Mesic reveals a secret conversation with Milosevic: It was planned for Albanians

Yugoslavia's last president, Stjepan Mesic, in an interview for Austria's Standard newspaper, relates how wars started in Yugoslavia.

He says the world did not take Slobodan Milosevic's project seriously. Mesic, who was president from June until December 1991, says he knew it would be the last president, as that model would not work. That is because Milosevic sought to create major Serbia. Mesic says that by dismissing the 2 million Kosovo Albanians in Macedonia and Albania, he sought to destabilise Albania and Macedonia.

He was convinced that he would thereby deceive the international community, selling himself as the strongest man in the region, who could stabilise Macedonia and Albania”. He later relates a meeting with Milosevic.

I had a conversation with him at a presidium meeting, at a normal dinner. I said: Listen Slobodan, your plan is not Yugoslavia, it's Great Serbia. But be careful, because the longer this lasts, the bigger the damage will be, especially for Serbs. That's because Serbia will be seen as the main culprits in this conflict and the world won't look good on you, will point fingers. You will be hanged by Serbs on Terazije Street in Belgrade. Milosevic was sitting with a cigarette and whiskey in front of me and looking at me. Then I said: Slobodan, I have a prayer for you. He told me: Let's hear it! I told him, when they hang you there, you'll think of me and I'll think of you. And Milosevic told me: Let's see who they're going to hang. Asked by the journalist if she saw him again, Mesic says: “Yes, at The Hague trial, he was accused and I as a witness. And I said: Do you remember our conversation?