Letter of Support to the RECOM Process

President of Kosovo, Mrs. Atifete Jahjaga

Member of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Bakir Izetbegovic

President of Serbia, Mr. Boris Tadic

President of Slovenia, Mr. Danilo Turk

President of Macedonia, Mr. Djordje Ivanov

President of Montenegro, Mr. Filip Vujanovic

President of Croatia, Mr. Ivo Josipovic

Member of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Nebojsa Radmanovic

Member of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Zeljko Komsic

Subject: Establishment of RECOM

Sarajevo, Belgrade, Prishtina, Zagreb, Skopje, Podgorica, Ljubljana

October 2011

Your Excellencies, Presidents and Members of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

We believe that citizens of the countries of the former Yugoslavia have a need and the right to know all the facts about war crimes and other massive human rights violations committed during the wars of the 1990s. They also have the right and a need, we believe, to know the consequences of those wars. This is why we are writing to you.

For over a decade, since the weapons have been muted, post-Yugoslav societies have not been able to cope with the heavy legacy of the war past, largely because the fate of a number of those killed, forcibly disappeared, tortured, and persecuted – the people who suffered in so many different, horrible ways – remains unknown to date. Only a few names of those who died are known, but more than 13,000 families of forcibly disappeared persons are still searching for their loved ones. On top of this, there is no organized, systematic mechanism for the victims to seek and obtain fair reparation; and the lack of reliable facts about the victims is continually used for political manipulation, nationalist promotion, hatred and intolerance.

The Initiative for the founding of the Regional Commission for establishing the facts about war crimes and other serious human rights violations in the former Yugoslavia (RECOM) was launched so that the facts about victims are finally identified and accepted by all parties, and in order for our society to cease to deny and relativize the crimes committed in their name. This is an incentive for the public and for the states alike to recognize the injustices done to the victims, to finally hear the voice of survivors and families of victims, to allow them to publicly express their suffering, to hear them with no mediators, to show them compassion and solidarity instead of concealment and humiliation.

Establishment of RECOM has been supported by a number of victims and their families, as well as war veterans and former prisoners from all post-Yugoslav countries, religious communities, non-majority ethnic groups, human rights activists, many lawyers, educators and historians, and especially a large number of youth.

With this letter we want to give a loud and strong support to the Initiative for RECOM, because we believe that the establishment, publication and acceptance of facts at the regional level is necessary for all of us, in order to create a foundation for restoring dignity to victims, to meet their needs and rights, to determine the fate of forcibly disappeared persons, and to prevent the horrors of our common recent past from happening again.

The Initiative for RECOM is the best opportunity to finally stop talking about the past as if it is still present. It is high time that we face it, and begin to remember and learn from it, rather than continue to live it.

Apart from its social potential, the Initiative for RECOM has the potential to be a fresh and authoritative source of data for the judiciary, for history and for the politics in the region, but especially for creative moral and psychological examination of the context we all emerge from and we all live in. It has the capacity to play a crucially important role for the future and for the conquering of the past in the name of this very future. The Initiative for RECOM can make better our communities, but above all ourselves.

In our own name and in the name of our professional ethics, we, for whom the war in the former Yugoslavia, with all the consequences, has become the subject of professional research and artistic vision, the occasion for reflection and concern about the fate of memory and truth, ask you to do everything in your power to enable the Initiative for RECOM to come to life and to begin its operation on the basis of the Statute which has been adopted by the Parliament of the Coalition for RECOM after years of consultations with the citizens across the region.

Sincerely yours,

Aliser Sijaric, composer, BiH

Amir Imsirevic, writer, BiH

Braco Dimitrijevic, conceptual artist, BiH

Damir Uzunovic, writer, BiH

Danis Tanovic, director, BiH

Dejan Zoric, actor, BiH

Dino Merlin, musician, BiH

Dino Mustafic, director, BiH

Dragan Jovicic, actor, BiH

Ermin Bravo, actor, BiH

Goran Samardzic, writer, BiH

Haris Pasovic, director, BiH

Jasmila Zbanic, director, BiH

Jusuf Hadzifejzovic, conceptual artist, BiH

Nenad Velickovic, writer, BiH

Safet Zec, painter, BiH

Selma Spahic, director, BiH

Zlatko Topcic, playwright, BiH

Azem Vllasi, lawyer, Kosovo

Bekim Lumi, director, Kosovo

Doruntina Basha, dramaturgist, Kosovo

Eliza Hoxha, singer, Kosovo

Engjëllushe Morina, Iniciativa Kosovare per Stabilitet, Kosovo

Enver Petrovci, actor and director, Kosovo

Jeton Neziraj, director, Kosovo

Kushtrim Hoxha, actor, Kosovo

Kushtrim Koliqi, director, Kosovo

Veton Nurkollari, director, Kosovo

Zana Hoxha Krasniqi, director, Kosovo

Aleksandra Jovicevic, theatrologist, Serbia

Biljana Srbljanovic, playwright, Serbia

Bozo Koprivica, writer, Serbia

Branka Petric, actress, Serbia

Branko Cvejic, actor, Serbia

Dejan Mijac, director, Serbia

Dragan Velikic, writer, Serbia

Egon Savin, director, Serbia

Filip David, writer, Serbia

Gorcin Stojanovic, director, Serbia

Iva Milosevic, director, Serbia

Ivan Colovic, writer and publisher, Serbia

Kokan Mladenovic, director, Serbia

Lazar Stojanovic, director, Serbia

Milena Dragicevic-Sesic, professor, University of Dramatic Arts, Serbia

Mirjana Karanovic, actress, Serbia

Nikola Djuricko, actor, Serbia

Nikola Samardzic, historian, Serbia

Radmila Lazic, poet, Serbia

Slobodan Sijan, director, Serbia

Stevan Filipovic, director, Serbia

Svetislav Basara, writer, Serbia

Teofil Pancic, journalist and writer, Serbia

Vladimir Arsenijevic, writer, Serbia

Alma Prica, actress – Prima Donna, Croatia

Borut Separovic, theatre director, Croatia

Drago Pilsel, journalist, Croatia

Heni Erceg, journalist, Croatia

Igor Stiks, writer, Croatia

Ivica Djikic, journalist and writer, Croatia

Lenka Udovicki, director, Croatia

Jurica Pavicic, journalist, writer and movie critic, Croatia

Mate Matisic, theatre writer, scenographer, composer and musician, Croatia

Miljenko Jergovic, writer and journalist, Croatia

Nadezda Cacinovic, philosopher, president of Croatian PEN, Croatia

Nenad Puhovski, director, Croatia

Oliver Frljic, theatre director, Croatia

Predrag Lucic, journalist, writer and director, Croatia

Predrag Matvejevic, writer and publicist, Croatia

Rade Serbedzija, actor, Croatia

Sibila Petlevski, writer, Croatia

Slavenka Drakulic, writer and journalist, Croatia

Slavko Goldstein, journalist, publisher and writer, Croatia

Slobodan Snajder, writer and publicist, Croatia

Ursa Raukar, actress, Croatia

Viktor Ivancic, journalist and writer, Croatia

Vilim Matula, actor, Croatia

Vinko Bresan, director, Croatia

Zarko Puhovski, Professor of Political Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb, Croatia

Zdravko Zima, esejist, columnist and literary critic, Croatia

Ales Debeljak, writer, professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Andrej Rozman Roza, actor, Slovenia

Boris A. Novak, writer, Slovenia

Boris Vezjak, philosopher, Faculty of Pedagogy, Maribor, Slovenia

Bozidar Slapsak, professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Bozo Repe, historian, publicist, professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia

David Tasic, publicist, Slovenia

Dusan Jovanovic, director, Slovenia

Dusan Necak, historicist, professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Goran Vojnovic, writer, Slovenia

Igor Mekina, journalist, Slovenia

Janez Jansa, actor, Slovenia

Josip Osti, poet, Slovenia

Marjan Strojan, poet, Slovenia

Matevz Krivic, lawyer and publicist, Slovenia

Metka Mencin Ceplak, sociologist, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Milena Zupancic, actress, Slovenia

Miroslav Slana-Miros, poet, writer and dramatist, Slovenia

Mitja Cander, writer, Slovenia

Mladen Dolar, professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Neza Kogovsek Salamon, researcher, Peace Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Oto Luthar, historian, Research Institute of the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Slovenia

Radko Polic, actor, Slovenia

Sergej Flere, publicist, Faculty of Philosophy, Maribor, Slovenia

Spomenka Hribar, writer, Slovenia

Svetlana Slapsak, dean of ISH (Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis), Slovenia

Tone Persak, director and writer, Slovenia

Ursula Lipovec Cebron, anthropologist, Faculty of Philosophy, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Veno Taufer, poet, Slovenia

Vera Krzisnik Bukic, sociologist and publicist, Institute for Ethnic Studies, Slovenia

Vinko Moderndorfer, dramatist, writer and director, Slovenia

Vlado Miheljak, sociologist, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Andrej Nikolaidis, publicist, Montenegro

Bozena Jelusic, publicist and literature professor, Montenegro

Branko Baletic, director, Montenegro

Dusko Vukovic, journalist, Montenegro

Janko Ljumovic, director of Montenegrin National Theater, Montenegro

Leo Djokaj, writer and composer, Montenegro

Marija Perovic, director, Montenegro

Slobodan Marunovic, actor, Montenegro

Varja Djukic, actress, Montenegro

Zaklina Ostir, actress, Montenegro

Andrijana Janevska, musician, Macedonia

Bogdan Bogdanov, chemist and professor, Macedonia

Bajrus Mjaku, actor, Macedonia

Biljana Tanurovska-Culavkovska, Lokomotiva, New Artistic and Cultural Initiative, Macedonia

Biljana Vankovska, professor, politologist, Faculty of Philosophy, Macedonia

Daut Dauti, journalist and publicist, Macedonia

Dimitar Mircev, politologist, professor, Macedonia

Dragana Zarevska, artist, Macedonia

Elizabeta Seleva, writer and professor, Faculty of Philology, Macedonia

Ferid Muhic, writer and retired professor, Macedonia

Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, professor, Faculty of Law, Macedonia

Halil Zendeli, writer and publisher, Macedonia

Irena Stefoska, historicist, Institute for National History, Macedonia

Iso Rusi, journalist, Macedonia

Jasna Koteska, writer and professor, Faculty of Philology, Macedonia

Jovan Donev, professor, Eurobalcan, Macedonia

Katerina Kolozova, professor of philosophy and women studies, Macedonia

Konstantin Testorides, journalist, Macedonia

Liljana Dirjan, writer, Macedonia

Ljubomir Cuculovski, philosopher, professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Macedonia

Maja Bojadzijevska, professor, Faculty of Philology, Macedonia

Risto Lazarov, writer, Macedonia

Robert Alagozovski, writer, Macedonia

Senka Kolozova, actor, Macedonia

Sinisa Stankovic, writer and journalist, Macedonia

Sladjana Dimiskovska, journalist, Macedonia

Slavica Indzevska, deputy executive director, Open Society Institute, Macedonia, Macedonia

Svetlana Antic-Jovcevska, journalist, Macedonia

Stojanka Mirceva, professor, Macedonia

Todor Cepreganov, historian and director of the Institute for national history, Macedonia

Venko Andonovski, writer and professor, Faculty of Philology, Macedonia

Visar Viska, actor and producer, Macedonia

Vladimir Petrusevski, writer and professor, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Macedonia

Zoran Arsovski, painter, Macedonia