The president of the Democratic Alliance of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV) and the Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue of the new Serbian government, Tomislav Žigmanov, and Milorad Pupovac, the president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), signed the Declaration on Cooperation between Serbs from Croatia and Croats from Serbia in Zagreb on Thursday.
SOURCE: HINA
PHOTO: HINA / Lana SLIVAR DOMINIC/ lsd
The Declaration condemns all forms of hatred towards minorities and “encourages the countries in which minorities live to, instead of renewing the conflict, finally turn to cooperation” and start solving open issues.
“Every act of threat or aggression against a minority community in one state puts the minority community in the other state at risk,” reads the Declaration, which was written in two languages as well as two scripts.
Žigmanov said at the conference that the cooperation between the two communities was “natural” and “a part of their fundamental political beliefs.”
The new Serbian minister, first such minister elected from the Croatian minority in Serbia, said that the text had been signed “out of the belief that cooperation should not have an alternative,” despite the numerous differences between the two nations.
The two leaders emphasise that they are doing everything they can for the representatives of the Croatian and Serbian authorities to meet and that they are happy to be able to mediate in this process.
Dačić “Loosening up the Realations”
Tomorrow, on Friday January 6, the Serb National Council (SNV) is organising the traditional Christmas reception “Christ is born! Glorify Him,” which will be attended by Ivica Dačić, the first Vice-President of the Serbian government and its head of diplomacy.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will also be attending the reception, along with Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Human and Minority Rights Anja Šimpraga, Minister for Foreign Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman, Minister for Culture and Media Nina Obuljen Koržinek, and Minister for Justice and Public Administration Ivan Malenica, according to the information provided on Government’s website.
Žigmanov and Pupovac did not want to reveal in which formats the meetings between officials from Zagreb and Belgrade will be held tomorrow, saying only that “there will be at least two separate meeting that will take place.”
Speaking about Dačić’s arrival in Zagreb, after years of tension between the two capitals, Žigmanov said that the time had been chosen “probably due to coming to terms with the fact that the two neighbouring countries, which have a relatively large number of problems, cannot but communicate with one another.”
“No country can be an island in today’s world, metaphorically speaking. We cannot sit closed off in our own little rooms and not communicate,” said Žigmanov.
At the end of last year, Dačić said that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had asked him “to loosen up the relations with Croatia a little.”
For the Future
Pupovac said that “the interlocutors in Zagreb and Belgrade were very open” to the meeting taking place the following day, which is only confirmation that “awareness has matured about the fact that there are no benefits from confrontation.”
Commenting on the arrival of Dačić, who had previously made controversial statements about Croatia, Pupovac said that the meeting was not happening “because of the past or in order to count precisely who said what in the past.”
Pupovac said that he remembered many “who in the past spoke a language that is not the language of the future,” but that he had cooperated with many of them in creating the future of Croatia.
“Therefore, we expect that we will all be dedicated not to labels, but to what we actually need to do in order to have different relationships and a different future,” he concluded.
One of the most problematic points in the relations between the two countries is the issue of the missing people from the war in the 90s.
When asked if Belgrade’s opinion on cooperation concerning this issue had changed, Žigmanov replied that he “thinks it has.”
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Declaration on Cooperation Between Serbs from Croatia and Croats from Serbia