"Croat president ready to meet with Nikolić"

BELGRADE Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic has stated that during his visit to Zagreb he came across a warm welcome and cooperativeness of Croatian officials. He added that Croatian President Ivo Josipovic had expressed readiness to meet with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. "Croat president ready to meet with Nikolic" “I conferred with President Josipovic on missing persons and he was particularly interested in refugees, and how we will resolve this issue,” Mrkic told Belgrade-based daily Politika. According to the foreign minister, Josipovic asked him whether he believed that Serbia and Croatia would reach the point when they would withdraw the mutual genocide lawsuits before the International Court of Justice. When asked whether Josipovic had mentioned a possible meeting with Nikolic, the minister said that the Croatian president very clearly stated his readiness to meet with his Serbian counterpart. “He (Josipovic) sent warmest greetings to President Nikolic. He was very constructive in his wish to improve relations. He supported Serbia in every sense, he said that the EU should give us a date (for the beginning of the membership talks), and that we have deserved it,” Mrkic was quoted as saying. “Everything that is going on between our two governments is a part of the preparations for the meeting between the two presidents, which will come spontaneously as soon as we create conditions. There is no resistance to the meeting at the top level, particularly not from our side,” he underlined. As for Serb returnees, Mrkic said that after the adoption of the Constitutional Law in Croatia and the position of minorities had somewhat improved but added that there was still much to be done, particularly in terms of property of returnees. “These are difficult legal issues, therefore we have agreed that a meeting between justice ministers should take place as soon as possible,” he stressed. When asked whether the Hague Tribunal’s acquittals of Croat Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac and recently of former Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army Momcilo Perisic had led to a less rigid stance on mutual genocide lawsuits, Mrkic said that Croatia should be the first to drop the lawsuit and then Serbia. “They have filed the lawsuit, and logically they should withdraw it, and I am certain that then we will drop ours as well. If we develop this cooperative relationship as much as possible, I am certain that everyone will be mature enough and smart not to insist on court trial as we have different views of the past,” the Serbian minister pointed out. The Hague Tribunal acquitted Gotovina and Markac in November 2012. The two Croat generals were previously sentenced to 24 that is 18 years in prison for crimes against Serbs during and after the Operation Storm in 1995. Last week, the Hague Tribunal Appeals Chamber cleared Perisic of charges of war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. In 2011, Perisic was sentenced to 27 years in prison for crimes in Sarajevo and Srebrenica in the period from 1993-1995 and during the shelling of Zagreb. Ivan Mrkic (Beta, file) Tanjug

"Croat president ready to meet with Nikolić"

“I conferred with President Josipović on missing persons and he was particularly interested in refugees, and how we will resolve this issue,” Mrkić told Belgrade-based daily Politika.

According to the foreign minister, Josipović asked him whether he believed that Serbia and Croatia would reach the point when they would withdraw the mutual genocide lawsuits before the International Court of Justice.

When asked whether Josipović had mentioned a possible meeting with Nikolić, the minister said that the Croatian president very clearly stated his readiness to meet with his Serbian counterpart.

“He (Josipović) sent warmest greetings to President Nikolić. He was very constructive in his wish to improve relations. He supported Serbia in every sense, he said that the EU should give us a date (for the beginning of the membership talks), and that we have deserved it,” Mrkić was quoted as saying.

“Everything that is going on between our two governments is a part of the preparations for the meeting between the two presidents, which will come spontaneously as soon as we create conditions. There is no resistance to the meeting at the top level, particularly not from our side,” he underlined.

As for Serb returnees, Mrkić said that after the adoption of the Constitutional Law in Croatia and the position of minorities had somewhat improved but added that there was still much to be done, particularly in terms of property of returnees.

“These are difficult legal issues, therefore we have agreed that a meeting between justice ministers should take place as soon as possible,” he stressed.

When asked whether the Hague Tribunal’s acquittals of Croat Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač and recently of former Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army Momčilo Perišić had led to a less rigid stance on mutual genocide lawsuits, Mrkić said that Croatia should be the first to drop the lawsuit and then Serbia.

“They have filed the lawsuit, and logically they should withdraw it, and I am certain that then we will drop ours as well. If we develop this cooperative relationship as much as possible, I am certain that everyone will be mature enough and smart not to insist on court trial as we have different views of the past,” the Serbian minister pointed out.

The Hague Tribunal acquitted Gotovina and Markač in November 2012. The two Croat generals were previously sentenced to 24 that is 18 years in prison for crimes against Serbs during and after the Operation Storm in 1995.

Last week, the Hague Tribunal Appeals Chamber cleared Perišić of charges of war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. In 2011, Perišić was sentenced to 27 years in prison for crimes in Sarajevo and Srebrenica in the period from 1993-1995 and during the shelling of Zagreb.