The Knin Area

The Knin area and its surroundings were the first sites of ethnic cleansing and genocide in spring 1991. The provincial town, through which many people travelled but few stopped at, became the nexus of the anti-Croatian aggression. Knin was not randomly picked for this purpose. Only subsequent developments confirmed the preliminary assertion that the aggression was a product of a lengthy and carefully prepared plan coordinated from Belgrade.

The selection of Knin as the centre of the aggression resulted from its being the largest settlement in Croatia with a Serbian majority, though there are more Serbs in Zagreb or Osijek. Furthermore, the town, due to its location on the main road connecting northern and southern Croatia, provided an ideal point for blocking traffic within Croatia. Also, the Chetnik ideology was very popular in the area during WW II and had never disappeared; its resurgence was a matter of time.

The suitability of Knin is demonstrated by the Croatian authorities' inability since 1990 to subdue this aggression. Control of the area was lost long before the first multi-party elections in Croatia in 1990, when local Croats were already undergoing pressure to leave, clearly explaining the ethnic re-mapping of the area. After WW II, large Croatian enclaves gradually became Serb-dominated settlements. The number of Croats continued to fall, while Serbian numbers continued to rise. The elevation of Knin to the status of a "krajina metropolis" was the breaking point of the greater Serbian strategy, perpetrated by people who overnight became self-styled ministers and premiers.

By 1991, the number of Croats in the town of Knin had drastically dropped to 1660 (13.5 % of the population), while in other parts of the district they comprised only 9 %. Settlements with Croatian majorities were Potkonje (198 people, 78.3 % Croats), Vrpolje (536 people, 64 % Croats) and Kijevo (1,261 people, 99.6 % Croats). Although Croatian numbers in the past in the whole area, apart from the town of Knin, were not enormous, the systematic "serbianization" of the area continued. Despite a drop in numbers shown in the 1991 census, the majority of the remaining Croats were forced to flee from the area.

The exodus of Croats from the Knin area commenced in April and intensified on May 1, 1991, when Serbian policemen - deserters from the Zagreb administration - stormed the villages of Potkonje and Vrpolje and maltreated the local Croats. The two villages, just outside the town of Knin, and Kijevo, which is further from town, are principal Croatian oases in the area and represent a stumbling block to the power-wielders in "krajina".

When the first displaced people from the Knin area arrived in Drnis, Sibenik and Split (Dalmatian cities), few understood the far-reaching character of Serbian crimes. Initial expulsion of Croats from the area, in the beginning, was less brutal than during the later stages. However, injustice and transgression by Serbs on fellow natives and the bestial treatment of Croats, can in no way be condoned. Knin is the source of the ongoing genocide in Croatia. The exodus from Knin was simply a prelude to a more massive flight of civilians from other areas of Croatia, who by then had not yet realized they would follow the same trend in months to come.

Kijevo, southwest of Knin, withstood pressure from surrounding Serbian settlements the longest. Like the villages of Potkonje and Vrpolje, Kijevo is surrounded by the Serbian-dominated villages of Polaca, Civljane and Cetina, while the remaining gap is covered by a geographical barrier. After the Croatian authorities established a police post in Kijevo, the village was for several months surrounded by the Yugoslav army. For several months it was almost impossible to reach Kijevo.