If the relations between Serbia and Croatia they are not on the front pages, this is probably only because both countries have their own internal problems, and often forget about the enemies on duty in the neighborhood. But, unfortunate events in a short period of time, in three Croatian cities, they brought back to the fore the topic of the Ustaste and the relationship of the Croatian state towards the Serbian minority, writes Deutsche Welle (DW).
However, it must be said that, perhaps under the pressure of domestic tensions, Serbian officials somehow remained on the sidelines when it comes to reactions to those events.
Diplomatic notes to Croatia
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia did indeed send a note of protest to the Croatian ministry, as well as other diplomatic measures, but the reaction of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is an illustrative example. Commenting on the incidents, he also put himself in the center of the event, saying that "the incidents in Croatia are the result of a media campaign against me and Serbia." He added that "we are used to it here, but because of that Serbs in Croatia have big problems".
Slightly harsher tones could be found in the regime's tabloids, and associations of Serbs from the region, as well as the president of the Democratic Union of Croats in Vojvodina, Tomislav Žigmanov, also spoke out. The president of the Association of Serbs from the region, Miodrag Linta, assessed that "the Croatian police protect the Ustaše and that the Croatian government leads the policy of rehabilitation and normalization of the Ustaše". Tomislav Žigmanov believes that "events directed against Serbs in Croatia encourage an atmosphere of intolerance."
Genie released from the bottle
Aleksandar Popov, director of the Center for Regionalism from Novi Sad, believes that, after the creation of the HDZ and Homeland Movement coalition, "the genie was released from the bottle and it is now difficult to bring it back":
"The culmination was Thompson's concert, when there were no stronger reactions to the Ustasha greetings, and that has now been legitimized. After that, what is happening now could have been expected, and it brings serious fear to the Serbian minority. There is little of it left, but it seems that someone wants to drive that little bit out of Croatia. It is a shame for the Croatian government and Prime Minister Plenković, because we have a trend that is very worrying," warns our interlocutor.
A little help from a friend?
There is also a thesis that has been circulating in the Serbian public for a long time that, whenever Vučić is having a hard time, the HDZ causes some inter-ethnic incident, which somehow helps Vučić to present himself again as the protector of Serbs in the region. Popov believes that "Vučić does not care much about the fate of the Serbs, his problem is more Milorad Pupovac whom he cannot stand, because unlike other representatives of the Serbs, he is not under the direct influence of Belgrade".
"We have two fraternal parties (SNS and SPS, editor's note), whose members were leading cadres during the war, especially personally Vučić and Dacić in Serbia. It is not strange that they help each other in this way, but it should still be said that this is a big problem for Croatia, because it has gone too far, and it goes beyond Serbo-Croatian relations as a whole," Popov emphasized to DW.
Building a crisis
The fact that the regime's tabloids are actually leading in terms of the number and severity of reactions for our interlocutor means that they are "ready to say what neither Vučić nor his collaborators would like to say publicly."
In addition, the internal circumstances in Serbia give additional weight to the undoubtedly serious incidents in Croatia, and to the benevolent position of the Croatian Government in this regard. If, in addition to the bad treatment of the Serbian minority in Croatia, the accusations against the rebel students and citizens in Serbia that they are "Ustasha" are added, the whole thing becomes even more bizarre and complicated.
"This then leads us to the fact that in Serbia all Croats are seen as Ustashas. And here we must remember that members of the Croatian secret services were designated as the first participants in the color revolution, that there were expulsions of Croatian citizens, or entry bans for certain activists and journalists. All of this together is one crisis building, but when Plenković and Vučić find themselves together, they get along very well," Popov points out.
Stable cold peace
When it comes to the relations between Serbia and Croatia, our interlocutor, now "we have a stable cold peace, where you can even find some positive events, but unfortunately all of this is short-lived. The problem here is not in some individual events, but rather the problem of the process. Instead of having more frequent meetings at the summit, we have a whole list of unresolved problems between Serbia and Croatia."
"We also worked on an index of cooperation in the region, which showed that things in the political field between the two countries are not good, but fortunately the situation at the level of societies is somewhat different. That is why these incidents testify that politicians are bothered when some cooperation is achieved without them, this time on a cultural level, because they have to control everything," concludes Aleksandar Popov from the Center for Regionalism in Novi Sad.
Source: Deutsche Welle (DW)
