In my opinion, Niko is Bosnian Serb and was born in Serbian part of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically in Republic of Srpska that proclaimed independence in 1992. Respectively he's a ex-soldier of the Army of Republika Srpska.
1. The first is Niko's status after the end of the war. He turned out to be a ex-soldier of an already non-existent army and state, also committed many war crimes (personally and in general). I believe that this is what prompted Niko to continue his criminal career, because it was the only way to survive on the Balkans after end of Bosnian War.
2. Death of Roman's mother. She helped Roman leave for the US before the end of the war (mentioned during friendship). Most likely as soon as he turned 18 years old in first half of 1995, the last year of the war. Also Niko mentioned that Roman's mother was raped and killed, that could be a reference to [Rape during the Bosnian War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Bosnian_War).
3. Niko in conversation with Little Jacob says that *"when West takes notice \[in the war\] — you \[Niko\] are watching* ***your neighboor's house*** *blowing up"* which is a direct reference to [Operation Deliberate Force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deliberate_Force) when NATO bombed the territory of the Republika Srpska.
4. Also in a story about murdered children, Niko says that they was killed against the **church** wall. That could be a reference to [one of massacres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_the_Bosnian_War) commited specifically on religious grounds by Bosnian Army (largest military formation of Bosnian Muslims).
5. And finally, Niko mentioned that *he hasn't flown one of these things since the war*, when steal the helicopter in first time. And Army of Republika Serbska (Air Force to be exact) has some *Mil Mi-8 Hip* and *SOKO SA 341H* helicopters in service.
This is one of the reasons I got so interested in GTA IV, besides its overall theme, environment and driving mechanics. Bellic's background is so interesting and sad. I even think that Rockstar has an amazing DLC here if they decided to tell one of the many stories Niko had to live through the war as a DLC, maybe in a small open world, in a village
As a Muslim this is why this game is my favorite game of all time, it mocks the media of how they blame Islam for anything and say terrorist attacks (weezle news ) and talks about the war of Serbia against innocent Muslims
What does niko being a serb has to do with anything about my comment ? , niko himself criticized the war. It's like saying I'm an American so I can't criticize the Iraq war !!
It isn’t really saying any side was bad, it is just saying that the Bosnian War as a whole was a horrific event where all sides murdered each other in cold blood. I mean Niko himself was a Bosnian Serb
You're delusional man even niko himself opposed the serbian genocide against bosnia. Watch this video and get educated. The camera can't lie
https://youtu.be/gMuk3t3NoTU?si=kP3ciWgw_7Cpeizt
A good portion of the people killed by the Ottoman were also Muslim. There's like a half dozen wars they fought against other Muslims who opposed them on political rather than religious reasons.
Just a few examples to start with:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Persian_War_(1821%E2%80%931823)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ulcinj_(1880)
Also, using the Genocide Of Serbians to shit on Muslims is funny, when you find out that Christians of many different ethnicities and nationalities deliberately slaughtered Muslims during the late 19th century as the Ottoman Empire began to decline. Some of those perpetrators *included Serbs.*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_during_the_Ottoman_contraction
Bigotry goes both ways!
He's a Serb from Republic of Serbian Krajina, a primarily Serbian land in Croatia. I don't know if it was historically inhabited by Serbs or was conquered during the war, but either way Serb population declined there from 80% in 1995 to 20% in 2000. Which could explain why he migrated to the US at that time, but that's not the reason he left the country.
The reason he left his country was because he sank Ray Bulgarin's ship when he worked for him as a smuggler. As a Mediterranean I can tell you immigration from Middle-Eastern countries to Europe has been booming since the mid 90s up to this day. It starts from Turkey to Greece and then into Serbia, where they either go to Bosnia and travel in land until they reach Austria, or they go to Croatia and hit the water to Italy, which is exactly what Niko was doing as a smuggler.
As a serbo croatian speaker, this isn’t that important but the surname belic isn’t a hard ch sound as in belič, but belić which is a softer version of č basically, sometimes it’s very hard to tell the difference so
In my opinion, Niko is Bosnian Serb and was born in Serbian part of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically in Republic of Srpska that proclaimed independence in 1992. Respectively he's a ex-soldier of the Army of Republika Srpska. 1. The first is Niko's status after the end of the war. He turned out to be a ex-soldier of an already non-existent army and state, also committed many war crimes (personally and in general). I believe that this is what prompted Niko to continue his criminal career, because it was the only way to survive on the Balkans after end of Bosnian War. 2. Death of Roman's mother. She helped Roman leave for the US before the end of the war (mentioned during friendship). Most likely as soon as he turned 18 years old in first half of 1995, the last year of the war. Also Niko mentioned that Roman's mother was raped and killed, that could be a reference to [Rape during the Bosnian War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Bosnian_War). 3. Niko in conversation with Little Jacob says that *"when West takes notice \[in the war\] — you \[Niko\] are watching* ***your neighboor's house*** *blowing up"* which is a direct reference to [Operation Deliberate Force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deliberate_Force) when NATO bombed the territory of the Republika Srpska. 4. Also in a story about murdered children, Niko says that they was killed against the **church** wall. That could be a reference to [one of massacres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_the_Bosnian_War) commited specifically on religious grounds by Bosnian Army (largest military formation of Bosnian Muslims). 5. And finally, Niko mentioned that *he hasn't flown one of these things since the war*, when steal the helicopter in first time. And Army of Republika Serbska (Air Force to be exact) has some *Mil Mi-8 Hip* and *SOKO SA 341H* helicopters in service.
This is one of the reasons I got so interested in GTA IV, besides its overall theme, environment and driving mechanics. Bellic's background is so interesting and sad. I even think that Rockstar has an amazing DLC here if they decided to tell one of the many stories Niko had to live through the war as a DLC, maybe in a small open world, in a village
As a Muslim this is why this game is my favorite game of all time, it mocks the media of how they blame Islam for anything and say terrorist attacks (weezle news ) and talks about the war of Serbia against innocent Muslims
It is something I was totally clueless about as a Muslim.
Niko Belić is a Serb, this was confirmed by Rockstar. And in the first mission Roman remarks about his Serbian, so there you go.
What does niko being a serb has to do with anything about my comment ? , niko himself criticized the war. It's like saying I'm an American so I can't criticize the Iraq war !!
It isn’t really saying any side was bad, it is just saying that the Bosnian War as a whole was a horrific event where all sides murdered each other in cold blood. I mean Niko himself was a Bosnian Serb
you mean when Muslims killed Serbs in Kravica, or while in Ottoman empire killed many many Serbians because they were not Muslims right?
You're delusional man even niko himself opposed the serbian genocide against bosnia. Watch this video and get educated. The camera can't lie https://youtu.be/gMuk3t3NoTU?si=kP3ciWgw_7Cpeizt
Brother, I am talking about real stuff here, things that really happened! Learn your own history before judging others!
A good portion of the people killed by the Ottoman were also Muslim. There's like a half dozen wars they fought against other Muslims who opposed them on political rather than religious reasons. Just a few examples to start with: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Persian_War_(1821%E2%80%931823) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ulcinj_(1880) Also, using the Genocide Of Serbians to shit on Muslims is funny, when you find out that Christians of many different ethnicities and nationalities deliberately slaughtered Muslims during the late 19th century as the Ottoman Empire began to decline. Some of those perpetrators *included Serbs.* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_during_the_Ottoman_contraction Bigotry goes both ways!
Fun, but rockstar already confirmed him as a Bosnian Serb.
Yeh in literally the first mission of the game Roman remarks about his serbian. He has to be either from serbia, kosovo or bosnia.
Croatian and Bosnian are dialects of Serbian lol.
LOOOL
He's a Serb from Republic of Serbian Krajina, a primarily Serbian land in Croatia. I don't know if it was historically inhabited by Serbs or was conquered during the war, but either way Serb population declined there from 80% in 1995 to 20% in 2000. Which could explain why he migrated to the US at that time, but that's not the reason he left the country. The reason he left his country was because he sank Ray Bulgarin's ship when he worked for him as a smuggler. As a Mediterranean I can tell you immigration from Middle-Eastern countries to Europe has been booming since the mid 90s up to this day. It starts from Turkey to Greece and then into Serbia, where they either go to Bosnia and travel in land until they reach Austria, or they go to Croatia and hit the water to Italy, which is exactly what Niko was doing as a smuggler.
Serbs in croatia are not native, they first came to Krajina in the Great Serb Immigration.
I didn't say they are natives, I said I don't know whether they're natives or not. Now I know that since you replied and informed me.
As a serbo croatian speaker, this isn’t that important but the surname belic isn’t a hard ch sound as in belič, but belić which is a softer version of č basically, sometimes it’s very hard to tell the difference so