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Dime Risteski

Dime Risteski was born in 1971 in Prilep. He participated in the 2001 war as part of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia. He was in the convoy attacked on Karpalak on 8 August 2001 and was wounded.

The interview was recorded in 2019.


GORAN TALESKI: Please, introduce yourself.

DIME RISTESKI: I’m Dime Risteski, participant in the Karpalak events. I was injured there and now I have 9th grade disability.

GT: What does it mean?

DR: That means that I have shards – metal pieces inside me from my injury and they will stay inside me forever. They can’t be removed because they are located on critical spots, along the nerves. Actually, I already have 30%  damage. I was at Military hospital and two different doctors had the same opinion – if they try to remove them it is possible to cause injury during the intervention and my fingers to stop functioning.

GT: Let’s go step by step. We will return on that later. When did you serve your military service?

DR: I served my military service during 1991 -1992 in Nish and Mitrovica.

GT: That should have been one of the last generations in YPA, if not the ultimate?

DR: Yes, yes. I was back on April 16.

GT: ’92?

DR: Yes, ’92.

GT: Where did you serve, in Nish and?

DR: Nish at first, and after that in Kosovska Mitrovica. That wasn’t very pleasant experience, too.

GT: As you said, you are participant in the Karpalak events. When did you get an invitation to report in the army in 2001?

DR: Look, most of us actually were volunteers.

GT: So, you reported voluntarily.

DR: Yes.

GT: When did you do that?

DR: Well, several days before all these events. We were in the barracks for a weekend and we had something like short training. We exercised shooting up there, on Lekovo. We shot few bullets and we left. So, it wasn’t some God knows how much strict training. It was some kind of reminder.

GT: In that case, let’s focus on 8th of August 2001.

DR: OK.

GT: Can you describe that day, starting from the morning, departing of the convoy and everything that followed?

DR: Yes. We left the barracks at 6:15 at morning. Along way we stopped 2 or 3 times. First, we stopped at Pletvar. I remember that we got water there. The longest stop was near Skopje. I think that the name of that place is Kula. It is huge…

GT: Between Veles and Skopje?

DR: Yes. A huge parking place. We stayed there, had breakfast, something like that. We stayed there for maybe half an hour, continued our trip and after that it happened…

GT: How many vehicles were there in the convoy?

DR: So… there were two buses, the truck where my colleagues died, I should mention that there was hermelin on the front, and at the end there was a van. Red, civilian van with major Rashic inside. That van… thanks to Rashic’s order and bless him for that… many people put the blame on him for retreating or running away… if he proceeded there would have been much more victims. He had ordered returning to Skopje barracks.

GT: The van?

DR: Yes. In reality he saved those peoples’ lives. If he proceeded, all of them would have been killed.

GT: How many people were inside the van?

DR: I don’t know exactly how many. But they were around 10 people, something like that. So, it would have been…

GT: So, there were not just the driver and the major?

DR: Right. There were other people too.

GT: Dime! As you said, after stop at Kula, you proceeded. I guess you passed Skopje and transferred to Skopje – Tetovo highway. The attack was, as you mentioned, at Karpalak. Let’s go back to the moments when the attack occurred. Do you remember?

DR: It is impossible to forget things like that. Of course I do remember. Three of us were sitting at the back, on the back seats.

GT: Which bus were you in?

DR: I was in the bus driven by Borce, the driver who had passed away. Regan was in front. At the back were I, Marjan and Blagojche Slivoski. No one expected what happened. My gun was under my seat. Only Slivoski who had done several shifts and had been there for 7 -8 months knew the place, so he had loaded his gun without telling us to avoid panic and started firing. I didn’t manage. I had just taken my gun under my seat when I was shot and my gun fell down. That was all and it lasted several seconds.

GT: What had happened?

DR: We had just passed by quickly and.,. If the drivers stopped, it would have been a disaster. We were 118 people and all of us would have been killed. As we would be getting out of the buses, they would be killing us one by one.

GT: So, the drivers made a good job to save you all?

DR: Yes. All drivers: Borche, Regan, the hermelin driver, the driver with Rashic – all of them made a good job.

GT: What was happening when the shooting started? What was the atmosphere inside the bus?

DR: We were chatting, joking, laughing and suddenly the windows started to break. At the beginning I was unaware what was happening. Then I saw a blood over me. I thought that the person next to me was shot. I didn’t feel it at first. I noticed blood on his shirt. I said: “Hey, they hit Marjan”. But, in that moment, I felt my arm getting stiff.   I said: “Wow, it was me who is shot”. At first I thought that Marjan is shot, I didn’t…

GT: You didn’t feel it?

DR: No, I didn’t. Afterwards, after several second, I felt that my arm is getting stiff and turning blue and…

GT: Where were you shot exactly?

DR: Here are the pieces (showing his forearm).

GT: So, it’s your left forearm?

DR: Yes, yes, forearm.

GT: And the bullet came out of your arm?

DP: There was no bullet. There were pieces, shards. Shards, metal pieces.

GT: What kind of shards?

DR: Probably from rocket launcher or mortar, something like that. I guess.

GT: How did they reach you?

DR: You tell me.

GT: What happened next? You felt that your arm is getting stiff. What happened next?

DR: The drivers continued to drive with, I had to emphasize, punctuated tires. The drive lasted around 8 km and 600 m, I think, and then we stopped. We took positions along the road. One empty bus was coming on.

GT: Where from?

DR: From Tetovo towards Skopje. The bus was blue. The people took that bus and me, passed Rubincho who was also wounded and sergeant Goce stopped a Toyota from OSCE. There was a woman and a translator, probably Albanian, inside. I don’t want to prejudice, but because of the accent I think he was Albanian. They took as to Tetovo barracks and we got first aid in the sickbay. The next day they brought us in the Tetovo hospital. There we got X – ray examination and everything else.

GT: Dime, both wounded were in the second bus? Rubincho…

DR: Rubincho was in the first and I was in the second.

GT: And you were in the second.

DR: Yes.

GT: You mentioned that you stopped some OSCE vehicle. You left?…

DR: Yes. It was Toyota pickup truck.

GT: Being both injured, you and Rubincho were together all the time?

DR: Me, Rubin and sergeant Goce. He led us, so to say.

GT: So, you went to the barracks first.

DR: Yes.

GT: …and not to the hospital?

DR: No, we went to the barracks first. The next day they brought us on radiological examination.

GT: What was going on inside the barracks that day?

DR: Immediately after our arrival, not more then several minutes, they started shooting at us again from all angles. They beat our hollow. We were still recovering from the trip when we got this “welcome”.

GT: Was the sickbay in separate object? Did they relocate you when the shooting started?

DR: The sickbay was separate object.

GT: I ask you this having on mind the shooting or the attack of the barracks. Were you relocated on another place?

DR: No, we were here. Where could we go? There was no place to go. Wherever you go, you must be somewhere inside the barracks area. If you are lucky to hit you – that’s fine. If it doesn’t hit you, that’s fine, too. That’s the way it is.

GT: You said that the next day they brought you to the Tetovo hospital.

DR: Yes, in Tetovo City Hospital.

GT: How did you do there? What was going on?

DR: How did we do? They brought us there in pajamas. There was one driver and one doctor.

GT: The same doctor from the barracks?

DR: Yes. He went inside where his colleagues were gathered and we stayed inside the car dressed in pajamas. I felt fear only from one thing – to be captured. We knew what was happening to their prisoners, all that sorts of torture. You must know something about it yourself. That was my greatest fear. I wasn’t afraid to die, I was afraid only to be captured.

GT: You were afraid that they may capture you in the Tetovo hospital?

DR: Well, it was possible. It was possible because the driver of our ambulance car showed us: “Here they are. Those two people are KLA members”. The first one had surgical dressing right here (showing his ribs). He had known them. He had been in Tetovo but had lived in Ohrid. They mobilized him to drive the ambulance car as someone who knows Tetovo well.

GT: So, that was the reason for your fear?

DR: Yes, my greatest fear was to be captured. I wasn’t afraid to die.

GT: How much time passed until doctor’s return?

DR: Well, we stayed maybe more then half an hour in the car with bated breath. We were thinking about all the bad things that could happen but none of them did, thank God.

GT: When did you enter the hospital?

DR: When we entered the hospital the first thing they did was to make a radiological examination. Then doctor Vahid Selmani – I remembered him and I will remember him as long as I live as inhuman person – said: “Go out! Stay in the car! It isn’t safe here!” Where would we be safer? In the hospital or in the car?  I don’t know… But he said that in unpleasant way. And I will always remember that.

GT: You didn’t stay in the hospital?

DR: No, no. They gave us first aid, treated us and put us back. After that I had to take some injections, but I was taking them in our barracks.

GT: If I understood correctly, the personal from the hospital told you that you are not safe in the Tetovo hospital?

DR: In the hospital. We would have been safer to stay out in the car, in our pajamas. Let everyone think for himself what place was safer.

GT: Except this doctor you mentioned, did you had any communication with other medical stuff from the hospital?

DR: It was very short time. They do X- rays to us. He was radioestetitian, they did a radiological examination and…

GT: Radiologist, for X – rays?

DR: Yes, radiologist, and they sent us to the car to stay there. After that the driver brought us back, nothing special happened.

GT: How long did you stay in the Tetovo barracks?

DR: I stayed with my unit until the end. I came back together with the rest. I am not sure how many days were exactly but it was more then a month.

GT: No matter the fact you were wounded?

DR: Correct.

GT: They didn’t bring you to the Military hospital in Skopje?

DR: No. It wouldn’t be safe in that period. The colleague of mine, passed Rubincho – he died young at the age of 34, probably as a consequence of the wounds – had the bullet inside his body for 8 days. They couldn’t remove it in Tetovo, made three cuts but didn’t manage to remove it. After that, they sent him in Skopje to take out the bullet.

GT: All that days in Tetovo barracks you spent in the sickbay or you went back on service?

DR: No, I was with my unit. I was with my unit. No matter the fact that I was spared, I felt sorry for the lads spending 6 or 8 hours on watch because of me. I was going against myself, so to say. I replaced them several times for 2, 3, 4 hours… depends, and went on a position in a trench. The people simply couldn’t do it, they didn’t have enough sleep nor… If shooting happens, everyone stays on the place where he is at the moment, so someone could stay in the trench for 10 hours. And when he would finally be back, another shooting could start.

GT: So, you stayed until the end of your shift?

DR: Yes, I stayed with my unit.

GT: You were back in Prilep probably in the middle of September?

DR: Yes, something like that. I don’t remember the exact date.

GT: How did you feel like when you came back?

DR: How did I feel? Like reborn. Like a new man.

GT: What consequences did the war have on you?

DR: If someone from all of us who took a part in it says that he has no consequences – he is a liar. To be clear, there is no chance not to be any consequence.  Five or six people have died already.

GT: Participants in Karpalak?

DR: Participants in Karpalak. There are several of us in Demir Hisar hospital. They often had to go to the neuropsychiatrist. I won’t tell his name because we were together. I saw him in the bazaar talking to himself. Talking to himself although he was very intelligent man before. I couldn’t stop the tears when I saw him.

GT: You said you have 90% invalidity, right?

DR: 30% invalidity, grade 9.

GT: Grade 9?

DR: Yes. Let’s explain.

GT: I am sorry.  It is regarding the physical aspect?

DR: Yes. And the psychological…

GT: What about the psychological?

DR: We will have it within us as long as we live.

GT: What kind of support did you get from the state institutions all this period (if you get any at all)?

DR: Well, to tell you the true, I will say this. I took 360 000 denars compensation. Around 6000 euros, or still there were marks in use, it doesn’t matter. Let’s say 6000 euros. They additionally gave me   3-4 000 monthly disability pension. They could do more, but our state is the way it is so… that’s it.

GT: What are your expectations about the support? Should it be bigger or it is enough? What kind of support do you need?

DR: You know what? We were just stepping stones for them. We already look like some kind of marginalized, forgotten group of people. That’s my opinion. Many of these kids need help. I somehow managed to settle myself, but there are kids who are don’t have a job, nothing. And the fact they didn’t have employment makes their mental state even more difficult. One thing is go to work, to be among other people, and totally different thing is to be home and non stop evoke those painful memories.

GT: I guess that you every year, when you can, on August 8…

DR: With no exceptions.

GT: …you are one of those who take a part in the memorial meetings?

DR: I was on the place itself, on Karpalak, only once and I don’t intend to go there another time. I don’t want to.

GT: Why?

DR: Well, the whole event comes back to my memory and… We always visit the barracks on 7th and on 8th we go to Lenishte. Always. We go to the monastery devoted to Parascheva of the Balkans because the event occurred on St. Parascheva day. It was Wednesday and that year it was on 08.08.

GT: What do you think about the status of the 2001 veterans today?

DR: As I said – they are forgotten. Like a piece of paper – you wash out your hands and you throw the paper (gesticulation of throwing a piece of paper). Compared with neighbouring countries like Serbia, Croatia, we are far, far beyond.

GT: What should have been done?

DR: Well, in Croatia exists even a whole ministry devoted to defenders. We don’t have to make special ministry, but we have to show at least little care about these people.

GT: Dime, what do you think, what happened that 2001?

DR: What happened? The whole thing was prearranged. Put-up job. We were only living targets for shooting. There was no organization and there was no command. Listen what happened. One day before our departure they took off the knives from our guns. Why did they do that? I keep asking that same question until this day. Perhaps you didn’t know this.

GT: No, I didn’t.

DR: The day before the event…As you know, each gun has its own knife attached to it, bayonet. They took away those knives. Here is something that… And another thing. We were in a bus. Two men on each sit. And do you know how much equipment we had with us? Guns, masks and everything. Full military equipment. There was simply not enough space for all of us. There was no space to turn around or pass trough. The only luck is that those on the other side weren’t very skillful. They could make a massacre and kill all 118 of us.

GT: Whose guilt was all of this? Who is responsible by your opinion?

DR: Who is responsible? We should start from the top: prime ministers and presidents to the bottom in hierarchical way. Everyone had his own share in the guilt.

GT: For all that disorganization?

DR: Disorganization.

GT: You said it was prearranged war.

DR: Yes. I think it was set up to be killed, to have some victims at our side. That is my opinion.

GT: There was a trial, too?

DR Yes, there was.

GT: I don’t mean just you, but all involved.

GT: I separately got my compensation in regular, official way and…

GT: It’s about the injury?

DR:…on the trial I was called as witness. As participant and witness. Actually, to help the people who were there with me.

GT: One of the previous narrators, talking about this, mentioned that the goal of the whole trial was to establish the responsibility for all that, but that somehow changed during the process. The dialogue was changed towards demanding compensation. Can you remember what happened?

DR: Look, it is established that there is guilt, right? That it was done something wrong. And who paid for it? No one.

GT: What are your resents towards the others?

GT: Others? Those who I mentioned before?…

GT: The enemy. Opposite side.

DR: You know what. Let it be…

GT: Do you have any resents towards them?

DR: It is impossible not to have any. When you know that someone was shooting at you, you must have some resents, right? He wanted to kill you. But, we should forget all this. They are here, they exist, right? No matter how many percents are, we had to live together from now on. There is no other way. And about the resents, it’s natural to have. If someone beats you, wouldn’t you have resents towards him?

GT: What are your resents towards your side?

DR: Well, as I said, they left us high and dry. It had to be done on much better way. I will tell you an example. I served in YPA. In Mitrovica. When we were taking away the garbage from the barracks, we had military backing on the way to the refuse damp. Garbage! We transfer ammunition and soldiers and everything is organized so nonchalant. How did they know to send Wolfs on our way back? Special forces, people who are well trained. BTR on front, BTR in the middle and BTR at the end of the convoy. They could do it but only after these people died.

GT: BTR aren’t hermelins, right?

DR: No, they aren’t. They are used by the Wolfs. BTR comes from Bronetransporter or armoured combat transporter. In Serbia it is called BOV, and here in Macedonia we call it BTR. They have 8 wheels while hermelins have 4.

GT: Smaller?

DR: The hermelins are smaller.

GT: More or less, that were all the questions I wanted to ask you. If you have something to share I didn’t ask about, no matter if it is  about your experiences in the war in 2001 or the war itself, you are free to say.

DR: As I said, it should never happen again. But to forget it would be very hard. No one will forget it, that traumas will stay with us all. But the life has to go on.

GT: Thank you.

DR: Thank you too.

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