Talk:Arkan
![]() | Biography: Military B‑class | |||||||||
|
![]() | Military history: Biography / Balkan / European Start‑class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() | Serbia B‑class Mid‑importance | |||||||||
|
POV
This article offers no sources for its claims. Some of them are obvious anti-Arkan lies (e.g. convicted murderer). The rest consists of hardly checkable allegations and rumours( e.g. father beat him, met criminals abroad etc.). Though his role as a national hero is mentioned it remains totally unclear how a person characterized in that way can become a hero. None of the war crime allegations had been proofed in a trial. Allegations of war crimes and even investigations against other politicians exist (e.g. Sharon). But it is not the task of Wikipedia to comment, improve or substitutes court procedures.
You have to be nuts to believe that Arkan did not commit such atrocities. First, I can cite the US Defense Department, US Department of State, and Richard Holbrooke. A few years ago there was a special History Channel documentary covering Arkan, providing pictures and video of Arkan and his forces comitting the listed atrocities.
I have seen the History Channel "documentary". Unlike many people who are editing this page I've lived in Serbia during the 90s and I've even had the chance to meet Arkan and years later his widow. Now the History Channel should be ashamed of how bad, and unacurate their documentary was or how misinformed the so called experts who got to talk were. I've seen it a few times and I was I was to start making the list of the lies they said I'd just get bored.--212.200.204.254 17:31, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
Bizarre claims
"In fact Arkan was convicted on death by West. NATO commandos planned to kidnap Arkan with apache helicopter. After capture he would be tranferred to The Hague where under torture he would confessed his crimes. Then they would hang him in jail, which would be explained to public as his suicide because of hopeless situation in which he founded himself. However they gived up because of appraisal that such operation would have very high risk factor."
... where does this information come from? Given that these are highly controversial allegations, sources ought to be produced to back them up. As it is this paragraph sounds like slightly ridiculous properganda (by 83.146.48.113, 2004-07-11 15:50:55)
- Also, the use of English at this point in the article, seems to have deteriorated.
I conclude that a secondary author has addedd dubious information to an article begun by a primary, and more reliable, author. (by 218.101.15.155 2004-09-10 07:34:20)
The second part of the article has no objectivity whatsoever. It is simply the worst wikipedia biography I read about such a controversial figure. The article simply treats Arkan as a hero, as the most admirable Serb ever lived. Every sentence is soaked with a fanatic admiration for Arkan, the way he killed his prisoners, the way he slept with so many women. The personal quotes section is full of idiotic remarks that would appeal to a 5 year old. Seriously, this article is a joke, and should be removed.
n or nj
I'm not sure why English texts so often transliterate his name into Raznatovic when it's supposed to be Raznjatovic (some other diacritics notwithstanding). The Serbian letter њ is different from н and it's differently pronounced. --Joy [shallot] 22:27, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- I'm not sure, whether they are correct but in Serbian there are far more and more credible sources which mention his name as Ražnatović. Nikola 16:45, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- I suppose we'd have to see the birth or the death certificate to be sure... --Joy [shallot] 20:41, 19 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- It is definately Ražnatović. After reading hundreds of articles and several books about Arkan, and even having a chance to see him in real life back in the '90s I guarantee it is n, not nj. --213.244.195.24 00:52, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
I find the transliteration (if that is what this is called: Željko Ražnatović) very annoying. I would prefer that the English article be written in English characters: Zeljio Raznatovic. I see absolutely no reason to annoy readers with nonsense like Željko Ražnatović . (hmmm...of course, I do have a 2 tagged from birth to me by my parent.) Hag2 (talk) 18:04, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- It's not a transliteration, Serbian language uses two alphabets: Latin and Cyrillic. His name is written either "Жељко Ражнатовић" or "Željko Ražnatović," and the latter form is preferred on Wikipedia. Admiral Norton (talk) 23:10, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
- Gee, I interpret Naming Conventions differently. It says: "Usage -- If a name or word has a conventional English spelling, that [meaning English spelling (as in Zeljko)] is used...." It would certainly make the article far more readable. But if the intent of the editors is to have few English readers then perhaps the use of all the Žć Žć Žć`s is more appropriate. Hag2 (talk) 12:39, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, but the "convential" part is the important thing here. He is not king Aleksandar I. to be written Alexander I, nor is he the musician Tomo Miličević who moved to the US and whose name is written Tomo Milicevic. Just take a look at List of Serbs or List of Croats. Almost all the people written in the manner of Zeljko Raznatovic either don't use čćžšđ in their names (surname doesn't end in ić), have moved out of Serbia or Croatia, or are red links of non-notable deleted people whose names no one cares enough about to correct. Admiral Norton (talk) 15:56, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- We have a different opinion. I believe the important thing here is that people read the article. I find it unreadable because of the Žć Žć Žć`s. Hag2 (talk) 16:04, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Readability in the sense of Naming conventions means Latin alphabet at all costs, but the conventions don't specify the need to use only the letters used by the English language. I'll include the IPA pronunciation in the article, just in case if you find the name troublesome to pronounce. If your browser can't correctly display Serbian Latin letters čćžšđ, you can either select Unicode encoding (usually View > Character encoding) or get a new browser.
- We have a different opinion. I believe the important thing here is that people read the article. I find it unreadable because of the Žć Žć Žć`s. Hag2 (talk) 16:04, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, but the "convential" part is the important thing here. He is not king Aleksandar I. to be written Alexander I, nor is he the musician Tomo Miličević who moved to the US and whose name is written Tomo Milicevic. Just take a look at List of Serbs or List of Croats. Almost all the people written in the manner of Zeljko Raznatovic either don't use čćžšđ in their names (surname doesn't end in ić), have moved out of Serbia or Croatia, or are red links of non-notable deleted people whose names no one cares enough about to correct. Admiral Norton (talk) 15:56, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
Objectivity
I'm not trying to be rude here, but am i the only one that thinks the 2nd half of the article has a certain pro-Arkan bias? (by Timon 2004-09-10 10:23:14)
This article presents myth as a fact, the following example is highly dubious. It is more likely that arkan was freed as his father was a general in JNA "Arkan was unnoficialy employed as an undercover agent from 1973, assassinating political emigrants and opponents of the ruling Communist regime." (by 24.85.62.165 2005-03-21 05:49:42)
The second part of the article has no objectivity whatsoever. It is simply the worst wikipedia biography I read about such a controversial figure. The article simply treats Arkan as a hero, as the most admirable Serb ever lived. Every sentence is soaked with a fanatic admiration for Arkan, the way he killed his prisoners, the way he slept with so many women. The personal quotes section is full of idiotic remarks that would appeal to a 5 year old. Seriously, this article is a joke, and should be removed.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.147.6.97 (talk • contribs)
- I Agree, this article is a shame of wikipedia and Serbian people, what disgousts me most is the fact that Ivo Andrić article is 3 thimes shorter then arkan article.
- I did some cleanup, removing the most egregious theories. It's difficult to separate the truth, myths, and conspiracy theories, especially when the article is so unsourced, and I'm really not passionate about the subject to do the research.
- I wasn't sure what to do with all those quotes, so I removed them entirely. A few could be preserved to illustrate his state of mind, but I didn't feel like doing the selection; we have wikiquote for that anyway. They're still in the edit history, so if anyone feels like it... Duja 09:04, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
Being of Eastern European decent, I love this line: "he illegally emigrated to Western Europe, like most eastern europeans hoping to find fortune through a criminal career." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.97.49.222 (talk) 01:01, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
I found it offensive too and took it out. I don't know that there is any evidence to support the statement as it remains, saying that he went west with criminal intentions, is there support for this? Semodisesamo (talk) 19:33, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
English Please?
I was browsing this page casually and came to the same conclusion as another before me: the English is bad. Could whoever wrote this, initially or in contribution, please review it? -JH. 13, Jan 2005 (by 61.204.250.3)
Chronology
Photo credit
That photo "Arkan and his Tigers" is copyrighted by Ron Haviv (see Blood and Honey website). I'm barely competent at Wiki (and I don't have much time) or I'd try dealing with it. I think a link to Haviv's photoessay would be a good thing, but using his photo? Not. - An Academic (by 69.177.32.147 2005-07-19 13:32:45)
I think it should be alright to use it.
A Badly Written Article
Željko Ražnatović was never indicted for his alleged criminal life so I don't think an encyclopedia is a place where he can be named "war profiteer, mafia supreme boss, black market businessman..." To me it's almost as if someone took a dictionary and looked for the English translation of all the bad adjectives/words they could remember.
Of course he was not going to be indicted by the govrnment he worked for. Officialy he does not have a criminal record between 1992-2000, but one can not say that he was not a 'war profiteer'. It does not have to be documented in any way to be named such, but his increased financial wealth after the Bosnian war, did contribute to this.
OK, so he wasn't indicted by the government he worked for (although as I've mentioned he was only and only to some extent responsible to the National Security Agency), but he was never convicted in the Hague so what happened with "innocent until proven guilty". It's not "innocent until caught." He was never convicted and that's a fact. Now we can say that he was elegedly a war profiteer but that's it.
Since we are talking about times when Serbia was in economic and political chaos, it was hard to document illegal activities, being that government at that time did numerous illegal activities on their own.
I think this article should be deleted and written again by the credible, objective people dealing with historical facts, not just claims from the Western propaganda. 213.244.195.24 01:20, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
I think this article is OK, but needs to be put in chronilogical order as someone mentioned earlier.
This article is getting better but it's still long way from sounding like it was written from a neutral point of view.--212.200.204.254 18:06, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
130.111.248.43 20:12, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
Adolf Hitler was also not tried.Should we consider him as a innocent??? This article about Arkan is totaly Pro-Fascist Serb.--(GriffinSB) (talk) 23:46, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
History of "Arkan" name
The edit which I made concerns Arkan's brutal torture on a non-Serb population. I know this to be untrue, the Tigers had long included Macedonians, Montenegrins, Slav-descended people from the smaller minorities from all republics who did not declare themselves Serbian, as well as a smaller number of Croats and Slovenes.
His ultimate role was not to break Serbia away from the federation but to maintain the federation as Yugoslavia, as such, some of the people who lost their lives were Serbians suspected of the same motives - wishing to break away. Ragusan 15 October 2005
Nobody is saying that Serbia wanted to break away from the federation. But at the same time his ultimate role was not to conserve the federation, since he was not an official member of the JNA (Yugoslav Peoples Army) nor his unit was an official affiliate to the JNA. His presence in Vukovar before, during and after Vukovar Hospital massacre is not an accident.
As I said before, during the war time, many dubious agreements were made involving official army and para-military forces. Since all of 1990s were murky and chaotic, it is very difficult to trace back via documents and written statements who was where and what they were doing at times. Arkan was a protege of the government for years, before being eliminated himself, and therefor it would be unlikely to find something damaging, since they probably made sure that not too many things we'll be linked back to them.
But based on various witnesses' accounts, it is highly unlikely that Arkan chased non-Serb population around with cookies and milk.
130.111.248.43 20:27, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
Arkan got his name from a comic about some circus.A tiger in the circus was named Arkan.(btw. that's a Turkish name.--(GriffinSB) (talk) 23:48, 20 April 2008 (UTC)
Cleanup
I've listed this page for cleanup for the reasons listed above, as well as the complete lack of sources and the weasel terms that pass for NPOV. Quinnanya 04:46, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
The part where the author tried to literally translate Arkan's quotes is hillarious. Can somebody get authorization to re-grammatize it? Plus : the number of weasel words and references to his alleged criminal life is way beneath a respectful wikipedia article.
Vinnie Jones to play "Arkan" in "The Filthy War."
Someone should put that in.
- I agree this is important, however, it should also be mentioned the film is a largely fictional, dramatized account and serves to execute a general anti-serb bias. NEMT 02:56, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Photos and "Arkan" name origin
Two questions, why were all of the photos of Arkan removed from the article? I know some were not freely usable (from the famous blood and honey photography series) however I'm pretty sure some of them were. Also, perhaps some mention of where the nickname "Arkan" came from, all said now is some obscure reference to a yet unnamed comic book. NEMT 02:56, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
Pov statements need source
I've removed the statements "of criminals and terrorists" and "as well as all sorts of criminals and dogs-of-war seeking refuge, roberry and easy loot." because it seems POV if this statement has a source then put it up with the source.
POV and uncited facts
This article is still full of NPOV violations and a lot of the information is uncited, I have begun to add {{fact}} tags where references and sources are needed, and I encourage others to do the same. --NEMT 14:12, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
Summary: Attrocities?
Personally, I've never even heard of Željko Ražnatović, but if the article repeatedly mentions that he is known to have been involved in attrocities, shouldn't that be included in the summary paragraph at the top? -- TheMightyQuill 11:29, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
It's spelled atrocities not attrocities and we're long way from learning the truth about his involvement in the atrocities you've mentioned (If any).
I know that following cannot be accepted as an official source information, but here is an article written by one SAS member witnessing the atrocities involving Arkan himself.
http://garystapleton.blogspot.com/2006/12/blood-fire.html
--82.152.200.103 13:24, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
That's a fictional story just FYI :) 81.108.103.145 01:26, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
What makes you say that? Do you know the guy? Just curious. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.84.210.211 (talk) 20:15, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
Intro
An annon keeps on inserting the funny but unencyclopedic list of Arkan's achievements:
- and also folk hero, nationalist politician, assembly representative, war profiteer, chief mafia boss, black market businessman, private proprietor, manager of a soccer club and caterer. Prior to that he had been a juvenile delinquent, street rowdy, wandering adventurer, bank robber, mobster, secret police agent, hitman, gambler, soccer fans leader and ice-cream shop owner.
"War criminal and mobster" pretty much summarize it all. Nothing of the above stands out of that simple profile. Duja 12:24, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
I'd say that Arkan definately wasn't a man you could sum up just a few words. My first problem is the term mobster. He was never a high-profile mobster: there were always more powerful and wealthier people than he was. I'm starting to think that after reading this article people from the West will think of Arkan as a Serbian John Gotti. The thing with Arkan is very simple: he was allowed to do some things that he usually wouldn't be allowed in return for the actions he took under the orders of the Serbian National Security agency (during both the 80s and the 90s). As for the term 'paramilitary leader', I say it should be out of the picture for good as his Volunteer Guard wasn't a paramilitary unit. Arkan was given the ordered to start the unit by Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, who were at the time high officials of the Serbian National Security Agency and the Guard was responsible to the command of the Territorial Defense (it is a historical fact so I don't see why someone keeps removing that).--212.200.204.254 18:08, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
- right, that's exactly what "paramilitary" means: "a group of civilians organized in a military fashion, especially to operate in place of or assist regular army troops." And being "allowed to do some things that he usually wouldn't be allowed in return for the actions he took under the orders of the Serbian National Security agency" is a perfect description of government corruption facilitating criminal activity, thus the completely accurate perception that he's a mobster.Ossicle (talk) 23:40, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
Personal Quotes Section
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C5%BDeljko_Ra%C5%BEnatovi%C4%87&oldid=61728375
The above is the last instance before the quotes were removed. Why was this done? The quotes were one of the best parts of the article and a very interesting reflection on his character and the way that he was percieved by some of the people around him. This should be put back IMO.
- I agree, I am going to restore the quote section. All Editors: Please do not remove it without discussing why first. --NEMT 03:30, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
- I removed the quotes and gave my reasons why. Although I agree they are very fascinating, a huge list of unsourced quotes does not belong in a wikipedia article. Refer to the guidelines stated in the Wikipedia:Quotations article:
- "If there are many quotations, please move them to Wikiquote and place a Wikiquote template on the article to inform readers that there are relevant quotations regarding the subject."
- Check out Arkan's new wikiquote page, which I just created. There is a link to the wikiquote page at the bottom of the wikipedia article. You may want to consider adding a small number of particularly relevant, properly sourced quotes to the article instead.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back 09:28, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
- Having added a few of the quotes myself, I can say some of them are taken directly from the BBC interview given as an external link. Would you be against including those somewhere? --NEMT 14:06, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
- I, of course, don't have any more say around here than the next person; I was merely pointing out some Wikipedia guidelines. In any case, I like the way you used relevant, sourced quotes to introduce each section. My opinion is that this producees a higher quality article than the previous version featuring a large, disorganized collection of quotes.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back 15:09, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
Sources needed
Once a Citation Needed tag is entered, a decent time should pass before the statement is removed. Nevertheless, the burden is on the original poster of the statement to provide a source. If there is no source, then basically the statement in question can be deleted with no further ado. That is my opinion, and I am stuck with it. Sincerely, and with great good faith, your friend, GeorgeLouis 15:00, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
COMPLETELY AGREED I'm sticking tags at the completely ridiculous parts and working some on the POV disaster this still is, but I can't find english results for what the trial of the killer/s found, I can only find in english on the indictments. This article Still needs seroius help and watching. Semodisesamo (talk) 20:55, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
Quotes
Okay, would someone change them into normal section? Or edit out altogether - I don't think anyone really needs a golden thoughts from a warlord mobster. --HanzoHattori 22:24, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Oh, what the guy needs instead is a photo. --HanzoHattori 22:31, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Who Killed Arkan
As mentioned earlier in the comment on Arkan's involvement in atrocities, I'm aware that this cannot be used as a true reference in regards to the mystery of Arkans death, but its an interesting read that confirms the rumors of UK involvement in the story.
Just an excerpt, to read the rest of the story follow the link below.
"Eight years later Arkan and I were to met again, this time in a Belgrade Hotel Lobby. That Saturday afternoon he breathed his last.The UN investigators found it strange that his assassins had placed a small gold ring with a red stone in his mouth. They assumed it was a gangland hit."
http://garystapleton.blogspot.com/2006/12/blood-fire.html
--82.152.200.103 13:30, 5 August 2007 (UTC) Arkan
"Mihajlo later went to war with his father."
In English, this phrase is ambiguous - meaning either "traveled along side his father to the war" or "warred against his father." Which is it?
67.180.76.224 (talk) 07:15, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
- Probably the first meaning. Admiral Norton (talk) 14:24, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
This article is still pro-Arkan bias
I mean,how sick does someone have to be to accuse his victims of being envy of him???--(GriffinSB) (talk) 04:32, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
- The sad fact is that Wikipedia articles about former Yugoslavia and mainly about the Yugoslav Wars are infested by Greater Serb nationalist POV and propaganda. Only in Wikipedia Slobodan Milosevic, Ratko Mladic, Arkan and Radovan Karadzic made what they made for the "self-defense of the Serbs against Muhajedin and Ustasha aggression". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.52.216.113 (talk) 02:22, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
- Im sory but Serb nationalist have nothing to do with this... Plus the Croats Ustaše regulary destroy Serbian articles adding texts that arent even true... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.198.232.226 (talk) 16:20, 2 February 2011 (UTC)
- The Greater-Serbia nationalist editors have ALL to do with this. They create and edit articles here in English-language Wikipedia that differ from practically everything published in English language or English-speaking nations or to a greater extent all other nations of the world outside Serbia and Russia.
- And, if the Ustashas were already s fringe, minority radical movement in Croatia in the 30s and 40s that only got the power due to the support of the Nazi German and Fascist Italy troops instead of true support of the Croatian population, to call all of Croatians of today “Ustashas” is a outright accusative and delusional misconception.--201.81.239.129 (talk) 08:11, 3 August 2012 (UTC)
Introduction
Introduction says "was a Serbian career criminal". How can one be a career criminal? There's no such term. I guess the phrase was "was a Serbian career officer" or "was a Serbian career serviceman" and probably changed as an act of vandalism. Netrat (talk) 08:39, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
- I introduced the term. The concept of career criminals exists and is well-known and used in the scientific and legal community (See e.g. [http://law.jrank.org/pages/835/Criminal-Careers.html. Arkans's life and deeds fully warrant the term: Committing dozens of burglaries and then robberies per year for decades on end (for which he was proven guilty in the courts of several countries) certainly qualifies as a criminal career -- even if we leave his later crimes against fellow Yugoslavians in the 1990s out of it... -- Marcika (talk) 20:42, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
Imprecision
"The wedding ceremony was a gift to Arkan, paid by his long time friend and business associate, famous Italian lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano, nicknamed "The Devil's Advocate" by European media. Over the next 6 years they functioned as a glamorous power couple often appearing in public and media. They had two children."
I think this section needs to be reformulated. Because of its stylistic vagueness, one may be led to believe that Arkan and Di Stefano were "a glamorous power couple", and that they even had children together. A slight alteration would do. —Preceding unsigned comment added by BlindMonkRosary (talk • contribs) 18:38, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
Arkan
What's the correct etymology of Arkan? a Serbian name? a Turkish word? It sounds like "arcane" from Latin arcanus (= "hidden", "secret"), arcanum (= "deep secret wisdom") and arcana Böri (talk) 12:18, 19 December 2010 (UTC)
It's originally Arabic, and probably brought into the Balkans via the Ottoman Empire. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gradanin (talk • contribs) 06:31, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
- B-Class biography articles
- B-Class biography (military) articles
- Unknown-importance biography (military) articles
- Military biography work group articles
- WikiProject Biography articles
- Start-Class military history articles
- Start-Class biography (military) articles
- Start-Class Balkan military history articles
- Balkan military history task force articles
- Start-Class European military history articles
- European military history task force articles
- B-Class Serbia articles
- Mid-importance Serbia articles
- WikiProject Serbia articles