NATO was not bluffing. Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name. The unrestrained assault by Yugoslav military, police and paramilitary forces, under the direction of President Milosevic, on Kosovar civilians has created a massive humanitarian catastrophe, which also threatens to destabilise the surrounding region. Hundreds of thousands of people have been expelled ruthlessly from Kosovo by the FRY authorities. We condemn these appalling violations of human rights and the indiscriminate use of force by the Yugoslav government.
Local people give a rapturous welcome to German forces.
When these conditions were met by President Milosevic, the North Atlantic Council, through the Secretary General, agreed to suspend air operations on 10 June 1999. Throughout the conflict, NATO made clear on many occasions that it was not conducting a campaign to defeat Serbia or the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and was not making war on the Serb people. This was not a war. It was a careful operati on to disrupt the Yugoslav campaign of violence in Kosovo by attacking proportionately and appropriately the military machine that was conducting these attacks. The Alliance engaged in this campaign only to convince President Milosevic to comply with the reasonable demands set out above.