Denial from the Office of HRH Crown Prince Aleksandar II to the article “The Royal turnovers” by Mr. Artur Demek published in daily newspaper “Politika” on March 2, 2003

Belgrade, March 4, 2003– On March 2, 2003 your respectable newspaper published the article “The Royal turnovers” by Mr. Artur Demek, reviewing HRH Crown Prince Alexander’s speech given at the Third Summit of Serbia and Montenegro.

Mr. Demek says that in his speech Crown Prince Alexander gave a strong, but late condemnation of the international aggression on our country in 1999. Without analyzing the essence of Mr. Demek’s comment we want to point out that this statement is not accurate. Bombing of FRY started in the evening of 24 March 1999 and the Crown Prince gave the statement titled “Stop the bombing” on 25 March, condemning the NATO aggression.

It was the first of His Royal Highness’s many statements where he condemned the bombing campaign, one of them being his letter to Presidents Clinton and Chirac and Prime Minister Tony Blair dated 6 April where he demanded the aggression to be stopped.

Knowing that these facts are not well known to your readers, due to the fact that media in FRY did not give much space to the Crown Prince’s statement, it would be good if you published the entire statement of 25 march 1999.

HRH CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER’s STATEMENT

STOP THE BOMBING

I denounce in the strongest possible terms the aggression launched by NATO against our country last night. NATO states have attacked a small sovereign country without an authorization by the United Nations. Leaders of that military alliance assert that the aim of war operations is to prevent a human catastrophe in Kosovo, yet it is quite possible, unfortunately, that their action will make the situation in Kosovo worse, provoke new conflicts in the Balkans and upset international relations in Europe. It is impossible to foresee all the consequences of this action.

Enormous damage has been caused to Serbia and Montenegro, and the first fatalities have occurred. Since NATO operations are continuing, more victims among the innocent civilian population are inevitable. Violence cannot be stopped by using even greater violence, and a solution to the Kosovo problem can be found only through direct negotiations between democratic representatives of the Serbs and Albanians. It is absurd for NATO to bomb Yugoslavia so that Kosovo can remain a part of Yugoslavia! It is also absurd for NATO to become an air force of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army! NATO actions lead inevitably to Kosovo’s independence, while NATO leaders claim that independence is not their aim!?

When in 1995 over a quarter of a million Serbs were driven from their homes in Croatia, when their houses were burned and destroyed and many civilians killed NATO leaders did not speak of a humanitarian catastrophe. The Serbs have been ethnically cleansed from Western Bosnia, but who cares. In Serbia there are now over 600,000 Serbian refugees, but NATO could not care less about that. And what were the steps that NATO undertook in order to prevent that catastrophe? Any ethnic cleansing should be condemned and prevented.

I have always been a critic of the present regime in Belgrade since, I believe, it works against Serbian interests, but the nature of that regime should not be used as an excuse for NATO to wage a military campaign against Yugoslavia. The regime is one thing, the Serbian people another, and NATO is making a big mistake by conducting military operations against Yugoslavia. Serbia, Montenegro and the whole of the Balkans do not need bombs and killings, there had unfortunately been a surplus of that in the history of the Balkans, but they need peace, freedom, justice and democracy. Tolerance and mutual understanding can flourish only in conditions of peace, not war. For this reason, I appeal to all NATO states to stop immediately the bombing of Yugoslavia and I call on all interested parties to find a solution to the current crisis through negotiations.

ALEXANDER

25 March 1999