Grabar-Kitarović on Protesters: Political Marginals Must Not Dictate Policy

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović stated on Monday that protests, including those against Serbian President, are normal in a democracy, but that political marginals must not dictate policy and interstate relations.

– It is a democratic right to protest, but what I absolutely cannot support is any form of insult and hate speech, said the president at a joint press conference with Serbian colleague Aleksandar Vučić.

– We must not allow individuals from the fringes of the political spectrum to dictate policy. Policy and interstate relations should be dictated by us, statesmen and the vast majority of our citizens who support President Vučić’s visit to Croatia, she emphasized.

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Vučić, on the other hand, reacted ironically to the protests that welcomed him in Croatia on Monday due to his role in inciting local Serbs to rebel against Croatian authorities in the 1990s. He says he saw banners from the car reading ‘Don’t lie to the horse’, ‘Beginner Chetnik’, ‘Baraba go back to Serbia’.

– I laughed at those messages, a horse is a noble animal, if I wanted to insult someone I wouldn’t compare them to a horse, Vučić said at the joint press conference.

He told the protesters that he is not a Chetnik, that no family member of his was a Chetnik, nor has he committed any crime. He also told both the Croatian and Serbian public that they must be aware that they see events from the past in completely different ways.

– But that must not be a reason for us not to talk, to create problems for each other anywhere, or to lead witch hunts, harangues, or campaigns against each other, Vučić emphasized.

Borders

Croatia and Serbia will try to resolve the border on the Danube bilaterally in the next two years, and if they fail, they will go to an international court or arbitration, said the presidents of Croatia and Serbia.

– Our recommendation to the governments is to continue negotiating bilaterally on this for the next two years. If we do not agree on border issues during this period, then we should agree to go before an international judicial body, said President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

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Her Serbian counterpart added that the two countries have different starting positions, Croatia refers to the cadastre while Serbia refers to a law it considers a stronger legal act.

– We will try to resolve this bilaterally in the next two years, if that is not possible we will go before judicial arbitration bodies, whose final ruling will be accepted by both sides, Vučić said.

On the Danube, there are 136 out of 262 kilometers of the border between Croatia and Serbia.

Embargo on Insults

Vučić stated that he ordered his associates in Belgrade not to insult Croatia in the next 100 days, so as not to complicate the resolution of numerous open issues between the two countries.

– In the next 100 days we will try to change the atmosphere….. All state officials will be obliged not to insult not only Croatian officials but to behave responsibly and do everything in their power to have the best possible relations, emphasized the Serbian president.

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He added that Serbs believe that Croatia has insulted Serbia more, while Croats probably think the opposite.

– In any case, this will be the obligation of all representatives of Serbian politics in the coming period, regardless of whether Croatian politicians and the government respond positively or not, Vučić emphasized.

Documents and Missing Persons

The Serbian president returned documents from Dvor na Uni to Croatia on Monday that were taken to Serbia after Operation Storm in 1995. Vučić brought with him to Zagreb the birth, death, and marriage registers from that municipality with a majority Serbian population in Banovina.

Croatia has been demanding the return of cultural treasures from Serbia for years, which were looted and taken from Croatia after Operation Storm, during which Croatian territories under the control of local Serbs were liberated in the summer of 1995.

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Vučić also stated that he provided Croatian authorities with data on three missing persons from the war in the 1990s in Croatia.

– We brought three names for which we know where they perished, Vučić said.

He did not provide details about the identity, place of death, and nationality of those individuals. The Serbian president previously stated that he would do everything he can to help find the missing persons.