BELGRADE, Dec 20 (Hina) - The Belgrade weekly NIN quotes Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic on Thursday as saying he expressed regret for the war destruction during a recent visit to Croatia, and that "a possible apology to
the Croats can be made only by the president of state or someone elected at direct elections." As Yugoslavia's chief of diplomacy, Svilanovic says he felt compelled to address the citizens of both countries, in this case primarily the citizens of Croatia, taking a clear position as to the conflicts which he says were very tragic and claimed many lives. "It is impossible for the Yugoslav foreign minister to come to Croatia and talk about everything else, as though the conflict had never taken place. That's why I very clearly said how deeply I regretted the suffering of those people," Svilanovic said to the NIN journalist's claim that what he said in Zagreb "was too littl
BELGRADE, Dec 20 (Hina) - The Belgrade weekly NIN quotes Yugoslav
Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic on Thursday as saying he
expressed regret for the war destruction during a recent visit to
Croatia, and that "a possible apology to the Croats can be made only
by the president of state or someone elected at direct elections."
As Yugoslavia's chief of diplomacy, Svilanovic says he felt
compelled to address the citizens of both countries, in this case
primarily the citizens of Croatia, taking a clear position as to the
conflicts which he says were very tragic and claimed many lives.
"It is impossible for the Yugoslav foreign minister to come to
Croatia and talk about everything else, as though the conflict had
never taken place. That's why I very clearly said how deeply I
regretted the suffering of those people," Svilanovic said to the
NIN journalist's claim that what he said in Zagreb "was too little
for the Croatian and too much for the Serb nationalists."
Stating that an apology was a "big gesture which may come to the
agenda," Svilanovic reiterated that "only the president of state
can" do something like that.
Asked who should apologise to whom, the foreign minister said it was
"very complicated" but that if the events of the past decade were
taken into account, "the starting point must be that the conflict
took place on Croatian territory."
Asked why he mentioned Jasenovac, Croatia's 1941-5 Ustasha death
camp, Svilanovic said he had mentioned the eastern Croatian town of
Vukovar as the symbol most Croats "associated with the horrible
feelings" of their recent past.
"I mentioned Jasenovac as well, not to strike a balance or say that
it is the same or similar, because it isn't, but because for...
Serbs in Croatia, and I think Serbs in Serbia as well, it, too, is a
symbol of another time," said the foreign minister.
"The Jasenovac memories have been manipulated a lot," he maintains,
saying they were "the power charge that set off the horrible
conflict which ensued."
Svilanovic says he is perfectly aware how much fear was imbued "into
the heads of the Serbs with the remembering Jasenovac campaign,"
which he says gave them "an additional killer boost."
Asked what his Zagreb visit might yield in practice, he concluded
"we still can't talk about good neighbourly relations, even though
a lot has been done."
Svilanovic said the Croatia talks addressed war criminals, and that
he agreed with his hosts that all who had committed them must answer
before national courts, and of course, the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Svilanovic said he and his Croatian hosts disagreed as to the
tenancy rights of Croatian Serb refugees, but added the issue would
be addressed further.
(hina) ha sb