The Coalition for RECOM, which deals with the facts about war crimes and other serious violations of human rights committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, organized the debate at which was discussed the process of reconciliation in the region, the contribution of politicians and the EU’s role.
The Coalition for RECOM claims that after the armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the civil society of these countries has made little progress in the reconciliation process. Zarko Puhovski, a political analyst from Croatia, agrees and says that progress has been made, but that true reconciliation is still far away.
“What is between war and reconciliation is heavy everyday work on the normalization. If we cannot live with each other, we must be able to live near each other and not to kill each other. Well then, step by step. And that means, one day the young Croat save the Serbian child from something, other day, the Serbian child learns to play violin by an Albanian Professor,” said Zarko Puhovski, a political analyst from Croatia.
Political analyst Petar Miletic says that the reconciliation process is necessary, but that dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is the dialogue between the two governments, and not the societies.
“This dialog does not come down to the ground. So this is not about reconciliation between Kosovo and Serbia, but about reconciliation between Serbs and Albanians. This process is not going in that direction; therefore, there is no dialogue between Serbs and Albanians, but between Vucic and Mustafa or earlier between Dacic and Thaci. Rather than bringing us together, the Brussels agreements are keeping us apart,” adds Peter Miletic.
Politicians can contribute to the normalization of relations between nations, but they cannot achieve reconciliation, because a conversation between two peoples is necessary.
“The narrative was the one which has caused wars, and created hostility among the peoples of the Balkans, and it hinders reconciliation among them. Unfortunately so far we have not seen any attempts to confront and to change the narrative,” says Adrian Arifaj, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Participants have mentioned, as the main problem in the reconciliation process, absence of conviction of their own crimes, and unclear definition of the preconditions which lead to reconciliation.
