06)
1990 Jul, In Albania young people
demonstrated against the regime in Tirana, 5,000 citizens sought refuge
in foreign embassies. Delegates of the parliament of Kosova declared
the independence of Kosova from Serbia. Subsequently Serbia abolished
the parliament and government of Kosova, closed down the only Albanian
daily, and took over the state-owned television and radio. The
Albanians of Kosovo voted for sovereignty and elected a shadow
government that was banned by Milosevic. In 1992 Ibrahim Rugova
(1944-2006) was elected president and Fehmi Agani was the
vice-president.
(SFC,12/10/97, p.C2)(www, Albania, 1998)(Econ,
1/28/06, p.84)
1990 Jul, The Milosevic regime
ordered the mass firing of ethnic Albanians from all civil service
posts.
(SFEC, 6/27/99, p.A6)
1990 Sep 30, Serbs in Croatia
proclaimed autonomy.
(http://tinyurl.com/q8lrk)
1990 Dec 28, The Milosevic
controlled Serbian Parliament secretly ordered the Serbian National
Bank to issue some $1.4 billion in credits to friends of Mr. Milosevic.
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A18)
1990 Dec, In the 1st multi-party
elections Slobodan Milosevic won the presidency and his Socialist
(formerly Communist) Party captured 194 of 250 parliamentary seats.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A19)
1990 The Orthodox Church elected
Bishop Pavle Ras-Prizren (75) as its new Patriarch.
(WSJ, 6/24/99, p.A8)
1990s In 2001 David Halberstam
authored "War in a Time of Peace: Bush Clinton and the Generals." It
covered the ethnic violence in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
(SSFC, 9/23/01, DB p.60)
1991 Jan 7, The government of Ante
Markovic discovered the Dec 28,1990 issue of secret credits by the
Milosevic controlled Parliament.
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A18)
1991 Mar 9, Milosevic ordered a
crackdown on protests and 2 men were killed in the Belgrade Square.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A15)
1991 Jun 21, Secretary of State
James Baker visited Yugoslavia, where he pleaded for a peaceful
solution to multi-ethnic conflicts that were threatening to erupt into
civil war.
(AP, 6/21/01)
1991 Jun 25, The civil war in
Yugoslavia began when Croatia and Slovenia proclaimed independence from
Yugoslavia. Following months of unsuccessful talks among Yugoslavia’s
six republics about the future of the federation, the western republics
of Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence. Entities of
Yugoslavia began to split off leaving Serbia and Montenegro.
(HFA, '96, p.32)(SFC, 10/18/96, A16)(SFC,10/16/97,
p.A12)(AP, 6/25/01)
1991 Jun 27, Yugoslav army tanks
and helicopters attacked Slovenia. Fighting broke out between Serbian
and Croatian militias. The Slovene militia trapped an armored column
and captured 2,000 soldiers. The prisoners were released and an
agreement was reached for Slovenia to control its own borders after a
90 day period of int’l. observation.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1991 Jul 2, A European
Community-brokered truce between Yugoslavia and the breakaway republic
of Slovenia was shattered as the federal army battled Slovene militias.
(AP, 7/2/01)
1991 Aug, Serbian tanks and
aircraft drove refugees from 3 Croatian towns.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1991 Sep 1, Yugoslavia's
presidency and the country's feuding republics accepted a European
Community plan designed to stop months of fierce fighting among Croats,
Serbs and the army.
(AP, 9/1/01)
1991 Sep 21, Yugoslav army tanks
and artillery began an invasion of eastern Croatia. The Croats said
that some 600 soldiers and 1200 civilians perished in the 3-month
bombardment of Vukovar by rebel Serbs.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 6/28/97, p.A10)
1991 Sep 25, The U.N. Security
Council unanimously passed Resolution 713 that imposed a worldwide arms
embargo against Yugoslavia and all its warring factions.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(AP, 9/20/01)
1991 Sep, The Croat militia unit
Autumn Rains arrived in Gospic. When front-line fighting ended early
this month, the unit turned its attention to the 9,000 Serbs who lived
in the area. Miro Bajramovic in 1997 admitted that the unit tortured
prisoners and he killed 72 people. He said that he acted on the orders
of interior minister Ivan Vekic.
(SFC, 9/9/97, p.A10,12)
1991 Oct, Early this month Serbs
opened bombardment of the Croatian port of Dubrovnik. At least 43
civilians were killed in the attack.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 10/22/01, p.B1)
1991 Oct, During the siege of
Vukovar the Yugoslavian army and Serbian paramilitary troops killed and
buried as many as 1000 Croatian soldiers and civilians. The bodies
began to be uncovered in Apr 1998. Some 250 men were taken from a
hospital in Vukovar and massacred under the direction of Zeljko
Raznatovic, aka Arkan.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A12)(SFEC, 1/16/00, p.A16)
1991 Nov 8, The European Community
and Canada imposed economic sanctions on Yugoslavia in an attempt to
stop the Balkan civil war.
(AP, 11/8/01)
1991 Nov 20, Mile Mrksic, Miroslav
Radic, and Veselin Sljivan-Canin, officers in the Yugoslav National
Army, ordered the Serb army and military police to withdraw from the
hospital at Vukovar. The paramilitary forces then took 194 Croat men in
small groups to an area nearby and shot them. Radic surrendered to
Serbian authorities in 2003. Mrksic and Sljivancanin were convicted by
a UN tribunal in 2007. Radic was acquitted.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A15)(SFC, 4/22/03, A7)(AP,
9/27/07)(WSJ, 9/28/07, p.A1)
1991 Nov 23, Yugoslavia's rival
leaders agreed to a new cease-fire, the 14th of the Balkan civil war.
(AP, 11/23/01)
1991 Dec 6, Gen. Pavle Strugar led
the Yugoslav attack on Dubrovnik. At least 43 civilians were killed in
the attack. Serbs had opened bombardment of the Croatian port of
Dubrovnik in early October. In 2001 Strugar (68) turned himself into
the war crimes tribunal at the Hague. In 2005 Strugar was convicted of
two counts of willful destruction of Dubrovnik and attacking civilians.
In 2008 appeals judges added two more convictions for unjustified
devastation of the town and attacking civilian sites. They also cut his
original sentence from eight years to seven and a half years because of
his deteriorating health.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 10/22/01, p.B1)(AP,
7/17/08)
1991 Dec 19, Rebel Serbs declared
independence in the Krajina region, which was almost a third of
Croatia. The Republic of Serbian Krajina lasted 4 years with the
hilltop fortress of Knin as the capital.
(SFC, 6/7/96, p.A15)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(WSJ,
4/22/99, A12)
1991 Dec 21, In Bosnia-Herzegovina
a Serb minority held an unofficial referendum opposing separation from
Yugoslavia. Local Serb leaders proclaimed a new republic separate from
Bosnia.
(SFC,10/16/97,
p.A12)(www.vdiest.nl/Europa/boznia.htm)
1991 Dec, Germany gave diplomatic
recognition to Slovenia and Croatia. The EU said it would recognize
Croatia and Slovenia as independent states.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A19)
1991 Steve H. Hanke published
"Monetary Reform and the Development of a Yugoslav Market Economy."
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A18)
1991 Vuk Draskovic led protests
against state control of the media that was crushed with tanks ordered
by Slobodan Milosevic.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C2)
1991 In Kosovo the ethnic Albanian
faculty and students of Pristina Univ. were forced out and Serbs took
over.
(SFC, 8/3/99, p.A9)
1991 The Adriatic port of Zadar
was bombed by Yugoslav army troops under Gen’l. Momcilo Perisic. Some
30 civilians were killed and 120 buildings damaged. He and 18 fellow
officers went on trial in absentia in Zagreb for war crimes in 1996.
(SFC, 10/18/96, A16)
1991 ICN Pharmaceuticals purchased
the state pharmacy from the government and held a 75% stake.
(WSJ, 2/8/99, p.A19)
1992 Jan 3, The UN, led by US Sec.
of State Cyrus Vance, brokered a cease-fire between the Croatian
government and rebel Serbs. Following subsequent breaches the UN
Protection Force (UNPROFOR) put 14,000 peacekeeping troops into
Croatia. The EC recognized the independence of Croatia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1992 Jan 7, Serb forces shot down
a European Community helicopter in Croatia, killing five truce
observers.
(AP, 1/7/02)
1992 Feb 29, Bosnia-Herzegovina
voted overwhelmingly for independence. The Muslim-led Bosnian
government declared independence.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A10)
1992 Mar 3, Bosnia’s Muslims and
Croats voted for independence in a referendum boycotted by Serbs.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1992 Mar, In Belgrade 30,000
people turned out in protest over Milosevic’s war policy.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1992 Mar, Elections were held in
Kosova; the Democratic League of Kosova won the majority of votes; the
elections were called illegal by the Serbian regime.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1992 Apr 6, War broke out in
northern Bosnia between the Bosnian government and local Serbs who
began to lay siege to the capital Serajevo. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic, a psychiatrist, began the war in Bosnia with the help of
Serbian Pres. Slobodan Milosevic, who ruled Yugoslavia and the old
Yugoslav People’s Army.
(SFC, 5/8/96, p.A-11) (WP. 6/29/96,
p.A20)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1992 Apr 18, Serbia issued a
protest to the United States, accusing Washington of siding with
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia in the Yugoslav crisis.
(AP, 4/18/97)
1992 Apr 27, The Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia was proclaimed in Belgrade by the Republic of Serbia and
its lone ally, Montenegro.
(AP, 4/27/97)
1992 May 1, Serbian forces began
to shell Serajevo.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1992 May 3, Yugoslav Army seized
Bosnian Pres. Alija Izetbegovic on his return from peace talks in
Lisbon. He was released the next day.
(www.nytimes.com/specials/bosnia/context/apchrono.html)
1992 May 11, Leaders of 12
European countries recalled their ambassadors from Serb-dominated
Yugoslavia to protest Serb involvement in Bosnia's ethnic war.
(AP, 5/11/97)
1992 May 14, A US press briefing
on Serajevo by State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutweiler
indicated concerns of ethnic cleansing by Serb forces.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1992 May 24, Kosovo Albanians held
unofficial elections for an assembly and president. Ibrahim Rugova won
an overwhelming majority and was elected President of Kosovo.
(www.hrw.org/reports/1992/yugoslavia/)
1992 May 27, The 12-nation
European Community imposed trade sanctions on Serbia to stop its
interference in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(AP, 5/27/97)
1992 May 30, President Bush
ordered the seizure of Yugoslav government assets in the United States
after the United Nations imposed sanctions in an effort to force
Yugoslavia to observe a cease-fire in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(AP, 5/30/97)
1992 May, The UN security council
approved new commercial sanctions against Yugoslavia, i.e. Serbia, for
backing rebel Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1992 Jun 1, The US Treasury
Department, responding to UN sanctions imposed on Yugoslavia, froze an
estimated $200 million in assets of the Serb-led Yugoslav government.
(AP, 6/1/97)
1992 Jun 29, The Serbs yielded
Serajevo airport to the UN.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1992 Jul 7, Group of Seven leaders
meeting in Munich, Germany, condemned the carnage in former Yugoslavia
and warned Serb-led troops that U.N. military force would be used if
needed to keep relief operations going.
(AP, 7/7/97)
1992 Jul 24, In Bosnia Serb prison
guards at the former ceramics factory of Keraterm fired machine guns
through metal doors of "Room 3" where over 200 prisoners were trapped.
The carnage continued for hours. In 2001 Dusko Sikirica (camp
commander), Dragan Kolundzija and Damir Dosen were tried at the Hague
for their roles in the slaughter. Sikirica was sentenced to 15 years in
prison. Dosen and Kolundzija received 5 and 3 year sentences.
(SFC, 3/20/01, p.A11)(SFC, 11/14/01, p.A19)
1992 Jul 29, Newsday published
reports of death camps for Muslims and Croats run by the Serbian Army
in northern Bosnia.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1992 July Yugoslavia was suspended
from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for
fomenting war in Bosnia.
(SFC, 3/28/98,
p.A8)(www.hrw.org/wr2k1/europe/yugoslavia3.html)
1992 Aug 21, Serbian soldiers
separated over 200 men, mostly Croats and Muslims, from a convoy of
civilians from the Trnopolje detention camp in Bosnia. The captives
were taken to a wooded ravine and shot dead. In 2003 Darko Mrdja,
commander of a special police unit, admitted to a court in the Hague of
playing a role in the slaughter.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A8)
1992 Aug, The UN Security Council
unanimously condemned Serb ethnic cleansing and with 3 abstentions
voted to authorize military force to protect humanitarian aid.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A14)
1992 Aug, Viewers worldwide were
shocked by TV pictures of emaciated Muslim captives in Serb-run prison
camps in Bosnia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1992 Aug, The Serb-run Omarska
camp closed. Bosnian Serb Dusan Tadic, former cafe owner and karate
instructor, was later accused of beating, mutilating, and killing
Bosnian Muslims at the concentration camps run by the Serbians at
Omarska and Keraterm. On May 7, 1997, he became the first war criminal
convicted of war crimes in the Bosnian War between the Bosnian Muslims
and the former Yugoslavia.
(WSJ, 5/9/96,
p.A-18)(www.bookrags.com/biography-dusan-tadic-cri/)
1992 Sep 22, The U.N. General
Assembly voted to expel Yugoslavia. A resolution was passed that
required the Belgrade government to apply as a new member. A new
application was submitted in 2000.
(AP, 9/22/97)(SFC, 10/28/00, p.A14)
1992 Oct, Four members of the
Avengers, a Serbian paramilitary force, abducted 16 Muslims from a bus
in Serbia and took them to Bosnia where they were tortured and
executed. In 2005 a Serbian court 4 convicted former Avengers for the
murders. 2 men in custody, Djordje Sevic and Dragutin Dragicevic were
sentenced to 15 and 20 years respectively. Two others, Milan Lukic and
Oliver Krsmanovic, were tried in absentia and received 20-year jail
terms.
(AP, 7/16/05)
1992 Nov 5, Bobby Fisher beat
Boris Spassky to win Chess title in Belgrade. Fisher received $3.5
million for his win , but violated UN sanctions and an embargo on doing
business in Yugoslavia. In 2004 he was arrested in Japan for traveling
on a revoked USD passport.
(MC, 11/5/01)(SFC, 7/17/04, p.A2)
1992 Dec 16, US Secretary of State
Lawrence S. Eagleburger said Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic had to answer for atrocities
committed in former Yugoslavia. In 2000 a US federal jury ordered
Radovan Karadzic to pay $745 million to a group of women, who accused
him of atrocities.
(AP, 12/16/97)(SFC, 8/11/00, p.A14)
1992 Dec 16, Yugoslavia was kicked
out of the IMF.
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A18)
1992 Dec 20, Serbia held
elections. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic won re-election. He
defeated the American entrepreneur Milan Panic in elections that were
"decidedly unfair."
(http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_democracy/election_watch/v004/)
1992 Dec 24, Pres. Bush had the US
Embassy in Belgrade read to Pres. Milosevic the "Christmas Warning"
cable: "In the event of conflict in Kosovo caused by Serbian action,
the US will be prepared to employ military force against Serbians in
Kosovo and in Serbia proper.
(SFC, 1/19/02, p.A19)
1992 Dec 26, Milan Panic conceded
defeat to Slobodan Milosevic almost a week after Yugoslavia's
presidential election.
(AP, 12/26/97)
1992 Vojislav Kostunica founded
the Democratic Party of Serbia.
(SFC, 9/16/00, p.A12)
1992 Yugoslavia under Milosevic
began stashing funds in front companies. Some $658 million was put into
8 front companies in Cyprus alone.
(SFC, 7/2/02, p.A6)
1993 Jan 7, A preliminary report
prepared for the European Community said Serb fighters may have raped
about 20,000 women in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
(AP, 1/7/98)
1993 Jan, Heavy fighting and the
bitter Serb siege of Serajevo continued. The UN and European Union
peace efforts failed and war broke out between Muslims and Croats in
Bosnia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1993 Apr 17, The U.N. Security
Council voted to tighten sanctions against Yugoslavia for its role in
the Bosnian war.
(AP, 4/17/98)
1993 Apr 26, President Clinton
signed an executive order imposing new economic sanctions against
Yugoslavia after the Serbian leadership in Bosnia voted against
accepting a U.N.-sponsored plan to end the war.
(AP, 4/26/98)
1993 May, The International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established by
Resolution 827 of the UN Security Council.
(SFC, 5/8/96, p.A-11)
1993 Nov 9, Serbian army fired on
a school in Sarajevo and 9 children died.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1993 Vuk Draskovich was branded as
a traitor by Bosnian Serbs when he rejected the war and was jailed and
badly beaten by Milosevic’s security forces.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A14)
1993 Gen. Zivota Panic (d.2003 at
70), Serbian Army chief of staff, was removed from his post and retired
following corruption reports.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.A22)
1994 Jan 6, The dinar collapsed
and the German mark was declared legal tender for all transactions
including taxes.
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A18)
1994 Jan 24, In a major currency
reform the superdinar was introduced and pegged to the deutsche mark at
a rate of one to one. It made the superdinar worth 13 million old
dinars.
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A18)
1994 Feb 6, A day after a mortar
shell killed 68 people in a Sarajevo marketplace, President Clinton
called for a United Nations probe. [see Feb 9]
(AP, 2/6/99)
1994 Feb 9, NATO delivered an
ultimatum to Bosnian Serbs to remove heavy guns encircling Sarajevo, or
face air strikes. Hours before the ultimatum was issued, the Bosnian
Serbs agreed to withdraw their artillery and mortars from around
Sarajevo.
(AP, 2/9/99)(www.fas.org/man/gao/nsiad-95-148.htm)
1994 Feb 28, Two U.S. F-16 fighter
jets downed four Serb warplanes that U.N. officials said had bombed an
arms plant run by Bosnia's Muslim-led government. This was the first
NATO use of force in the troubled area.
(AP, Internet, 2/28/99)(HN, 2/28/99)
1994 Mar 26, U.N. peacekeepers in
Bosnia-Herzegovina destroyed a Serb bunker following a seven-hour
exchange of fire.
(AP, Internet, 3/26/99)
1994 Mar 30, Serbs and Croats
signed a cease-fire to end their war in Croatia while Bosnian Muslims
and Serbs continued to battle each other.
(AP, Internet, 3/30/99)
1994 Apr 9, The Bosnian Serbs had
mounted an aggressive assault on Gorazde and pounded its 65,000
citizens with heavy artillery.
(SFC, 7/15/96, p.A10)
1994 Apr 9, Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali ordered U.N. troops to use "all available means"
to roll back Serb military gains in the Muslim enclave of Gorazde,
Bosnia.
(AP, 4/9/99)
1994 Apr 10, NATO launched its
first air strike against Serbs around the eastern enclave of Gorazde,
which was under heavy attack.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1994 Apr 20, The Serbian army
bombed Gorazde, Bosnia, and the local hospital was hit.
(www.snd-us.com/history/dolecek/dolecek_accuse.htm)
1994 Aug 2, Serbia threatened to
cut all aid to the Bosnian Serbs if they didn't approve an
international peace plan.
(AP, 8/2/99)
1994 Aug 4, Serb-dominated
Yugoslavia withdrew its support for Bosnian Serbs, sealing the 300-mile
border between Yugoslavia and Serb-held Bosnia.
(AP, 8/4/99)
1994 Sep 23, The U.N. Security
Council rewarded Yugoslavia for sealing its border with Bosnia by
easing sanctions in sports, cultural exchanges and air traffic.
(AP, 9/23/99)
1994 Nov 19, The U.N. Security
Council, anxious to stop Serb attacks on the "safe area" of Bihac in
northwest Bosnia, authorized NATO to bomb rebel Serb forces striking
from neighboring Croatia.
(AP, 11/19/99)
1994 Nov 21, NATO retaliated for
repeated Serb attacks on a U.N. safe haven by bombing an airfield in a
Serb-controlled section of Croatia.
(AP, 11/21/02)
1994 Nov 22, Serb fighters in
northwest Bosnia set villages ablaze in response to a retaliatory air
strike by NATO.
(AP, 11/22/99)
1994 Nov 23, NATO warplanes
blasted Serb missile batteries in two air raids while Bosnian Serb
fighters, for the first time, broke into the U.N.-designated safe haven
of Bihac.
(AP, 11/23/99)
1994 Nov 27, US Defense Secretary
William Perry, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," suggested the
Bosnian government had lost the war in the Balkans, and acknowledged
NATO was powerless to stop the Serbs.
(AP, 11/27/04)
1994 Central Bank governor
Dragoslav Avramovic was the architect of monetary reforms that ended
hyperinflation.
(SFC, 5/14/96, A-8)
1994 Zoran Djindjic became
president of the Democratic Party.
(SSFC, 4/1/01, p.C1)
1994 The Dardania Bank, owned and
controlled by ethnic Albanians, was founded in Pristina. It moved to
Tirana during the NATO bombing of 1999.
(WSJ, 5/20/99, p.A1)
1994 Mirjana Markovic the wife of
Pres. Slobodan Milosevic, founded the Yugoslav Left Party (JUL). The
party pulled economic strings and financed members campaigns.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A23)
1995 Jan 1, In Bosnia a four month
truce between the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian government was brokered
by former Pres. Jimmy Carter.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Mar 20, The Bosnian army,
having gained strength despite an arms embargo, launched a major
offensive in the northeast against Serb positions.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 May 1, The Croatian army
captured the Serb enclave of Western Slavonia in its first major bid to
retake territories occupied in 1991. In reply the Krajina Serbs
launched a rocket attack on Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Milan Martic,
Croatian Serb leader of rebel Serb forces, ordered the shelling of
Zagreb. Martic surrendered to the UN war crimes tribunal in 2002.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A15)(SFC,
5/8/02, p.A17)
1995 May 2, Serb missiles exploded
in the heart of Zagreb, killing six.
(www.hri.org/news/usa/std/1995/95-05-02.std.html)
1995 May 25, NATO warplanes struck
Bosnian Serb headquarters. Serbs answered with swift defiance,
storming UN weapons depots, attacking safe areas and taking
peacekeepers as hostages.
(AP, 5/25/00)
1995 May 26, Serbs bombarded
Serajevo. On Jun 6 NATO launched 2 air raids against an ammunition dump
in Serb-held central Bosnia.
(SFC, 6/7/96, p.A10)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Jun 6, NATO launched 2 air
raids against an ammunition dump in Serb-held central Bosnia. The
air strikes touched off a crises in which [270] 350 UN peacekeepers
were taken hostage by Bosnian Serbs. Serb forces seized 270 UN
peacekeepers, shackled them to potential targets, and ordered them to
plead on camera for the NATO air attacks to stop. Serbia improved its
relations with the West by helping to arrange the release of the
hostages.
(SFC, 6/7/96, p.A10)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Jul 6, At 3:15AM The UN safe
area at Srebrenica came under attack by the Bosnian Serb army’s Drina
corps under Genl. Radislav Krstic, and some 7,500 Muslim men and boys
were killed. The acquisition and delivery of arms was organized by
Yugoslav army officer Mirko Krajisnik, brother to Momcilo Krajisnik,
president of the Bosnian Serb assembly. In 1998 Chuck Sudetic published
"Blood and Vengeance: One Family’s Story of the War in Bosnia." The
book focused on the Srebrenica killings. 300 Dutch troops were later
accused of not preventing the Serbs from overrunning the town. Bosnian
Serb Gen’l. Radislav Krstic was arrested in 1998 for genocide in the
1995 takeover of Srebrenica. In 1999 the UN issued a 155-page report
that admitted its failure to block the massacre. Krstic was convicted
in 2001. In 2003 Bosnian Serb officers Momir Nikolic and Dragan
Obrenovic described the massacre as a well-planned and deliberate
killing operation. In 2003 An Int'l. Court sentenced Col. Dragan
Obrenovic (40) to 17 years in prison for his role in the slaughter of
more than 7,000 men and boys in Srebrenica.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12)(SFC, 8/12/98, p.A14)(SFC,
12/3/98, p.A16)(SFC, 11/16/99, p.A1)(SFC, 3/14/00, p.A10)(SFC, 8/3/01,
p.A1)(SSFC, 10/11/03, p.A14)(AP, 12/11/03)
1995 Jul 11, Srebrenica, a UN
declared "safe area," fell to the Bosnian Serbs. 7,000 Muslim men
supposedly escaped but were never heard from again. Drazen Erdemovic
(24) later admitted that he participated in killing 70 men at
Srebrenica. Victims were shot in the back in groups of 10 by himself
and fellow soldiers in the Bosnian Serb Army’s 10th Sabotage
Detachment. He was told that he would be killed if he refused to follow
orders.
(SFC, 6/4/96, p.A12) (SFC, 7/7/96, A10) (SFC,
6/1/96, p.A10)
1995 Jul 11-1995 Jul 16, In
the Srebrenica Massacre buses arrived to take women and children to
Muslim territory, while the Serbs began separating out all men from age
12 to 77 for "interrogation for suspected war crimes". It is estimated
that 23,000 women and children were deported in the next 30 hours while
hundreds of men were held in trucks and warehouses. On 13 July killings
of unarmed Muslims took place in one such warehouse in the nearby
village of Kravica. By July 16 Early reports of massacres emerged as
the first survivors of the long march from Srebrenica began to arrive
in Muslim-held territory. Between July 11 and July 16 more than 7,000
unarmed Muslim men are thought to have been killed by Serbian forces.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/675945.stm)
1995 Jul 16, Early reports of
massacres in Bosnia emerged as the first survivors of the long march
from Srebrenica began to arrive in Muslim-held territory. Following
negotiations between the UN and the Bosnian Serbs, the Dutch were at
last permitted to leave Srebrenica, leaving behind weapons, food and
medical supplies.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/675945.stm)
1995 Jul 23, The United Nations
ordered the first combat unit from its rapid reaction force to Sarajevo
to take out any rebel Serb guns that fire at U.N. peacekeepers.
(AP, 7/23/97)
1995 cJul 25, Two weeks after
overrunning Srebrenica, Bosnian Serbs took over Zepa.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Aug 1, NATO threatened major
air strikes if any more "safe areas" were attacked in Bosnia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Aug 4, Croatia launched an
offensive against Krajina and captured in days a region that Serb
rebels had held for 4 years. Most of its province of Krajina, including
the Serb stronghold Knin, was taken in a 3-day offensive.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Aug 28, Serb shells hit
Serajevo near the main market and killed 37 people and wounded 85
others.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Aug 30, Bosnian Serbs gave
Serbian Pres. Slobodan Milosevic authority to negotiate for them.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Aug 30-31, NATO planes and UN
artillery blasted Serb targets in Bosnia in response to the market
attack in Serajevo.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Aug, The extremist radical
party of Serbia under Vojislav Seselj published a manifesto titled:
"How To Solve the Problem of Kosovo." It advocated firing Albanian
workers, encouraging Serbian colonization, military occupation and
buffer zones along the Albanian and Macedonian borders.
(SFEC, 6/27/99, p.A7)
1995 Aug, Some 200,000 Serbs were
moved from the Krajina region. More than 4,500 were killed and some
3,000 are still listed as missing in an operation that was directed by
retired American generals through MPRI of Alexandria, Va. About 14,000
Krajina Serbs ended up in Kosovo until 1998, when they left as violence
spread.
(WSJ, 8/1/96 p.A15)(SFC, 7/6/99, p.B1)
1995 Sep 14, Bosnian Serbs agreed
to move heavy weapons and tanks away from Serajevo. NATO halted bombing
in response.
(WSJ, 6/11/96, p.A14)(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Sep 15, A Muslim-Croat
offensive won 1,500 square miles of land. More than 150,000 Serbs fled,
many to Eastern Slovonia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Oct 5, Pres. Clinton
announced that a cease-fire was agreed on in Bosnia to start on Oct 10,
and that combatants would attend talks in the US.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Oct 12, After a 2-day delay,
a cease-fire in Bosnia went into effect a minute after midnight.
Fighting continued over contested towns in northwest Bosnia.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Oct 16-18, Richard Holbrooke
and other international mediators met in Moscow and traveled to the
main capitals of the former Yugoslavia. The US named the
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, as the site for the
peace talks.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Nov 1, Peace talks for the
countries of the former Yugoslavia were launched in Dayton, Ohio.
(SFC,10/16/97, p.A12)
1995 Nov 21, A Peace Pact, the
Dayton peace Accord, was initialed by the leaders of Bosnia, Croatia
and Serbia. US Sec. of State, Warren Christopher and chief mediator
Richard Holbrooke manage to keep the parties talking for over 3 weeks
to reach this agreement. One year deployment of 20,000 US troops as
one-third of a NATO peace keeping force is estimated to cost about $1.5
bil. The US also planned to contribute $600 mil over three years to
help rebuild Bosnia.
(WSJ, 11/22/95, p.A-1,3)(SFC, 10/6/00, p.A19)
1995 Nov 26, The dinar was
devalued 62.6%.
(WSJ, 4/28/99, p.A18)
1995 Dec 14, An agreement for
peace in Bosnia, reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton,
Ohio, was formally signed. Presidents Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia,
Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Franjo Tudjman of Croatia signed the
Bosnian peace treaty in Paris. The agreement divided Bosnia into 2
autonomous territories and granted 51% of Bosnia to the Muslim-Croat
federation and 49% to the Serbs. Elections were scheduled and a force
of 60,000 Western troops was planned for deployment. A 3-member
presidency and a national parliament was also part of the plan. The
office of High Representative was created to oversee the implementation
of the civilian aspects of the Peace Agreement.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A8)(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A8)(AP,
12/14/00)(www.ohr.int/)
1995 Annual inflation was running
120%. The dinar was being devalued by 69%.
(WSJ, 11/27/95, p.A-12)
1996 Apr 9, Yugoslavia and
Macedonia established diplomatic relations.
(WSJ, 4/9/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 7, The first
international war crimes proceeding since Nuremberg opened at The Hague
in the Netherlands, with a Serbian police officer, Dusan Tadic, facing
trial on murder-torture charges. Tadic was convicted of crimes against
humanity but acquitted of murder on May 7, 1997. In Jul, 1997 he was
sentenced to 20 years in prison.
(AP, 5/7/97)(SFC, 5/8/97, p.C2)(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A12)
1996 May 13, In Belgrade thousands
of workers took to the streets demanding jobs and back pay and chanted
support for the Central Bank governor, who is at odds with the
government leadership. IMF funds are on delay because Milosevic wants
the IMF to recognize Serbia as the sole successor of the old federation.
(SFC, 5/14/96, A-8)
1996 May 15, Serb. Pres. Slobodan
Milosevic voted to sack the rump Yugoslavia’s central bank governor,
Dragoslav Avramovic.
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-10)
1996 Aug 7, The presidents of
Serbia and Croatia agreed to establish diplomatic relations.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A11)
1996 Sep, 20, Thousands of workers
in Kragujevac were in their 5th week of strikes and protests for money,
jobs and political change.
(SFC, 9/20/96, p.A16)
1996 Nov 19, The Zajedno
(Together) opposition coalition claimed victory in 44 municipalities
across Serbia.
(SFC, 11/20/96, p.C2)
1996 Nov 24, A court controlled by
Pres. Milosevic annulled the electoral victory of the opposition. The
opposition had one 67 of 110 seats of the Belgrade City Council. The
court annulled 52 of the oppositions seats.
(SFC, 11/25/96, p.A8)
1996 Nov 25, In Belgrade, Serbia,
100,000 demonstrators protested the nullification of municipal election
results.
(SFC, 11/26/96, p.B2)
1996 Nov 29, The opposition
coalition Zajedno (Together) continued protests in Belgrade against
Slobodan Milosevic.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A12)
1996 Nov 30, In Belgrade a rally
of 150,000 marched against Milosevic.
(SFEC, 12/1/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 3, In Belgrade Milosevic
gagged the independent radio stations, Radio B-92 and Boom 93. Protests
continued.
(SFC, 12/5/96, p.C2)
1996 Dec 5, Milosevic allowed the
radio stations to resume broadcasting. The disputed elections were to
be reviewed by the Supreme Court.
(SFC, 12/6/96, p.B2)
1996 Dec 13, Demonstrations spread
to 10 cities in Serbia.
(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Dec 16, Milosevic granted
opponents the original election results in Nis and a recount in
Smederovska Palanka, 2 of the 15 cities where election results had been
annulled.
(SFC, 12/17/96, p.B2)
1996 Dec 24, Street fights erupted
in Belgrade between protestors and supporters of Milosevic as protests
continued for the 35th day.
(SFC, 12/25/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 25, Pres. Milosevic
banned street demonstrations.
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 26, Riot police cleared
tens of thousands off the streets of central Belgrade but allowed a
smaller protest of 15,000 at the pedestrian Square of the Republic.
Patriarch Pavle, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, said the street
violence was caused by the authorities. Montenegro threatened to print
its own money to counter the inflated dinars of the Milosevic regime.
Pedrag Starcezic (39) died of head injuries from the Dec 24 protests.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 27, The Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), led by former Spanish Prime
Minister Felipe Gonzalez, recognized the opposition victories in the
Nov 17 local elections.
(SFC, 12/28/96, p.A1)
1996 Dec 27, In Belgrade,
Yugoslavia, about 60,000 opposition supporters defied riot police and
rallied in celebration of an international report backing their triumph
over Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in recent local elections.
(AP, 12/27/97)
1996 Mirjana Markovic published
her book: "Between East and South," based on her newspaper columns.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A23)
1996 The Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA) began launching attacks against police stations. The KLA was led
by Hashim Thaci and his lieutenants Azem Syla and Xhavit Halati.
(SFC,12/10/97, p.C4)(SFC, 6/25/99, p.A10)
1997 Jan 2, The Serbian Orthodox
Church issued a criticism of Pres. Milosevic and accused his government
of stealing elections and provoking bloodshed.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A16)
1997 Jan 6, On the Orthodox
Christmas Eve the Yugoslav army announced that it would not interfere
in the daily protests against Pres. Milosevic.
(SFC, 1/7/97, p.A9)
1997 Jan 16, Guerrillas of the
Kosovo Liberation Army set off a bomb that wounded Radivoje Papovic,
hard-line Serbian rector of the Univ. in Pristina.
(SFC, 2/21/96, p.A13)
1997 Jan 23, In Kragujevac,
Serbia, opposition representatives tried to take over the TV station,
but were blocked by the regime of Pres. Milosevic.
(SFC, 1/24/97, p.A13)
1997 Feb 2, Riot police beat
pro-democracy protestors in the biggest show of force in 75 days of
anti-government protests.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.A1)
1997 Feb 3, Belgrade police beat
up protestors and representatives of Kosovo’s Albanian majority said 5
people were killed in a police sweep.
(SFC, 2/4/97, p.A8)
1997 Feb 4, Milosevic said that he
would recognized the opposition victories in 14 towns.
(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A1)
1997 Feb 8, It was reported that a
new book by former journalist Slavoljub Djukic: "He, She and Us," was
flying off the shelves. The book was about Slobodan Milosevic and his
wife Mirjana Markovic.
(SFC, 2/8/96)
1997 Feb 21, The opposition
coalition took control of the Belgrade City Council with Zoran Djindjic
as mayor.
(SFC, 2/22/96, p.A1)
1997 Mar 7, In Belgrade students
ended 106 days of daily protests after their rector, Dragutin
Velickovic -A Milosevic supporter, resigned.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A12)
1997 Mar 20, The state
telecommunications authority cut independent BK TV’s transmission lines
from Belgrade. Hours later a Belgrade court ordered the authority and
state-run TV to carry BK.
(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Apr 5, It was reported the
Pres. Milosevic might step down from Serbian presidency at the end of
his 2 terms and try to assume the ceremonial post of president of all
of Yugoslavia.
(SFC, 4/5/97, p.A8)
1997 Apr 11, Minister Radovan
Stojicic (aka Badza or "Big Man" in Serbian) was shot and killed by a
masked assailant at a Belgrade restaurant. He was the commander of
Milosevic’s security police and was expected to take over the Interior
Ministry.
(SFC, 4/12/97, p.A10)
1997 May 30, A Serbian court
convicted 20 ethnic Albanians of terrorism for a wave of attacks in
Kosovo. They belonged to the National Movement for the Liberation of
Kosovo.
(SFC, 5/31/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 15, Slobodan Milosevic
was elected president of the Yugoslav federation in a vote that
opposition parties said was illegal. He moved into Tito’s White Palace,
which had been empty since Tito’s death in 1980.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.C12)(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 23, Milosevic was sworn
in as president of Yugoslavia and crowds reacted by throwing shoes at
his motorcade, symbolizing the young people who have left Serbia due to
his regime.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 22, The Socialist Party
of Slobodan Milosevic claimed victory in the elections. Many of his
opponents boycotted the elections which they said were rigged. Zoran
Lilic was expected to take the presidency. A majority was not won and a
runoff election was scheduled for Oct 5.
(SFC, 9/22/97, p.A8)(SFC, 9/23/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 30, Zoran Djindjic, mayor
of Belgrade, was ousted in a coup by nationalist extremists and some
former allies. The city assembly voted to oust Djindjic and the TV
editors. Some 20,000 demonstrators protested in downtown Belgrade.
Senior editors of Studio B television, the only opposition to
Milosevic’s state television, were also ousted.
(SFC, 10/2/97, p.A10)(SFC, 10/2/97, p.A12)
1997 Oct 1, In Serbia It was
reported that Albanian students in Kosovo planned to demonstrate in the
streets for equal access to the university on par with the Serb
students at Pristina. Some 20,000 students protested and were attacked
by Serb police. At least 30 students were injured. 500 students were
attacked by Serbian police.
(SFC, 10/2/97, p.A10)(SFC, 10/2/97,
p.A12)(SFC,12/10/97, p.C2)
1997 Oct 5, In Serbia a runoff
election was held with Zoran Lilic of the Socialist Party facing
Vojislav Seselj of the Radical Party for control of the 25-seat
parliament. Seselj defeated Lilic but the turnout was less than 50% and
a new election was scheduled in 2 months.
(SFC, 9/23/97, p.A10)(SFC, 10/7/97, p.A15)
1997 Oct 19, In Montenegro Milo
Djukanovic beat pro-Milosevic incumbent Momir Bulatovic for the
presidency.
(SFC,10/21/97, p.A12)
1997 Oct 24, Zoran Todorovic (aka
"Rifle Butt"), top manager of Beopetrol and general secretary of the
Yugoslav United Left party (JUL), was shot dead. He was a close
confidante of Mirjana Markovic.
(SFC,10/25/97, p.A10)(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A23)
1997 Nov 6, In Belgrade former
Serb soldier and convict, Slobodan Misic, was arrested after he told
reporters that he had killed up to 80 Croats and Muslims near Vukovar
in eastern Croatia and in the Bratunac-Srebrenica area of eastern
Bosnia in 1991.
(SFC,11/6/97, p.D3)
1997 Nov 28, The KLA emerged in
Kosovo with expensive Swiss manufactured uniforms and purloined
Albanian Kalashnikovs.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.A13)
1997 Nov, An Interpol report said
that Kosovo Albanians hold the largest share of the heroin market in
Europe.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.A1)
1997 Dec 7, Elections failed to
elect a president with a 50% majority. Milan Milutinovic, an ally of
Slobodan Milosevic received 42% and Vojislav Seselj, a former
paramilitary leader, had 33%. Vuk Draskovic received 16% and threatened
to call a boycott in a Dec 21 runoff.
(SFC,12/9/97, p.A13)(SFC,12/10/97, p.A13)
1997 Dec 18, A group of 12 doctors
and medical technicians marched for 3 days from Nis to Belgrade to
protest the lack of medical resources. In Belgrade health minister
Leposava Milicevic said she was too busy to see them.
(SFC,12/20/97, p.A12)
1997 Dec 21, Milan Milutinovic of
the ruling Socialists claimed victory in the runoff election against
Vojislav Seselj, but it wasn’t clear if the turnout exceeded 50%.
(WSJ, 12/22/97, p.A1)
1997 Dec 30, Riot police dispersed
thousands of Albanian students protesting in Pristina, who demanded the
right to study in their own language.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A9)
1997 Dec, An arms deal in
principle between Russia and Yugoslavia was made in Moscow. The deal
was later denied by the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.A10)(SFC, 3/26/98, p.B2)
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