Slavica Djukic Dejanovic: the socialists did not turn their back on Milosevic, they only accepted reality – Politics

“A politician of the rank of Slobodan Milosevic had different possibilities. However, none of them occurred to him.”

Photo: BETAPHOTO / MILOŠ MIŠKOV

Slavica Đukić Dejanović, vice president of the Socialist Party of Serbia, says that for Danas, indirectly confirming that the arrest of the former president of Serbia and FRY Yugoslavia was not the only option, but that there were offers to go abroad or change identity, but he refused. Danas’ interlocutor does not reveal who offered those opportunities to Milosevic, nor to which countries he could go. When asked whether speculations that then-Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov offered her a plane from Surčin airport were true, Danas’s interlocutor replied that she didn’t really know those details, and if she did, she didn’t. He said. they.

* I guess you saw every episode of the “Family” series. Did its authors contact you before filming or did they want to hear your opinion about the event?

– Before the filming of the series, none of the authors contacted me. And the series is a product of the artistic freedoms and visions of its creators, not a historical document.

* As the series shows, but also as Branislav Ivković claims, you were one of the few socialists who was with Milošević in recent days. Ivković says that the Socialists have already turned their backs on Milošević, or as he puts it graphically, they got under the bed.

– The socialists never turned their back on Milosevic, but they accepted the new reality and the new concept that Serbia needed. And at that time, the current Socialist Party officials had a plan of what we would do. Because politicians who do not anticipate the future are not politicians at all.

* Is the role of Ivković clearer to you now? Was it the fifth column as Milosevic called it, or just a man who changed his mind in time, looking at the big picture?

– Bane had the desire to help at that time so that this event, which really had historical significance, was not a replica of some previous events in which Draga Mašin and Aleksandar end up in a pool of blood.

* Do you think Milan Milutinovic, former president of Serbia, did not betray Milosevic? How do you interpret your signature on the document about the arrest of a party colleague, and was it a move by a scared man?

– The times and circumstances of which we spoke were extremely delicate and difficult. I think it is human to choose a position that each individual thinks is in the interest of the state, but also in his or her own interest. I understand different behaviors.

* In these days many versions of the events of the night of the arrest have been heard, since there was no arrest warrant from The Hague for Milosevic, who was detained for trial in the country, until the arrest was an explicit request for the American administration. Did Milosevic know that he would be extradited to The Hague?

– Milosevic knew very well that The Hague was waiting for him. He expected the citizens of Serbia to show a bad attitude towards The Hague’s intentions.

* Is it possible that only Cedomir Jovanovic convinced Milosevic to surrender, or did he really rule something else, perhaps a promise to leave his family alone?

– Milosevic did not work according to the plans of some promises. In all the new circumstances, he found new possibilities for the position that he considered most appropriate for both Serbia and himself.

* The statements of the participants at that time are also contradictory, some claim that Milosevic was armed, others that he was not. What is the truth?

– I have never seen him armed, but I have no sure confirmation that somewhere in a drawer there were no weapons. But he was certainly not suicidal.

* To this day, it is not clear who the people who shot in Villa Mir are. Was it really that dramatic?

– It was dramatic. I was in the living room when a bullet exploded between us. I can’t tell you that. Now I conclude that there were different views, different instances of the government back then and that it is very likely that an answer will be sought there.

* In the series, Mira Markovic is shown as a hysterical person, who goes from one mood to another. What was she really like and is there really so much time spent calming her down?

– It is absolutely the artistic freedom of the creator of the series to present it that way. She was a woman who had her own world, her own details, but she never had fits of hysteria in front of others. You were able to put your unpleasant thoughts in the face of your interlocutor, you could simply present ice when you do not agree with something and when you want to distance yourself from someone. She was the least hysterical. But I absolutely did not take care of it calming down, as it is presented in the series.

* Who really invited you to come to Villa Mir, considering that you were not a civil servant at that time, and how do you say friend of the family?

– I was neither an official nor a friend of my family, but I was a socialist and life turned out to be incomparably more fierce and energetic from 2000. All my state functions were practically only from that period. I was President of the Assembly and Minister on three occasions. For this reason, I fought hard for the Socialist Party and I thought it was very important that as a member of the team appointed by the Executive Board I find myself in Villa Mir and participate in the correspondence between the president of the party and our members and supporters who were around the villa and to give my contribution. And then it really came down to one of my roles in creating the stabilization of the atmosphere in the Užička 11 area itself, in communication with Sloboda and members of his family. I didn’t have the strength to leave when people feared for themselves and their position. I needed to give my contribution to people who were in a position of risk, which I thought could be done in a better way. And I think that’s how it ended.

Serbia was and still is divided

* Was Milosevic aware in those moments that people would no longer want him, that they could not forgive him sanctions, bombings, civil war, persecution of dissidents … did he understand his mistakes, or did he leave with the conviction that it was done? for him? it is not true?

– Both today and then, Serbia was divided when it came to Slobodan Milosevic. In those moments, he was aware of the dichotomy, the division in Serbia between people who were pros and cons. With the two million votes he received in the last elections, he was aware that half of the citizens of Serbia were no longer there for him.

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