The Odyssey of Balkan revisionism

The book "Balkan Odyssey" is a firsthand account by former British foreign secretary David Owen, who along with former US secretary of state Cyrus Vance (a familiar figure among Greeks from the discussions on the Macedonia name dispute) led the 1992 effort under the secretary-general of the United Nations to address the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Thirty years ago, around this time, at the urging and decision of the late Greek president Karolos Papoulias, I had the opportunity to serve during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia, Bulgaria and in the (then) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as a member of the European Union Monitor Mission (ECMM).

We witnessed massacres of civilians, genocide, the burning of churches, mass graves, and the destruction of cities (Vukovar). Our reports and testimonies were later examined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former...