ZAGREB, Nov 23 (Hina) - Serbian vice-premier Zarko Korac said on Friday that the information that he had accused Croatia of obstructing the normalisation of relations with Yugoslavia with its conditions is the result of "utterly
imprecise" interpretation of what he had actually said. "A Belgrade agency utterly imprecisely, if not something worse, interpreted what I said," Korac said in Saturday's issue of Zagreb's daily Vjesnik. Assessing that his interview to Novi Sad's daily "Gradjanski list" had been "negatively presented," Korac explained that the essence of what he said pertained to "the legacy of the past with which we are living in the region of the former Yugoslavia." According to him, "any kind of conditions to the normalisation of relations in the region of the former Yugoslavia with the legacy of the past is setting the normalisation back." This does not mean, he added, "that certain conditions c
ZAGREB, Nov 23 (Hina) - Serbian vice-premier Zarko Korac said on
Friday that the information that he had accused Croatia of
obstructing the normalisation of relations with Yugoslavia with
its conditions is the result of "utterly imprecise" interpretation
of what he had actually said.
"A Belgrade agency utterly imprecisely, if not something worse,
interpreted what I said," Korac said in Saturday's issue of
Zagreb's daily Vjesnik.
Assessing that his interview to Novi Sad's daily "Gradjanski list"
had been "negatively presented," Korac explained that the essence
of what he said pertained to "the legacy of the past with which we
are living in the region of the former Yugoslavia."
According to him, "any kind of conditions to the normalisation of
relations in the region of the former Yugoslavia with the legacy of
the past is setting the normalisation back."
This does not mean, he added, "that certain conditions cannot be
set. However, it is completely clear that one should think
thoroughly about which is in greater interest, the conditions or
the normalisation of relations."
Korac's interview to the Novi Sad daily spurred Croatian Foreign
Minister Tonino Picula on Thursday to stress that Croatia expected
an apology from Serbia for aggression and the war suffering of
people, and that it should punish war criminals through cooperation
with the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal and its own
justice system.
"Regular cooperation with a government which includes Momcilo
Perisic, convicted of war crimes in Croatia, would directly mean
amnesty," Picula said.
Perisic was tried in absentia in Croatia for war crimes committed in
Zadar in 1991 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In his interview to Vjesnik, Korac explained as to how he envisaged
relations among states in the region of the former Yugoslavia by
citing the example of Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"Considering the crimes that occurred in Srebrenica and Prijedor,
Bosnia-Herzegovina could postpone the normalisation of relations
with Belgrade for 50 years. But, as you know, today there are
diplomatic relations between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Belgrade, and
various forms of cooperation which are developing ... My thesis is
that it is through gradual normalisation of relations we can meet
conditions for not setting any conditions," Korac said.
Asked about his criticising Picula that the latter "meddles in the
internal affairs of Yugoslavia," Korac explained that what he
actually said was "when there is great legacy of the past, then two
countries must decide whether they will concentrate more on what is
the objective problem of the relations, or on the wish for the
relations to be normalised and then, with caution and statesman's
wisdom, slowly move towards the greater good, which is good
neighbourly relations."
As regards the participation of Perisic in the Serbian government,
which Picula sees as a problem in the normalisation process, Korac
said that it seemed to him that "every insisting on objective
problems in relations in fact hindered the relations. Of course,
this can be done, but then one has to face the direct
consequences".
Asked why Serb politicians felt that there was no need for Serbs to
apologise for the war, which Croatia is setting as one of the
conditions for the normalisation of relations, Korac said that
"guilt and responsibility" had to be differentiated.
Guilt, he explained, "is a legal category and responsibility is the
issue of the maturing of the conscience of one people, its elite,
accepting the responsibility and conditions cannot be set on
this".
He added that one asks "the question how an entire nation can be
responsible for anything and who has the right to apologise on
behalf of the nation?"
Korac agreed with Minister Picula that one of the conditions for the
normalisation of relations between the two countries must be
cooperation with the Hague tribunal and the punishment of
criminals.
"It is truly not easy having normal relations while you are aware
that a great number of war criminals are walking around free," he
said, adding however that, "it is an illusion that this can be
resolved in a day, in a moment".
Asked by the Vjesnik reporter how the anniversary of Croatia's
eastern town of Vukovar's tragedy was marked in Serbia, Korac said
"in our main media it was marked in a historically correct manner,
as the destruction and occupation of a town".
"Everybody who knows how Vukovar was spoken of during the past
several years will notice a very important difference," Korac said,
stressing that "there was no talk about any liberation, but of the
occupation of Vukovar".
He added that those who are responsible for the operation should be
made responsible, especially for Ovcara (a farm near Vukovar
containing a mass grave), and that Sljivancanin, Mrksic and Radic
must be brought before justice".
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