The words of the parents and families of the missing and killed Serbs and Croats left the strongest impression on Serbian President Boris Tadic during his visit to Ovcara and Paulin Dvor, Belgrade daily Blic reported on Saturday.
President Tadic paid his respects to war victims at the Ovcara memorial complex and Paulin Dvor in eastern Croatia on Thursday,
Ovcara is a well-known place of suffering of Croatians in the 1990s Homeland War, where members of the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and Serb paramilitary units on 20 November 1991, during the Serb occupation of Vukovar, killed 200 Croatian soldiers and civilians, mostly patients who had been brought there from the Vukovar hospital. Paulin Dvor is a village near the eastern city of Osijek where, in December 1991, Croatian troops killed 19 civilians, mostly Serbs.
"Not any of them said a word that was too strong, and some of them have been waiting for answers for the past 19 years. They endure their tragedy with dignity, searching for the truth," Tadic told Blic.
Light must be shed on the faith of their loved ones so that the families of Serbs and Croats, both countries and both peoples can find peace and move on, Tadic said
The daily also said that Serbian President Tadic and Croatian President Ivo Josipovic were already being described as statesmen symbolising the reconciliation process in the Balkans
The daily also noted that the meeting of the two presidents was marked by apologies - Tadic's apology at Ovcara and Josipovic's in Paulin Dvor.
