No more memorials to "conquerors, war criminals, terrorists"

From now on, the state, rather than individuals will be deciding on who to honor with monuments, the daily Vecernje Novosti writes.

Among the memorials that will most likely be removed is a plaque in Novi Pazar dedicated to Acif Efendija, and a memorial to the so-called Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedje installed in the town of Presevo.

Initiatives to raise memorials that offend religious and national feelings, historical achievements, and glorify fascist and separatist ideas will no longer be accepted.

The newspaper said that the list of inappropriate memorials in Serbia is "rather long" - and that most of them are located in the south, and in the province of Vojvodina, in the north.

All of them will be on the agenda of the Council for the Cultivation of the Tradition of Liberation Wars, whose establishment is expected no later than mid-August, in accordance with the recently adopted Law on War Memorials.

"The Council will decide on the conditions for raising new ones and removing old military memorials," State Secretary at the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Veteran and Social Affairs Negovan Stankovic told the daily.

He added that members of this body will be top experts in the field, and will include one professor proposed by universities, a representative of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), a representative of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, and four people from the state administration.

A large number of inappropriate memorials have been erected with the blessing of local leaders, who, "greased" with foreign donations of several thousand euros, fulfilled the wishes of ambassadors and honored various conquerors and criminals,...