Polish press on false reporting from Kosovo
Beta News
Agency, Belgrade
April 27, 2004
WARSAW - Commenting on the recent wave of violence in Kosovo, the Polish daily "Trybuna" published a feature article entitled "The victory of lies" in which it criticizes what is calls the false portrayal of the situation in the province in the past.
The newspaper reminds that the bloody violence in Kosovo in March took place on the fifth anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, which NATO justified by "protection of ethnic Albanians".
Emphasizing that information regarding "ethnic cleansing" (of ethnic Albanians by Serbs) was based on false and frequently dressed up reports, "Trybuna" reminds that for years the non-Albanian population of Kosovo has been forced to flee from its home and that "the Yugoslav Army and police were forced to confront massive attacks by international terrorist groups".
It adds that the leader of the terrorist network Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden, opened terrorist training camps in northern Albania and visited them on at least two occasions.
"The majority of Polish media uncritically rebroadcast news about 100,000 victims of Serb genocide, as well as the disappearance of one million Albanian males and 70,000 Albanian women, reportedly raped by Yugoslav soldiers," writes "Trybuna" and emphasizes that this so-called information was never officially denied.
The paper also reminds that the under the barrage of media propaganda the highest Polish politicians compromised themselves, expressing their regret upon the alleged murder of Ibrahim Rugova at a time when he was holding meetings with Slobodan Milosevic and holding press conferences.
Describing the lynching in 1999 of a well-known Serbian professor in Pristina in front of his wife and daughter, the writer of the article says that he does not remember the Polish president and prime minister issuing a statement condemning this horrific murder.
The Polish daily lists numerous examples of false information, including footage broadcast on Polish television such as, for example, a Serb elderly woman wearing a black head kerchief who was described as an Albanian woman weeping for the loss of her entire family, supposedly massacred by Serb gangs.
"The deployment of KFOR in Kosovo failed to stop Albanian acts of terror," writes "Trybuna" and emphasizes that international factors have yet to realize a single provision of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
The article concludes with the negative outcome of the situation in Kosovo following the NATO intervention and the fact that "the victory in that war was that of lies".
