ZAGREB, May 23 (Hina) - If data indicating that there are only 172,000 Serbs in Croatia (four percent of the population) proves correct, the question will have to be asked as to what happened to 200,000-250,000 Croatian Serbs, the
president of the Serb People's Party, Milan Djukic, said on Thursday.
ZAGREB, May 23 (Hina) - If data indicating that there are only
172,000 Serbs in Croatia (four percent of the population) proves
correct, the question will have to be asked as to what happened to
200,000-250,000 Croatian Serbs, the president of the Serb People's
Party, Milan Djukic, said on Thursday. #L#
He told reporters he would not believe said data was correct as long
as the Central Bureau of Statistics failed to publish it
officially. Djukic maintains Serbs make up ten percent of the
Croatian population.
If the data is true, "it means the genocide against the Serb people
from the time of the Independent State of Croatia (1941-5) has been
repeated," he said.
According to the 1991 census, there were 581,663 Serbs in Croatia,
with a 12.16 percent population share. If their share in 2001 is
four percent, this means there are around 172,000 Serbs, Djukic
said, adding that the latest census listed 39,000 who during the
1990s war fled to Bosnia and Yugoslavia.
Djukic maintains the latest census contained irregularities. He
holds the Central Bureau of Statistics partly responsible for the
fact that some Serbs did not state their nationality. The Bureau
stated that citizens were not obliged to state their nationality,
he said.
It is possible the results of the census have been falsified, Djukic
claimed.
He distanced himself from Serb People's Council president Milorad
Pupovac's announcement that he would request the census be annulled
if the unofficial data proved correct.
Between 40,000 and 45,000 Serbs have returned to Croatia after the
war, said Djukic.
(hina) ha sb