ZAGREB, December 6, 2019 – Croatian War Veterans Affairs’ Minister Tomo Medved said on Friday that a campaign with posters displaying the names of three presidential candidates and their slogans written in Cyrillic, launched by the Serb National Council (SNV), was unnecessary and did not contribute to a better understanding between Croats and Serbs.
“In my mind, this is unnecessary. I cannot see any concrete form of contribution (to a better understanding),” Medved said adding that he would refrain from any further comment given that this was launched in the build-up to the presidential election.
Several jumbo posters with the names of the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović and Miroslav Škoro and their campaign slogans written in Cyrillic, were set up by the SNV on Thursday.
This umbrella association of ethnic Serbs in Croatia thus resumed its campaign “Let’s better understand each other”, launched two months ago with the aim of removing a stigma from the Cyrillic script during the 1991-1995 Homeland War when Serb rebel forces used this script and sprayed Cyrillic letters on buildings and houses in the occupied areas.
The SNV embarked on the campaign following the Constitutional Court’s recommendation in mid-2019 that the Vukovar city council adopt changes to the city statute under which Serb councillors should be allowed to ask orally for documents and papers to be delivered in their mother tongue and Cyrillic script. Currently, such requests have to be submitted in writing.
The Council was given until October to make such changes and adopt other necessary decisions that would enhance the Serb minority’s right to use its language and script.
On 18 October, the City Council adopted a conclusion saying that understanding, solidarity, tolerance and dialogue between ethnic Croats and Serbs are at a level that enables cooperation and co-existence; however, conditions have not been met to expand the scope of vested individual rights and prescribe collective rights for the Serb minority in Vukovar.
More news about the status of Serbs in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.
