Nationalist outbursts in Croatia "not isolated incidents"

BELGRADE Serb National Council (SNV) in Croatia chairman Milorad Pupovac has said that nationalist outbursts and attacks against non-Croats "are not isolated incidents." He cautioned that the incidents should not be ignored. Nationalist outbursts in Croatia "not isolated incidents" Pupovac told Tanjug that the “campaign against civil and European values and minority rights of the Serbs” is a dangerous game because it has elements reminiscent of the 1990’s (when armed clashes broke out in Croatia). “This is a dangerous trend led by various institutions in Croatia, part of the Catholic clergy, part of non-governmental organizations close to them, part of the Croatian war veterans' associations and the extreme right-wing political parties,” Pupovac said commenting on the recently frequently occurring incidents glorifying extreme nationalism and fascism in Croatia. Pupovac met with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, Finance Minister Lazar Krstic and Minister of Regional Development and Local Self-Government Igor Mirovic in Belgrade on Tuesday. The SNV chairman said that they discussed ways “to improve the position of the Serbs in Croatia in the wake of the negative trends while taking care not to worsen relations between Serbia and Croatia” and ways to assist returns of Serb refugees. A campaign against official use of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet in Vukovar and other cities in Croatia has been ongoing for three months now, and signatures are being collected for a referendum aimed at limiting the putting up of bilingual signs to the municipalities where minorities make up at least 50 percent of the population, instead of one third as required by the law currently in force. In the protests against the use of the bilingual signs, Croat extremists and war veterans are tearing down and smashing to pieces signs containing names of institutions in the Cyrillic script, and as of lately, chantings of "Za dom spremni" (For homeland - ready!), a Croatian Ustasha greeting from the time of the Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH), during which horrible genocidal crimes were being committed against Serbs, have become increasingly frequent. Zagreb-based website Index.hr has said that the director and employees of the Jasenovac Memorial Park, dedicated to the memory of the mostly Serb, Jewish, and Roma victims of the WW2 Ustasha death camp, who condemned statements and acts extolling the NDH and the shouting of the Ustasha greeting on December 1, have themselves received threats, and were accused of being "traitors with anti-Croat sentiments." On December 3, Croatian Minister of Education, Science and Sports Zeljko Jovanovic received threatening messages, containing an Ustasha-styled anti-Serb phrase, "let his Serb seed and tribe be exterminated," Tanjug reported. Pupovac told Radio television of Serbia (RTS) on Wednesday that it was "very unpleasant to hear the anti-Serb shouts that can be heard on television, radio and in the streets." He stressed that the Serb people in Croatia would be pleased if the European Union could see “that which it has to see, and that is the abuse of provisions in the treaty of Croatia’s accession to the EU.” (FoNet, file) Tanjug

Nationalist outbursts in Croatia "not isolated incidents"

Pupovac told Tanjug that the “campaign against civil and European values and minority rights of the Serbs” is a dangerous game because it has elements reminiscent of the 1990’s (when armed clashes broke out in Croatia).

“This is a dangerous trend led by various institutions in Croatia, part of the Catholic clergy, part of non-governmental organizations close to them, part of the Croatian war veterans' associations and the extreme right-wing political parties,” Pupovac said commenting on the recently frequently occurring incidents glorifying extreme nationalism and fascism in Croatia.

Pupovac met with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, Finance Minister Lazar Krstić and Minister of Regional Development and Local Self-Government Igor Mirovic in Belgrade on Tuesday.

The SNV chairman said that they discussed ways “to improve the position of the Serbs in Croatia in the wake of the negative trends while taking care not to worsen relations between Serbia and Croatia” and ways to assist returns of Serb refugees.

A campaign against official use of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet in Vukovar and other cities in Croatia has been ongoing for three months now, and signatures are being collected for a referendum aimed at limiting the putting up of bilingual signs to the municipalities where minorities make up at least 50 percent of the population, instead of one third as required by the law currently in force.

In the protests against the use of the bilingual signs, Croat extremists and war veterans are tearing down and smashing to pieces signs containing names of institutions in the Cyrillic script, and as of lately, chantings of "Za dom spremni" (For homeland - ready!), a Croatian Ustasha greeting from the time of the Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH), during which horrible genocidal crimes were being committed against Serbs, have become increasingly frequent.

Zagreb-based website Index.hr has said that the director and employees of the Jasenovac Memorial Park, dedicated to the memory of the mostly Serb, Jewish, and Roma victims of the WW2 Ustasha death camp, who condemned statements and acts extolling the NDH and the shouting of the Ustasha greeting on December 1, have themselves received threats, and were accused of being "traitors with anti-Croat sentiments."

On December 3, Croatian Minister of Education, Science and Sports Željko Jovanović received threatening messages, containing an Ustasha-styled anti-Serb phrase, "let his Serb seed and tribe be exterminated," Tanjug reported.

Pupovac told Radio television of Serbia (RTS) on Wednesday that it was "very unpleasant to hear the anti-Serb shouts that can be heard on television, radio and in the streets."

He stressed that the Serb people in Croatia would be pleased if the European Union could see “that which it has to see, and that is the abuse of provisions in the treaty of Croatia’s accession to the EU.”