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Serbia hands over protest note to Croatia
Belgrade,
21 April 2016
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today handed over a protest note to Croatian Ambassador to Belgrade Gordan Markotic following insulting and disparaging statements about the Republic of Serbia made by Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Miro Kovac.
The statement said that Kovac made the mentioned insults on 16 April in the Croatian media.
The Ministry considers it inappropriate that enforcement of Serbian laws should be described in public statements by a Croatian official as a "historical perversion", while he also implied that Serbia is the "state of origin of the plans for the 1990s wars".
Croatia's refraining from making such assessments would help enhance the bilateral relations and good-neighbourly cooperation in the future.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia takes this opportunity to point out that nationalist incidents and hate speech are occurring on an almost daily basis in the Republic of Croatia, causing members of the Serb ethnic minority to feel under threat, which is a direct consequence of the avoidance by the relevant authorities of the Republic of Croatia of adequately punishing and publicly condemning such incidents.
The Ministry expresses particular concern about the participation of Croatian singer Marko Perkovic Tompson in a discussion on religious youth in a Catholic school in Sibenik on 16 April and lectures held by students of primary and secondary schools, chanting songs promoting the Ustasha movement and threats to the Serbs.
Ambassador Markotic and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed that representatives of the two countries should meet more frequently after the formation of the new Serbian government to discuss any outstanding issues, the statement said.
The Ministry considers it inappropriate that enforcement of Serbian laws should be described in public statements by a Croatian official as a "historical perversion", while he also implied that Serbia is the "state of origin of the plans for the 1990s wars".
Croatia's refraining from making such assessments would help enhance the bilateral relations and good-neighbourly cooperation in the future.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia takes this opportunity to point out that nationalist incidents and hate speech are occurring on an almost daily basis in the Republic of Croatia, causing members of the Serb ethnic minority to feel under threat, which is a direct consequence of the avoidance by the relevant authorities of the Republic of Croatia of adequately punishing and publicly condemning such incidents.
The Ministry expresses particular concern about the participation of Croatian singer Marko Perkovic Tompson in a discussion on religious youth in a Catholic school in Sibenik on 16 April and lectures held by students of primary and secondary schools, chanting songs promoting the Ustasha movement and threats to the Serbs.
Ambassador Markotic and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed that representatives of the two countries should meet more frequently after the formation of the new Serbian government to discuss any outstanding issues, the statement said.
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