Mrkic Responds to Basescu's Statement

Mrkic Responds to Basescu's Statement: Serbia Never Practiced Assimilation of Minorities Serbia is on the forefront of countries in terms of respect for, protection of, and institutional assistance to ethnic minorities and has never practiced a policy of assimilation of minorities, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ivan Mrkic, said. Mrkic Responds to Basescu's Statement Mrkic was responding to a statement made the day before by Romanian President Traian Basescu, who appealed to the neighboring countries to treat ethnic Romanians on their territories as Romania treats its minorities. At a Conference of Leaders of Ethnic Romanian Organizations in neighboring countries and the Balkans on Monday, Basescu said that the identity of "Serbian Vlachs and Moldovans was developed during the communist era" and that they are all in fact Romanians. Romania has been insisting for years that the term "Vlach" should be dropped, whereas Serbia recognizes Vlachs as a minority and insists that it does not want to influence their ethnic affiliation. Mrkic told the news agency Tanjug he was sure that Basescu had no ill intention toward Serbia, because "he is the leader of a particularly friendly nation." "We have not received the integral text of President Basescu's address that you are talking about, so that it would be inappropriate in me to comment on it. Personally, I do not think that President Basescu's intention was to impute anything negative about us, because he is the leader of a nation that is particularly friendly toward us," Mrkic said. He went on to say that Serbia "is an exception by comparison with many countries in the world and even some countries in our region in that it has never, not even during the socialist era, pursued a policy of assimilation of minorities, either as a principle or in practice." "In the opinion of the Council of Europe and the European Union, Serbia is on the forefront of respect for, protection of, and institutional assistance to ethnic minorities. Therefore, it is my opinion that everybody can only look up to us where ethnic minority status is concerned and where our democracy in general is concerned, because it has been developing for the past two centuries," Mrkic said. Basescu said on Monday that many Vlachs do not declare their nationality as Romanian, "which is the reason why schools in the Romanian language cannot be organized," and also that "a policy aimed at assimilating Romanians" had been tolerated under the communist regime and had "produced results." Leaders of ethnic Romanian organizations in neighboring countries and in the Balkans warned that, unless Romania did something to help, the process of assimilation would gain momentum and ethnic Romanian communities in countries where they live today would disappear. Tanjug VIP

Mrkic Responds to Basescu's Statement

Mrkic was responding to a statement made the day before
by Romanian President Traian Basescu, who appealed to the
neighboring countries to treat ethnic Romanians on their territories as
Romania treats its minorities.

At a Conference of Leaders of Ethnic Romanian
Organizations in neighboring countries and the Balkans on Monday,
Basescu said that the identity of "Serbian Vlachs and Moldovans was
developed during the communist era" and that they are all in fact
Romanians. Romania has been insisting for years that the term
"Vlach" should be dropped, whereas Serbia recognizes Vlachs as a
minority and insists that it does not want to influence their ethnic
affiliation.
Mrkic told the news agency Tanjug he was sure that
Basescu had no ill intention toward Serbia, because "he is the leader
of a particularly friendly nation."
"We have not received the integral text of President
Basescu's address that you are talking about, so that it would be
inappropriate in me to comment on it. Personally, I do not think that
President Basescu's intention was to impute anything negative about
us, because he is the leader of a nation that is particularly friendly
toward us," Mrkic said.
He went on to say that Serbia "is an exception by
comparison with many countries in the world and even some
countries in our region in that it has never, not even during the
socialist era, pursued a policy of assimilation of minorities, either as a
principle or in practice."

"In the opinion of the Council of Europe and the European
Union, Serbia is on the forefront of respect for, protection of, and
institutional assistance to ethnic minorities. Therefore, it is my
opinion that everybody can only look up to us where ethnic minority
status is concerned and where our democracy in general is concerned,
because it has been developing for the past two centuries," Mrkic
said.

Basescu said on Monday that many Vlachs do not declare
their nationality as Romanian, "which is the reason why schools in
the Romanian language cannot be organized," and also that "a policy
aimed at assimilating Romanians" had been tolerated under the
communist regime and had "produced results."
Leaders of ethnic Romanian organizations in neighboring
countries and in the Balkans warned that, unless Romania did
something to help, the process of assimilation would gain momentum
and ethnic Romanian communities in countries where they live today
would disappear.