An Ethnic Look at the Army

On the eve of Yugoslavia's disintegration the national make-up of the officer corps was frequently used as an argument to support the claim that the Yugoslav Army (VJ) was the Serbian-Montenegrin army. The disproportions are obvious, but it can hardly be said that a considerably larger number of Serbs, Montenegrins and Yugoslavs to the detriment of Croats, Muslims, Slovenes and Albanians came as a result of a contrived military personnel policy. On the contrary: the JNA, "as the army of all our nations and nationalities", had always tried to make sure that all of them are proportionally represented among the epaulettes, not avoiding the so-called "positive discrimination" against those "in the minority."

On the other hand, the attacks on the JNA as "the Serbian army" intensified after the arguments pertaining to the ethnic composition of its officer corps had been put forward, along with the objections pertaining to the failure to fill the planned contingents of recruits (1988-1990). In other words, the republics pulled out "their people from the army", or, at least, bargained over it, simultaneously accusing the JNA of becoming the Greater-Serbian (and Montenegrin) army.

Following the logic, the Slovenians and Croats first came under suspicion, and, then, became undesirable in the Slovenian (June-July 1991) and Croatian (1991-1992) wars. The officers who withdrew from Slovenia and Croatia, with the JNA units and often with their families, were exposed to suspicion, and, eventually, discharged from the service. Former Head of the Yugoslav Army's Personnel Department, General Ljubomir Domazetovic, has recently ordered ethnic cleansing to be intensified by introducing a "patriotic criterion". In effect, this only legalized the practice which had a deep-rooted tradition in the military.

"Abandoning" the Slovenes and Croats - to whom we "have given the state which they'd never had" - was a relatively easy thing if viewed from this point in time. Moreover, the fact that some 1,600 Croats, who would not have met with any resistance even if they had tried to leave, fought in the ranks of the JNA was "tolerated" all until May last year. They were chased away this way. The pull-out of the JNA from Bosnia-Herzegovina was carried out with awareness (or because of it) that no "unitary" army could possibly survive in that "Balkan fortress." Especially keeping in mind that the Serbian Democratic Party stopped its members from joining "its army", along with the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ). Namely, this was done for the benefit of forming of "their own armies." The JNA got out of B-H leaving a clear message as to whom it rooted for: almost a third of all weaponry and equipment of the former JNA was left behind to the Bosnian Serbs (e.g., the JNA left 530 tanks in B-H out of the total of 1,800), is what Dobrica Cosic used to say at the beginning of his sudden one-year-long presidential mandate (a considerable, although not as large amount of arms went to the Bosnian Croats).

The JNA changed its name into the Yugoslav Army and proceeded with a transformation into a "non-political", professional army, firmly clinging to the state from which it squeezed about two thirds of all the money the state could possibly print. As it's well known where the Yugoslav National Mint is, then it's also clear who has the army whatever the army may be saying on the issue. With an active support from the "radical" generals it is turning into the Serbian, that is, dying army. There have been no Albanians in it for years, which the JNA/VJ duly failed to notice. Reservations towards the minorities is nowadays following the curve of geometric progression. It is the Hungarians who are the target at the moment, as the Slovaks, Ruthenians and other minorities have already born the brunt, particularly on the occasion of Vukovar. According to some testimonies, the Muslims from Bosnia-Herzegovina who happened to be doing their military service at the time (the generation from March 1992) are still here - or, at least, some of them have been kept as hostages (for the so-called exchanges, while doing their military service whose end is unknown).

The status of the Macedonians represents an interesting point in General Domazetovic's order on ethnic cleansing in the Yugoslav Army. As if they'd received a blank certificate of positive patriotism. But, only seemingly so. Actually there are no Macedonian officer on any of the important posts. According to the sources of VREME, the Macedonians were given an opportunity to withdraw on their own. Or to agree to humiliating "reorganizations", i.e. to doing the job on a much lower level than the one for which they are qualified. Or to the disgrace of working without being paid, hoping that their "case" would be solved.

The ignorance of the citizens' principle justifies the description of this army as phantom: the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia occupies two fifths of the former SFRJ and about the same fraction of the population. However, various Yugoslavs, Albanians, Hungarians, Muslims, Croats, Slovaks, Rumanians, Macedonians, Vlachs, Ruthenians, Turks, Slovenians, and "the rest", who account for one third of the population, fall into the category of those "suspicious." Considering the birth rate of the Serbs and Montenegrins, presumably as the reliable "constituent" parts of some new army, ethnically clean army will simply not be born, and, therefore, will remain phantom.

Aleksandar Ciric