Anti-Cyrillic sentiment in Croatia "dates back to WW2"

ZAGREB The Croatian weekly Novosti has published an announcement issued by the Croatian Ustasha regime, banning the use of the Cyrillic alphabet. The ban was enforced in the territory of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) - a fascist WW2 entity that operated Jasenovac and other death camps, places of mass murder of Serbs, Jews, and Roma. Anti-Cyrillic sentiment in Croatia "dates back to WW2" The weekly decided to print the historic document at the peak of an anti-Cyrillic campaign in Croatia, conducted by right-wingers who oppose a law that grants ethnic minorities the right to use their own language and script - in the case of Serbs, Cyrillic - in those areas where they constitute more than a third of the population. The article noted that "the fight against the script of a minority is not the original idea of Tomislav Josic and his HQ for the Defense of Croatian Vukovar." The 1941 decree banned Cyrillic "in the entire territory of the NDH," and said this was in particular valid for "the business of state and self-government bodies, offices of public institutions, trade and similar books, correspondence, and all public inscriptions." Reports from Vukovar on Friday said that another bilingual sign written in both Croatian and Serbian had been removed, this time from a court building. Since the signs were put up in September they were removed on several occasions, while the police was placed in front of the building for a while to guard them. But Croatian PM Zoran Milanovic and the group organizing the protests, "the HQ for the Defense of Croatian Vukovar," met last week and agreed that the police should be withdrawn. After the meeting, Milanovic said that the signs would remain in place "since the law must be respected" - but that the police would no longer guard them, and that it was "up to everybody's consciousness and sense of responsibility (to decide) how to behave." A new meeting is expected to take place next week. A file photo of the Croatian police guarding billingual signs (Beta) Beta Tanjug

Anti-Cyrillic sentiment in Croatia "dates back to WW2"

The weekly decided to print the historic document at the peak of an anti-Cyrillic campaign in Croatia, conducted by right-wingers who oppose a law that grants ethnic minorities the right to use their own language and script - in the case of Serbs, Cyrillic - in those areas where they constitute more than a third of the population.

The article noted that "the fight against the script of a minority is not the original idea of Tomislav Josić and his HQ for the Defense of Croatian Vukovar."

The 1941 decree banned Cyrillic "in the entire territory of the NDH," and said this was in particular valid for "the business of state and self-government bodies, offices of public institutions, trade and similar books, correspondence, and all public inscriptions."

Reports from Vukovar on Friday said that another bilingual sign written in both Croatian and Serbian had been removed, this time from a court building.

Since the signs were put up in September they were removed on several occasions, while the police was placed in front of the building for a while to guard them.

But Croatian PM Zoran Milanović and the group organizing the protests, "the HQ for the Defense of Croatian Vukovar," met last week and agreed that the police should be withdrawn.

After the meeting, Milanović said that the signs would remain in place "since the law must be respected" - but that the police would no longer guard them, and that it was "up to everybody's consciousness and sense of responsibility (to decide) how to behave."

A new meeting is expected to take place next week.