— Written by Branko Veljković —

Some six months before the start of the First Balkan War, the general political and military situation prior to the beginning of the war for the liberation of Kosovo and Old Serbia from the Turks was being considered in the war staff of the Serbian army. Present were Regent Aleksandar Karađorđević, Nikola^[1] Pašić, Serbian vojvodas^[2], General Petar Živković, and other generals and adjutants. The wall was covered with war maps. Over the large table, a white tablecloth and a pair of white gloves. At one moment, Vojislav Voja Tankosić^[3] entered the staff headquarters, known as Vojvoda Tankosić, an officer of the Royal Serbian Army. He walked with his characteristic gait. The holster for the pistol he carried on his hip was deliberately unfastened. The entire army knew Tankosić was a brave man and an exceptional marksman. For a wager, he could extinguish a candle flame with a rifle bullet from 50 meters. This “extinguishing of the flame” later became an unwritten criterion for entry into Tankosić’s chetniks^[4] and part of the regular “vetting” of the fighters’ readiness. He had another trait – he mercilessly pursued traitors, corrupt politicians and deserters. He treated them as loathsome enemies.

A silence fell in the staff headquarters. Everyone saw the unfastened holster. Some were angry because of the obvious un-soldierly behaviour, and some were very frightened. Tankosić was looking for others here. He said what he had to say. He sent a message that there would be no retreat from what had been agreed. No delays. He was ready to slaughter them all.

In September 1912, two days before the outbreak of the First Balkan War, Tankosić and his Laplje Chetnik Detachment crossed deep into the Turkish rear and began military operations. It started at the Merdare guard post. In agreement with Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis, Tankosić initiated combat operations on his own initiative. The backstage politics that threatened to turn yet another military victory into a political defeat had just met with failure. Tankosić opened a window of freedom for the Serbs in Kosovo and Old Serbia.

Official history then speaks of how Major Vojislav Tankosić died.

Official history serves many purposes, but it also serves to hide betrayals and traitors.

What actually happened has little to do with how it is presented in that history.

In late October 1915, Nikola Pašić asked Tankosić to go to a secret “contact” with a representative of the Austrian secret service, regarding alleged truce negotiations. Tankosić was a member of the “Black Hand”^[5] and had long been involved in the Serbian army’s intelligence activities against the enemy. This time, it was not an intelligence contact but a trap. Nikola Pašić, in agreement with Regent Aleksandar Karađorđević^[6] and General Petar Živković^[7], sent Tankosić to his death. In the ambush that had been arranged, Tankosić was treacherously killed. Photographs with the dead Tankosić and the text in the Austrian press “Voja Tankosić Has Met His End” followed as a morbid part of the propaganda war.

The murder of Tankosić was the prelude to the Salonika Trial^[8], the liquidation of Apis, and the subsequent life path of Mustafa Golubić. Their feeling of being brothers, blood brothers, was real.

The truth about how Tankosić died was concealed by those who killed him, with the help of the immediate assassins. The truth about it is still hidden today by their dishonourable, soulless heirs of the same intentions.

Voja Tankosić, an officer who loved his country, was killed by a Serbian politician, a traitor, because he was afraid of him.

In Serbia, it has always been dangerous to love one’s country and to hate corrupt politicians and traitors.

A summer month, many years later.

1998, the commander of my unit and I entered the joint security forces staff headquarters at a forward location in Kosovo. Present were army and police generals, heads of security services, a representative of high politics. On the wall and stands were large military maps full of various symbols, and on the table, a red tablecloth. I knew that under one of the black berets^[9] on the table lay a “nagra,” a sound recording device that members of the military security liked to use at that time. Immediately before that, a member of our unit had been killed. The circumstances and intelligence data indicated that not everything about that death was as it had first seemed. The commander was speaking unusually quietly about his tasks, and I was holding my Zastava M92^[10] across my chest. A round was in the chamber, the rifle off safe.

I am not a man who can remove from his face what is on his mind. Besides, why would I do that? I was waiting for the key word.

I am a patient man. I solved the enigma many years later, in completely different historical, political and security circumstances.

I helped a traitor find the essence in the place from which he had fled.

In 2002, after a short walk across Red Square, a high-ranking officer of the Russian foreign intelligence service sought a way to tell me something about my world, using our familiar vocabulary. Outside of protocol. He spoke in short sentences. His thinking was impeccable, methodical. I came to love that man as a much older brother. He knew about my rifle off safe with a round in the chamber. In fact, many knew about the rifle off safe, but the destination of that round was known to only a few. I didn’t ask how he knew.

He told me: “There is only one thing more dangerous than all those you are about to target becoming at least slightly better people than they already are…”

I looked at him.

“And that is for you to become at least slightly worse man…”

The Russian…

He knows how…

On a Saturday in July 2015, by order of the treacherous regime from Belgrade, as a “gesture of goodwill” but actually as an overture to the planned arrival of the self-proclaimed one to the South of Serbia, the memorial with the names of 20 Serbian policemen and gendarmes killed in battles with members of the so-called “Liberation Army of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa” was removed. The monument had been erected in 2012 near the Bujanovac village of Lučane. The cross-shaped monument was removed by members of the gendarmerie.

Bujović Milan, Veljković Dubiša, Gligorić Duško, Đokić Duško, Cvetan Jovan, Joksimović Marko, Stojanović Jovica, Božinović Ivica, Brčarević Dragan, Mladenović Miodrag, Petrović Rajica, Dimitrijević Slaviša, Filipović Dragan, Miladinović Stanko, Jeremić Miomir, Živković Milenko, Mitić Boban, Pantović Živorad, Janićijević Jovica, Strugar Milenko – they were first erased from the personnel roster of the MoI^[11] of the Republic of Serbia, and then the will of the traitors decided to strip them of the right to a memorial on the territory of Serbia and the right to be remembered by generations.

In January 2013, a stonemason from Vlasotince, of Serbian nationality, who had carved the letters on the memorial that the Albanians had erected for their fallen who died during the attack on the Serbian security forces in 2000 and 2001, was brought in for an informational interview at the premises of the MoI of the Republic of Serbia. He was interviewed regarding the circumstances of inscribing the names on the tombstone, as an introduction to filing a criminal complaint for the criminal act of undermining the constitutional order.

That is what happened to the man who carved the names of the dead terrorists on their tombstone.

How then should the scoundrel fare who is personally, and by inducing others into complicity, through action, in full awareness, and through omission, within an organised international criminal-political group, over many years of continuous activity, responsible for the abuse of trust of an entire nation, the collapse of the economic system and the mass criminalisation of society and corruption, the universal abuse and destruction of institutions, the collapse of the country’s economic and defense capabilities, the collapse of the state’s reputation abroad, the universal devastation of the population, the betrayal of the Serbian people and Serbian interests in Kosovo and Metohija and the Republic of Srpska[12], the collapse of the country’s territorial integrity, the universal petty sale of state resources, the creation of an atmosphere of fear and the provocation of divisions in society, civil unrest and conflicts of great magnitude, the persecution and insane maltreatment of students, the people, and political dissenters, the founding, financing, and abuse of paramilitary and thuggish formations, the unresolved political murders of Oliver Ivanović and Vladimir Cvijan, bringing the country into an unconstitutional state, destroying countless families, killing the future of an entire nation, the universal vulgarisation of everything he touched?

How should the regime and the man fare who is responsible for a society in which it is possible for a police inspector, Colonel Dejan Jović, who was on the trail of solving the “enigma” concerning the ties of “high” state officials and crime, to become the victim of indescribable persecution, discreditation, media satanisation, career destruction, psychological and physical maltreatment and torture by his “colleagues” after a staged arrest and detention, only to finally have his throat slit in a hospital bed? He died in severe agony.

An autopsy was never performed, the crime was practically covered up, the accomplices and murderers were not convicted, the mastermind is at large.

Therefore…

We are seeking a lawyer, an attorney, a legally literate person who, because of the removal of the monument to the fallen Serbian policemen and because of the universal betrayal of the country of unimaginable scale and consequences, will file a reasoned and documented criminal complaint against all representatives of the treacherous regime on the same grounds, for committing the criminal act of undermining the constitutional order and endangering the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia!

I am sure there will be at least a million co-signers.

For I see your brand mark in the place where people have their souls.

In 2016, the self-proclaimed^[13] stated: “It’s just that I don’t resemble Lazar^[14], and there are no heroes here like Murat. You know… There are no heroes here like Murat was, and no serious strategists like Murat was. There are none like that, believe me… Murat was a very, very serious man, a serious military leader… Murat was… compared to these ours, these ones aren’t even fit to carry his spurs…”

Treacherous policy has brought Serbia to a state akin to that before the Balkan Wars.

Treacherous policy intends to bring Serbia to a state prior to Karađorđe’s Uprising^[15].

Let us all now ponder together something like this…

That day which we all eagerly await began with the first day of the student protests and has not yet ended.

November^[16] 21, 2024, dawned, but November 22 has not yet come.

Thank the good God for such youth and indescribable courage!

The students are right!

The students’ demands have not been met!

Let us re-establish the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia!

Until the 22nd of November dawns, there are the verses carved on the tombstone of Vojislav Voja Tankosić:

A Serbian fairy weaves for you
A wreath of immortal glory,
Over your grave, Vojo,
The comitadji^[17] bands weep

---

^[1] Nikola Pašić – was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat. During his political career, which spanned almost five decades, he served five times as prime minister of Serbia and three times as prime minister of Yugoslavia, leading 22 governments in total. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[2] Vojvoda – A high-ranking military title in Serbian history, analogous to a duke or a senior warlord/commander. It carries connotations of legendary leadership and authority, beyond a simple “general.”

^[3] Vojislav Tankosićwas a Serbian military officer, vojvodaof the Serbian Chetnik Organisation, major of the Serbian Army,, and member of the Black Hand. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[4] Chetniks – The Chetniks, formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Yugoslav royalist and Serbian naitonalist movement and guerrilla force in Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[5] Black Hand – (serbian “Crna Ruka” / Unification or Death): A secret Serbian military society founded in 1911 with the aim of achieving the unification of all Serb-inhabited territories. It was involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and was later liquidated by the Serbian government in the Salonika Trial. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[6] Alexander I Karađorđević of Yugoslavia – was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 1921 to 929 and King of Yugoslavia from 1929 until his assassination in 1934. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[7] Petar Živković – was a Serbian military officer and political figure in Yugoslavia. He was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 1929 until 1932. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[8] Salonika Trial – From late 1916 into early 1917, secret peace talks took place between Austria-Hungary and France. There is evidence that parallel discussions were held between Austria-Hungary and Serbia with Prime Minister Pašić dispatching his righthand man Stojan Protic and Regent Alexander dispatching his confidant Colonel Petar Živković to Geneva on secret business.
For some time, Regent Alexander and officers loyal to him had planned to get rid of the military clique headed by Apis, as Apis represented a political threat to Alexander’s power. The Austro-Hungarian peace demand gave added impetus to this plan. On 15 March 1917 Apis and the officers loyal to him were indicted, on various false charges unrelated to Sarajevo, the case was retried before the Supreme Court of Serbia in 1953 and all defendants were exonerated, by Serbian Court Martial on the French-controlled Salonica front. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[9] Black Beret(s) – serbian “crna beretka”, worn by The Military Security (Vojna bezbednost / VBA Vojnobezbednosna Agencija)and certain special police units; red beret(s) – (serbian “crvene beretke” ) The Special Operations Unit (JSO / Jedinica za specijalne operacije) of the State Security (DB – Državna bezbednost). Also known as the “Red Berets”. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[10] Zastava M92 – The M92is a cabine developed and manufactured by Zastava Arms since 1992.^[2]It is nearly identical to the Zastava M85 carbine; the only differences between the two are caliber and, correspondingly, magazine design. (Source: Wikipedia)

^[11] MoI– Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia (serbian MUP Ministarstvo unutrašnjih poslova) (Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia). (Source: Wikipedia)

^[12] The Republika Srpska –  is one of the three political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the others being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovinaand the Brčko District (Source: Wikipedia)

^[13] Self-proclaimed– may refer to the politician Aleksandar Vučić, who usurps the role of President of Serbia contrary to the Constitution, breaking it and acting against the will of the people.

^[14] Prince Lazar & Sultan Murad I: Central figures in the Battle of Kosovo (1389). Lazar, the Serbian prince, and Murad, the Ottoman sultan, both died in the battle, which became a foundational myth of Serbian martyrdom and resistance. The “self-proclaimed one’s” praise for Murat is a profound act of cultural and historical betrayal.

^[15] Karađorđe’s Uprising – a) Karađorđe (Đorđe Petrović) – lit. ’Black George’), was a Serbian revolutionary leader who led a struggle against the Ottoman Empire during the First Serbian Uprising. Karađorđe Petrović held the title of Grand Vožd of Serbia from 1804 to 1813

^[16] 21st of November, 2024 – beginning of the student protests. As the protests are not over yet, the author points out that it is not over, yet, therefore the 22nd of November 2024 has not yet come.

^[17] Komitske (Comitadji): A term synonymous with “Chetnik,” derived from the Ottoman Turkish for “member of a committee.” It refers to the irregular Serbian nationalist guerrilla fighters who operated against the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. They were patriots, highly motivated and possessing exceptional military capabilities. The Komiti– the Chetniks from the second decade of the 20th century – were the first modern guerrilla force in modern history.