Serbian leader won't apologize for wartime nationalism

[Mingle]

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Serbia's president refused to apologize during a Tuesday visit to Croatia for his nationalist wartime rhetoric calling for a "Greater Serbia" that would include large parts of Croatia.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters that Serbs and Croats have widely different views of the war they fought during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

When grilled about a 1995 speech he made to Croatian Serbs, Vucic became defensive. He said Serbia "has no territorial disputes with Croatia," and he would not allow himself to be humiliated by Croatian media.

"The only thing you need is to have something to use for personal humiliation of the president of Serbia," Vucic said. "You won't see that happening."

Vucic was a fervent Serbian nationalist during the war, but now says he is a pro-European Union reformer. His two-day visit to Croatia this week is seen as an attempt to mend ties between the two Balkan rivals.

However, it has angered some people in Croatia who view their country as a victim of Serbian aggression during the Yugoslav conflict.

About 10,000 people were killed during the 1991-95 war in Croatia. Minority Serbs took control of one-third of Croatia's territory, trying to unite with Serbia.

In the 1995 speech, Vucic told a Croatian Serb gathering that if his then Serbian Radical Party came to power "you would be living in a Greater Serbia, a united Serb state and there won't be any giving up."

The war ended in a 1995 peace deal after Croatia retook the Serb-held territories in a blitz offensive that saw tens of thousands of Serbs fleeing the country.

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http://www.whig.com/article/20180213/AP/302139841#

[Bosniensis]

We are tired of War topics... 23 years passed... can we stop talking about yugoslav wars for once?

[Jana]

Nobody expects apology from war time Chetnik. No idea why our chicken invited him to Zagreb, probably EU ordered it.

He should have never come.

[Lucia]

Nobody expects apology from war time Chetnik. No idea why our chicken invited him to Zagreb, probably EU ordered it.

He should have never come.

Maybe she saw that he will probably rule forever in Serbia so she wants to return what was stolen and be done with them forever.

[Mingle]

Nobody expects apology from war time Chetnik. No idea why our chicken invited him to Zagreb, probably EU ordered it.

He should have never come.

Serbia’s Vucic Begins 'Uneasy But Useful' Visit To Croatia

The presidents of Croatia and Serbia have pledged to intensify work on border issues, minority rights, and searching for missing persons from their 1990s war in an effort to improve strained bilateral ties.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic kicked off an official two-day visit to Croatia -- the first official meeting between the Serbian and Croatian heads of state in five years -- by holding talks with his Croatian counterpart, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, on February 12.

Grabar-Kitarovic said that it was "unfortunate" that the "past is still preventing us from being able to describe the relations between our two countries as friendly."

"It is our obligation to meet and talk and find common interests," she said after meeting with Vucic, adding that the two countries had a "common responsibility for the future of southeast Europe."

Vucic said he came to "discuss all our open issues, which are many."

"In the next 100 days, we will try to change the atmosphere," he added.

Croatia and Serbia are the two largest republics to emerge from Yugoslavia, which collapsed in 1991 and descended into a bloody war. They have sought to improve ties since, but tensions remain.

Relations between the two nations are considered key for the peace and stability of the Balkans.

Vucic was also due to hold talks with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and parliament speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, as well as minority Serb representatives and religious leaders during the visit.

The sides were expected to discuss minority rights, unresolved border disputes, people still missing since the war, and cooperation in the prosecution of war crimes suspects.

Bilateral relations have been strained since Croatia's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, which set off a four-year conflict with rebel ethnic Serbs, who were supported militarily and politically by Belgrade.

Safety measures were increased in Zagreb ahead of Vucic’s visit. Serbian flags could be seen in the streets where the Serbian president passed.

Hundreds of people responded to a call by war veteran groups to protest against Vucic’s trip and gathered on Zagreb’s Ban Jelacic Square. Carrying Croatian flags, the protesters demanded an apology and war reparations from Serbia.

The European Union says Serbia needs to establish good neighborly relations if it wants to joins the bloc. Croatia is already an EU member.

In a message on Twitter, President Grabar-Kitarovic wrote on January 30 that she was inviting her Serbian counterpart “in good faith that both sides have a desire to overcome disputes and events which have kept us hostage to the past and to move forward to enable progress for our peoples and states.”

Confirming he had accepted the invitation, Vucic said on January 31 that his talks with Croatian officials “will not be easy or pleasant, but I am convinced that it will be useful for both Croatia and Serbia.”

Vucic initially planned a trip to Zagreb in late 2017, but indefinitely postponed it amid a spat over a statue erected in Belgrade to a soldier of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People’s Army who blew up an ammunition depot during the Croatian war of independence in the city of Bjelovar. The soldier, Major Milan Tepic, is seen by the Croatian side as a criminal.

Croatia’s Foreign Ministry said the erection of the monument confirmed that Serbia “still isn’t ready to confront the past and its role in the bloody breakup [of Yugoslavia].”

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic accused Croatian officials of “anti-Serbian hysteria.”

Earlier last year, relations were strained over an exhibition on the World War II death camp at Jasenovac in Croatia where tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma, and anti-fascist Croats perished. The camp was run by Croatia's Nazi-allied Ustase regime.

Dacic opened the exhibition at the United Nations headquarters in New York in January.

The meeting between Vucic and Grabar-Kitarovic will be the first official meeting of the Serbian and Croatian presidents since 2013, when Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic met Croatia's Ivo Josipovic in Belgrade.

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https://www.rferl.org/amp/serbia-vuc.../29034851.html

[Jana]

Earlier last year, relations were strained over an exhibition on the World War II death camp at Jasenovac in Croatia where tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma, and anti-fascist Croats perished. The camp was run by Croatia's Nazi-allied Ustase regime.

Dacic opened the exhibition at the United Nations headquarters in New York in January.

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https://www.rferl.org/amp/serbia-vuc.../29034851.html

This is the problem. UN reserved themself from that exibition. It use communist time mythology about ''700 000'' death in the camp, when offical number is ten times less.
Nevertheless, seem the controversial propaganda pannels were removed, after protest from Croatian ministry of foreign affairs.

There will be no improvement of relation as long as Serbia is led by people who participated in agression on our country. They can remain out of EU as long as they like, it suits our interest anyway.

[Mingle]

They can remain out of EU as long as they like, it suits our interest anyway.

Croatia promises to help Serbia to join the EU: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2018/02/...to-join-the-eu

The only obstacle left to joining the EU is recognition of Kosovo. They don't have any issue with Croatia since Croatia seems to want them to join the EU,

[Jana]

Croatia promises to help Serbia to join the EU: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2018/02/...to-join-the-eu

The only obstacle left to joining the EU is recognition of Kosovo. They don't have any issue with Croatia since Croatia seems to want them to join the EU,

That's quite wrong. Border situation is unsolved, as well as question of missing persons on both side, and stolen cultural/art treasures.

We won't let them to EU easily, that's for sure.

[Bosniensis]

I would have never joined EU under any curcumstances, I would rather live in Tent with bread and water than join EU.

Bosnia and Serbia will never Join EU for the simple reason: We will never join NATO.

EU is NEW Holy Roman Empire, mortal enemies of ours. We had 15 wars with Austria, how can we join EU?

[Jana]

I don't expect Serbia to join EU before 2025, honestly. And Croatia is their smallest problem.