LOCAL PRESS

Cabinet revealed; Assembly to elect it by end of week (B92)

Serbian National Assembly President Maja Gojkovic on Monday scheduled a sitting of the Assembly for Tuesday, August 9. The sitting that will start at 14:00 CET will elect Serbia’s new Government. She thanked PM-designate Aleksandar Vucic, who earlier in the day submitted the names of his future ministers, adding she was convinced the new Government would be elected “by the end of the week.” Vucic, who has been at the helm of Serbia’s Government since 2014, then spoke to reporters to say that “a dedicated group of people who are behind the (Government’s) program will their hearts is needed to continue.” “I have submitted the list of ministers, in line with the decisions made by political parties. There are many people who do not belong to parties. A combination of success, experience, and freshness,” he said, noting that the cabinet will be officially presented in the Assembly on Tuesday. “We have preserved the backbone of a government that prevented bankruptcy, raised growth almost threefold… to arrange public finances, to carry out a full stabilization… like in the best companies, fresh blood is needed,” Vucic said.

The ministers of justice, economy, culture and information, agriculture, state administration, education, and emergency situations in the current, now caretaker government of Serbia, will no longer serve as cabinet members: they are Nikola Selakovic, Zeljko Sertic, Ivan Tasovac, Snezana Bogosavljevic-Boskovic, Kori Udovicki, Srdjan Verbic, and Velimir Ilic, respectively.

New cabinet members include: Goran Knezevic (economy), Branislav Nedimovic (agriculture), Nela Kuburovic (justice), Ana Brnabic (state administration), Mladen Sarcevic (education) and Vladan Vukosavljevic (culture and information). In addition, new ministers without portfolio will be Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic (SPS) and Milan Krkobabic (PUPS).

The Government will continue to be headed by Aleksandar Vucic, with Ivica Dacic keeping his job as Vucic’s first deputy and Serbia’s foreign minister. Other minister who will continue to serve in the new cabinet include Nebojsa Stefanovic (deputy PM and interior affair), Zorana Mihajlovic (deputy PM and infrastructure and transport), Rasim Ljajic (deputy PM and trade, tourism, and telecommunications), Dusan Vujovuc (finance), Aleksandar Antic (energy), Zlatibor Loncar (health), Aleksandar Vulin (labor, social and veteran affairs), Vanja Udovicic (sport and youth), Jadranka Joksimovic (no portfolio).

EU announces deal is made on bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica (B92)

“Following the extensive discussions on August 2” agreement was reached today “on the last remaining details” regarding the Kosovska Mitrovica bridge deal. The EU announced on Friday that it concerned “implementing the August 2015 Belgrade-Pristina dialogue agreement on the Mitrovica Bridge.” The bridge in question is located over the Ibar River that separates the northern Kosovo town into its southern, ethnic Albanian, and northern, predominantly Serb parts. “Now that full implementation is in sight, the Mitrovica Bridge will become the symbol of normalization of relations between the Kosovo Serb, Kosovo Albanian and other communities,” said a statement posted on the EU External Action Service website, adding: “The revitalization of the bridge, as well as King Petar (Kralja Petra) Street, will greatly contribute to facilitating contacts between all people of Mitrovica North and South and will thus contribute to exchanges and understanding.” The EU added that “Minister for the Dialogue Edita Tahiri and Chief Negotiator Marko Djuric” agreed that the outstanding construction permit will be issued “and that the revitalization of the Mitrovica Bridge and its surroundings will commence on August 14, 2016.” “The Mitrovica Bridge will be opened for pedestrians and for vehicles in both directions in line with the recommendations of the technical assessment and the architectural design both sides agreed in June 2015,” it is stated. According to this, “the construction work on the bridge will be carried out by accessing the construction site through the southern access road,” while “the bridge will be opened for all traffic on January 20, 2017.” “In line with the same timetable, the municipality of Mitrovica North will revitalize its main street – King Petar Street – into a pedestrian zone. The street will be opened for pedestrians on 20 January 2017. The works will start and finish on the same day as the ones on and around the bridge,” said the EU, adding: “A working group will regularly monitor and review together with both mayors the prevailing political and security conditions in the municipalities during and after the revitalization process. A first meeting of that group will take place on September 9, 2016. Kosovo Police, EULEX and KFOR in line with their respective mandates will ensure a safe and secure environment. They will consult on appropriate security measures, including with the two mayors.” The agreement from August 2015 envisaged that the bridge and the street would be opened by the end of June 2016. A new deadline around administrative lines and cadaster areas issues in the Suvi Do and Brdjani settlements is now October 14 – and was previously October 10, 2015. And finally, the EU on Friday “welcomed the outcome of today’s discussions and urges both parties to continue to make progress on all other outstanding implementation work, in particular on Telecoms, the Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities in Kosovo and Energy.”

NAZI symbols at Croatian celebration of anniversary of operation “Storm” (VIP)

Croatian celebration of the 21st anniversary of the military-police operation Storm, during which almost entire Serb population was expelled from the country and about 2,000 people were killed, was marked by numerous chauvinistic incidents and NAZI symbols, and the speech given on the occasion by President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic caused strong reactions in the Serbian public. Grabar Kitarovic said that this operation was “brilliant and ethically clean” and its result was relief of the Serbs of “hard and centuries old shackles of the Greater Serbian projects”. “We respect each victim, because each life has equal value, but it must be known that Storm was politically justified, ethically clean, militarily brilliantly performed liberating and honorable victory for the proper goal”, Kitarovic said. Meanwhile, the Croatian police have arrested two men who burned the Serbian flag in Knin at the celebration of Operation Storm. At the same time, the police are investigating into an incident in which several people dressed in black and Ustasha uniforms paraded through the city, singing Ustasha songs. Ustashas were the quisling Croatian army in WWII, responsible for genocidal crimes against Serbs, Jews and Roma. Croatian Nazi folk singer Marko Perkovic Thompson, known for his glorification of the Ustasha movement, also performed at the celebration. His security reportedly prevented the police from handing him a misdemeanor notification for shouting “Ready for home”, which used to be an official military greeting in the Nazi Independent State of Croatia during WWII. Incidentally, according to the media reports, the concert was broadcasted on the first channel of the state-owned Croatian Radio television (HRT). “That is how a singer known for singing the song “Jasenovac and Gradiska Stara” (concentration camps in which more than a million Serbs, Jews, Roma and Communists were killed), which calls for the slaughter of Serbs, got a free advertising during primetime on television paid by all citizens of Croatia. The man whose performance is banned in many European countries is obviously not a problem for HRT”, a Croatian portal wrote. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia has also sent an official note over the burning of the Serbian flag, but Croatia has refused to receive it. Croatian foreign minister Miro Kovac said that that had been the fifth note from Serbia in the past ten days where Croatia was accused of rehabilitation of the fascist regime, and that “the inflation of notes creates a mess”. Serbian minister of labor, employment, veteran and social policy Aleksandar Vulin has reacted to that, saying that Zagreb’s refusal of Serbia’s protest note over the burning of a Serbian flag in Knin was proof that Croatia approves of the act. Vulin estimated that the official Croatia did not even consider the burning of the Serbian flag to be a sin, therefore it did not understand the reason of the official Belgrade’s protest. “They are probably guided by Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic’s statement that ‘the Storm is ethically impeccable’, regardless of the fact that 2,500 Serbs were killed or got missing, so the burning of the flag seems to them as a logical continuation of that policy”, said Vulin.

FM Dacic hits back after Croat president’s Storm statements (Tanjug)

Ivica Dacic on Friday described Croatian President’s statement about Operation Storm’s “ethically clean” nature that had “unburdened Serbs” as “insolence.” Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said this during the celebration of the 21st anniversary of Croatia’s 1995 military-police operation – an anniversary that is in Serbia marked with memorial services honoring the killed and expelled ethnic Serbs from Croatia. Dacic said that her statement about the “ethically clean victory that unburdened Serbs of the shackles of the Greater Serbia project” was an indication that Croatia considers it ethically clean to murder several thousand Serbs and drive out more than 220,000 people. Grabar-Kitarovic statement about “the unburdening” was described by the Serbian minister in a written statement as “genuine insolence.” “How? By taking their lives, by leaving them without their houses and apartments, fields and woods, without pensions, expelled from the land of their fathers, their ancestral property? And from whom did they (Croatia) liberate those cities and villages, when the absolute majority (of the population) there was Serb?” Dacic asked. The minister pointed out that Operation Storm represented the biggest ethnic cleansing in Europe after the Second World War, and noted that the 1931 population census in Croatia showed 18.45 percent of its population being Serbs, while in 2011 this figure was 4.36 percent. “There were 581,663 Serbs in Croatia according to the 1991 census, while 20 years later, in 2011, after Storm and other ethically clean campaigns, as the Croatian president has said, there were only 186,633. Where did the 400,000 Serbs disappear to, in 20 years?” asked Dacic. According to him, instead of showing a sense of guilt and compassion, Croatia takes pride in this, something that is evident in the speeches given in Knin and the Ustasha salutes – in a town where Serbs made up 80 percent of the population in 1991. “The final solution to the Serb question – to expel one third, murder one third, and convert one third to Catholicism – which was the idea of Mile Budak, the Ustasha minister in the Nazi NDH (Independent State of Croatia) – will never be accepted by Serbia, no matter how much Croatia chooses to hide behind the EU and NATO,” Dacic concluded.

Dacic: “Germany jails for use of ‘Sieg Heil’, while Croatia…” (B92)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has reacted to a debate currently underway in Croatia about the use of the “Za dom spremni” greeting. “For home ready” (Croatian: “Za dom spremni”) was used by the Ustasha in the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) – an entity that existed from 1941 until 1945 and operated death camps for Serbs, Jews, and Roma, including in Jasenovac. Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said over the weekend that “the issue” of the Ustasha greeting “should be solved by judicial organs.” “These days there is a debate in Croatia about how to legally arrange the use of the Ustasha greeting ‘For home ready’. With the desire, of course, to allow its use,” Dacic said, and added: “In fact, this is a clear indicator of the state of affairs in Croatia, an EU member that is rehabilitating the fascist Ustasha NDH.” “Imagine such a debate, or the use of Nazi symbols in Germany, where one goes to jail for using the greeting ‘Sieg Heil’. Or, if the swastika was used in any country, surely it would be associated with Hitler – although it’s a symbol of Eastern religions. When Prince Harry wore a shirt with a swastika, the English public accused him of Nazism, not of Buddhism or Hinduism,” said Dacic. The minister in the caretaker government added that the “For home ready” greeting is tied with the Ustasha, their leader (“poglavnik”) Ante Pavelic, who used it first in 1932, and with the Nazi Ustasha NDH. “Slavko Kvaternik finished his first speech on April 10, 1941, as the NDH was being proclaimed, with that greeting. The June 7, 1942 issue of the newspaper ‘Hrvatska Straza’ reported that the greeting ‘For home ready’ had ’emerged from the soul of the Poglavnik’. Genocide was perpetrated against Serbs, Jews, and Roma across the NDH, with that greeting, ‘For home ready’. With that greeting the neo-Ustashas marched in Knin (on Friday) during the marking of Operation Storm, the biggest ethnic cleansing in Europe after the Second World War,” said Dacic. He then observed that while Croatia certainly has the right to choose its own path, it has no right to rehabilitate the genocide committed against Serbs, Jews, and Romas in the fascist Ustasha NDH – “nor will Serbia let that pass.” “Although Europe is keeping silent, Serbia must not, and will not,” Dacic concluded.

Vulin: EU needs to say which policy is unacceptable (Beta)

Serbia’s Minister of Labor, Veterans and Social Affairs Aleksandar Vulin said on Aug. 7 that he expected the European Union (EU) to “speak up and make it clarify which policy it considers unacceptable.” The minister recalled that the prime minister designate, Aleksandar Vucic, had sent a letter to the European Commission, which had yet to reply to Serbia, expecting it to define the Union’s policy towards, as Vulin put it, the process of fascistization in Croatia or elsewhere. “The EC needs to make it very clear if fascist policy and its restoration in Croatia is acceptable, and if it is possible that its money is used to pay Thompson, a pro-Ustashi singer, and the release [of Branimir] Glavas, or the march of Ustashi through the streets of Knin,” Vulin has wondered. Minister Vulin said he was grateful to anyone in Croatia brave enough to raise their voice against the awakening of fascism, and to protect the Serbian community in Croatia. Vulin visited Kraljevo on Aug. 7 to attend the closure of the initiative “ORA nije fora,” launched to cleanse local river basins, which brought together over 70 people from Serbia and Macedonia.

Vulin: Serbia to change nothing if EU-Turkey agreement on migrants falls through (Beta)

The Serbian labor and welfare minister, Aleksandar Vulin, said during a visit to Vranje, on Aug. 7, that he was concerned over reports that an agreement between the EU and Turkey on migrants from the Middle East, who pass through Serbia on their way to the EU, might fall through, but that Serbia would treat the refugees the same way if that happened. Serbia can do nothing about how its neighbors, Bulgaria and Macedonia, or can it do anything about the process of “negotiations or failure to negotiate” by the EU and Turkey. Minister Vulin said, “I hope that it will not come to that, but even it does, Serbia will act exactly the same way it has so far. More precisely, everyone will be given an opportunity to apply for asylum, but no legal entries into the Serbian territory will be permitted.” “The mixed army and police teams are doing an excellent job, and the number of illegal entries has been considerably reduced. The problem is that those people cannot leave Serbia, as Hungary, as well as other European states, are accepting very few people, and their stay in Serbia has been much longer than they would have liked,” Vulin explained. The minister said that “all the refugees who have entered Serbia will leave eventually, because they do not want to stay in Serbia anyway, but are looking to reach Western Europe,” adding that “their stay in Serbia has been prolonged.” During his visit to Vranje, the minister opened a bakery established by the “Tradition of the South” women’s association, employing three women who have suffered family violence.

Jeremic in close second behind Guterres in UN vote (Tanjug)

According to unofficial and unconfirmed reports, Serbian diplomat Vuk Jeremic, Belgrade’s candidate for the new UN secretary general, is in second position with eight affirmative, four negative and three abstained votes received in the second round of the UN Security Council vote, Tanjug has learned. Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres received 11 affirmative, two negative and two abstained votes. Argentina’s Susana Malcorra received eight affirmative, six negative and one abstained vote. Slovenia’s Danilo Turk received seven affirmative, five negative and three abstained votes, while Bulgaria’s Irina Bokova, the current UNESCO secretary general, had seven affirmative, seven negative and one abstained vote. New Zealand’s Helen Clark received six affirmative, eight negative and one abstained vote.

REGIONAL PRESS

EU: Everyone should support Izetbegovic-Dodik agreement (Dnevni avaz)

Spokesperson for the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (Federica Mogherini) Maja Kocijancic, who told the daily that the EU expects from political leaders and officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) to support the solution about the Coordination Mechanism, which was agreed by leaders of SDA Bakir Izetbegovic and SNSD Milorad Dodik. Kocijancic also told the daily that the EU took into consideration objections raised by HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic regarding alleged omission of cantons from the decision-making process. “However, according to our understanding, the solution harmonized by the two leaders last Sunday enables representation of all levels of authorities in the state, in line with their constitutional responsibilities. That is why we seriously count on all political and institutional officials to support this solution”, said Kocijanic, who reminded that Mogherini and European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn welcomed the Izetbegovic-Dodik agreement on the Coordination Mechanism and the Letter of Intent for the International Monetary Fund. Daily also reminds that Izetbegovic and Dodik reached the agreement with Head of EU Delegation to B&H Lars-Gunnar Wigemark acting as an envoy.

Uncertain if B&H CoM will adopt Coordination Mechanism agreed by Izetbegovic and Dodik (BHT1)

BHT1 carried that it remains uncertain whether the Council of Ministers (CoM) of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) will adopt the Coordination Mechanism in the form agreed by SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik. This issue continues to spark opposing views among politicians in B&H, as well as speculations about change in parliamentary majority at levels of the Federation of B&H and B&H. Izetbegovic stressed that the meeting with Dodik resulted in a solution to the Coordination Mechanism issue. Izetbegovic commented on reaction of HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic, who clearly said that this agreement is unacceptable and also assessed that coalition at the Federation of B&H level, is in crisis after this agreement was reached. In this regard, Izetbegovic said that it is “a little unusual” that Covic reacts that way after decades of being involved in political life. “I have decided to believe that there was a misunderstanding”, Izetbegovic stressed. SDS leader Mladen Bosic believes that there are no realistic conditions for changing parliamentary majority at B&H level, but remarked that there are some who advocate the idea of SNSD joining the state level authorities. Bosic admitted that there are different stances in the Alliance for Changes (SzP) when it comes to the meeting between Izetbegovic and Dodik.

Covic keeping Izetbegovic and Radoncic on ice (Nezavisne novine)

Despite the fact that the coalition partners SDA and SBB Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) believe that the coalition with HDZ B&H will survive both at the Federation of B&H and the statement, HDZ B&H is keeping its partners ‘on ice’. Daily unofficially learns that a meeting of leaders of the three aforementioned parties will take place in second half of next week. Senior official of SDA Sefik Dzaferovic believes the coalition will not fall apart and that HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic reacted hastily to the meeting from Istocno Sarajevo (between leaders of SDA and SNSD Bakir Izetbegovic and Milorad Dodik). “I believe the Council of Ministers will meet soon and adopt a decision on the Coordination Mechanism”, said Dzaferovic adding there is nothing disputable in the agreement reached by leaders of SDA and SNSD. The SBB B&H Vice President Mirsad Dzonlagic is of similar opinion, saying he does not believe there will be reshuffle of the authorities and that the document on the Coordination Mechanism contains nothing disputable. On the other hand, Head of HDZ B&H Caucus in the B&H House of Representatives Nikola Lovrinovic says it is high time SDA built its political goal of centralized and civic state with somebody else, or accept the reality in B&H, which is state community of constituent peoples and citizens, in high decentralized system.

SNSD’s Radojicic: Referendum will be held in September (RTRS)

Igor Radojicic the RS National Assembly MP and SNSD’s candidate for post of Mayor of Banja Luka was the guest at the RTRS Daily news. Talking about the decision of the RSNA to organize a referendum on the Republika Srpska (RS) Day (in September) Radojicic stressed that the referendum will be held. He underscored that the referendum is necessary so that citizens of the RS can confirm the historic fact that January 9 is “day of birth of the RS.” He added that the referendum does not jeopardize other peoples in the RS. Also, Radojicic reminded that Bosniak Caucus in the RS Council of Peoples (CoP) vetoed the decision of the RSNA on holding the referendum in September. He added that this veto has to be discussed by the RS CoP, joint commission of the RSNA, the RS Constitutional Court (CC) etc. He added that in case the RS CC establishes that this decision is not detrimental for vital national interest of Bosniaks “formal preconditions for holding the referendum will be created.” Radojicic stressed that once this process is completed, the RS commission for organizing the referendum will launch necessary activities regarding holding of the referendum. “Regardless of reactions of the international community and Sarajevo, I think there are no political obstacles in the RS to hold the referendum”, explained Radojicic.

Dodik: Croatia making progress in backwardness (Srna)

Authorities in Croatia must enforce tough measures to change the social environment in the country where the people spreading hatred and extremism against Serbs are becoming louder and louder, Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik stated for Srna. “Croatia is making progress in its backwardness,” Dodik said commenting on the events seen in Knin during the recent Operation Storm celebrations. Dodik said that burning of the Serbian flag in Knin, glorification of Ustasha and fascist ideologies, spreading of hostility and humiliation of the Serbs, the fear and anxiety caused to the Serbs living in the European Croatia have to end immediately. “It has to happen for the sake of peace in the region, for if they go on like this and fail to end it, it will be obvious that Croatia seeks future in its past and that there is no room for the little Serbs still living there, until Knin sends them a monstrous message that the job with the Serbs after Operation Storm is not done yet,” Dodik said. The RS President wants to believe that Croatia has the courage to deal with its extremists who would like to restore Ustashism in the spirits of the old political mentality. “The upcoming election and campaign in Croatia should not be an excuse for spreading hatred and fascism,” said Dodik.

Croatia refuses to receive Serbia’s protest note over flag-burning incident (Hina)

Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovac said on Friday evening Croatia refused to receive Serbia’s protest note Serbia over the burning of the Serbian flag in Knin earlier that day during the marking of the 21st anniversary of Operation Storm, saying that “the inflation of notes creates disorder.” The Serbian Foreign Ministry forwarded a protest note to Croatia on Friday over the burning of the Serbian flag in Knin, saying that it “considers this act of vandalism as an undignified and uncivilized gesture which deserves the harshest condemnation and punishment of the perpetrators.” This was the fifth note Serbia sent Croatia over the past ten days, accusing Croatia of rehabilitating the Ustasha movement and glorifying convicted terrorists, and over Croatian courts’ decisions “against the Serb people.” Croatian police said they arrested two men for setting the flag on fire. Kovac said the ministry was informed of the note sent via fax, but that it refused to officially receive it because “the inflation of notes creates disorder.” “This is obviously Serbia’s strategy aimed at creating an impression that Croatia has no credibility when it comes to the rule of law. We are a credible country and let Serbia show how credible they are,” Kovac told reporters in Knin. “Serbia should not divert attention from its obligation, it should meet its obligation in the judiciary, in the context of EU membership and it should focus on itself and leave us alone,” the minister said. According to him, Croatia had shown that it is a law-based state and “Serbia should focus on itself and cooperate with the Hague tribunal.” Commenting on criticism from his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic over the speech Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic gave at the celebration of Operation Storm in Knin, Kovac called on Serbia “not to deal with the president’s speech which was excellent.” Dacic described as “sheer impudence” Croatian President Grabar-Kitarovic’s statement that Operation Storm had been “ethically clean” and that it had “relieved (Serbs) of the heavy centuries-long burden of Greater Serbia projects.” Dacic said such a statement showed that “for Croatia it’s ethically clean to kill thousands of Serbs and expel more than 220,000.”

Orepic: Historians, judiciary should define character of “For the homeland ready” salute, Petrov: salute should neither be banned nor used (Hina)

Interior Minister Vlaho Orepic said on Saturday that historians and the judiciary should take a clear view on the Ustasha salute “For the homeland ready” and that said view should be “positioned” in the law. “Police action during the marking of the anniversary of Operation Storm had two objectives – protecting the dignity of Operation Storm and protecting public interest and public peace and order. Both objectives were achieved. The attempts of political appropriation and the exhibitionism that was noticed I reject with abhorrence. They are uncivilized, primitive and damage Croatia,” Orepic told N1 TV. He was commenting on the shouting of the Ustasha salute “For the homeland ready” in Knin on Friday after the official part of a celebration of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day and at a concert there later in the evening. As for dilemmas expressed in the media as to whether chanting “For the homeland ready” was a crime or an offence, Orepic said historians and the judiciary should say that by taking a clear position. “Because of controversial interpretations, I think it’s essential to clearly position that in the law.” “Nothing can cast a shadow on a magnificent atmosphere and victory. We will always have exhibitionists on the fringes of that event, but that can’t sully the reputation of Operation Storm and the people,” Orepic said. As for the ban of a protest against celebrating Operation Storm in Zagreb on Thursday, Orepic said he personally banned it “because its goal was to belittle Storm, and hiding behind some associations or denying others their rights because of what one wants for oneself is inappropriate.” He said the police told the organizers that they could protest two days before or after the operation’s anniversary, August 5. “But acts of provocation are unacceptable.” The President of the Bridge party, Bozo Petrov, said on Sunday that the salute “For the Homeland, Ready!” should neither be banned nor used as there were much nicer salutes and songs by which the homeland can be glorified and that the most appropriate thing would be to educate the youth about that salute. “I think that at this moment the law is entirely unclear and until things are worded more precisely, this is a grey zone. To me “For the Homeland, Ready!” can be a salute from old times, but during the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and the Ustasha regime it was compromised and in my opinion it should not be used as there are much nicer salutes and songs by which we can glorify our homeland,” Petrov told the press in Sinj where he attended the 301st edition of the Alka lancing tournament. He said this when asked to comment on the shouting of the controversial salute during the celebration of Operation Storm in Knin earlier this week. The most important thing is to educate young generations “so they know this was a salute from old times, but that it was compromised during the NDH and the Ustasha regime,” Petrov said when asked if the controversial salute should be banned. “When you ban something there is always resistance and in my opinion a ban is not a solution. I believe education will help young generations much better,” Petrov said. Justice Minister Ante Sprlje said historians should voice their opinion about the salute first.

The URA left because of the election calculations (MINA)

The exit of the Civic Movement URA from the Government is part of the election calculations and it could not affect the stability of Montenegro, said analyst Dusan Janjic. The Civic Movement URA decided to leave the Government of electoral confidence because of, as they said, drastic violation of the Agreement on free and fair elections. The URA has previously announced the move if the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) violates the Agreement on free and fair elections by voting in favor of the contract with the A2A and refusing to exchange media law. Janjic believes it is good that some parties had accepted to be part of the Government, but that it was obvious that the interests of those parties and the most influential party, the DPS, are not the same. “In the specific case, the interpretation of the URA is that the ruling coalition had breached the agreement regarding the energy contract with the A2A. Then we should probably investigate if there is a lobby of interest, given that the company, I have to say, is controversial, for its businesses both in Serbia and in Italy, “said Janjic for MINA agency. Janjic assumes that the URA calculated that it was better for them to exit now in order to improve their electoral chances. “And thus to, if need be, take off responsibility of themselves for what they did while they were in Government.” “I think that the electoral calculations already begun and that that was the main motive, beside the disagreement and the influence of some energy lobbies. In particular, the A2A causes a lot of controversy, there are plenty of opponents, and the company itself creates a political atmosphere regarding its projects, so I do not rule out that it was a combination of their calculations and reaction to pressure of energy lobbies” he said. Janjic believes that now others would also calculate. “So it would not surprise me if others left, if they have realized that a united front is not an option.”

URA’s exit would not shake up anyone (RTCG, Antena M)

The exit of the URA from the Government will not shake up the executive power, but the party has proved that it has never had the capacity to reveal the possible abuse, said Deputy Prime Minister Azra Jasavic. She said that the URA’s exit would not change anything. “I think neither the Government nor the citizens would feel it. This structure has only one goal and that is to protect the interests of individuals from their leadership by taking over the monopoly of DPS” said Jasavic for the Portal Antena M. In Jasavic’s opinion, the URA has not left any track in the Government “Their fear of their own incompetence is justified. The Positive has indicated it when they entered the government. Through the act of leaving, the URA has confirmed the Positive’s attitude and once again showed that it lags behind us for miles. Their leaving would not shake anyone, and the “gap” in the Government would not be felt, “she said. Asked if now the exit of the Demos and the SDP from the Government could be expected, Jasavic stated that representatives of the URA entered the executive power without legitimacy, saying that the act of exiting had proven that they have never had the capacity to detect and prevent possible abuses of state resources for party purposes. “The SDP has toppled the government in the Assembly, but it was not able to withstand without functions and privileges so it entered the government again. Mister Konjevic could have investigate tax evaders when he was Minister of Internal Affairs, no one prevented him from doing so, in fact, it was his job to cooperate with the Minister of Finance to raise those issues. It is clear that they are now working exclusively from political reasons, in order to improve the rating of the party that was in the grip of the DPS for 18 years, and strongly supported all the economic projects and neoliberal economic concept of development of the country, which has undermined the middle class that no longer exists and created a large number of impoverished citizens,” she said. Demos, argues Jasavic, was a party that does not recognize the state and its institutions.

Skopje floods: Storm takes lives of 21 People (Telegraf.mk)

A total of 21 people are dead in the storm that swept Skopje and its suburbs late Saturday. The victims are mostly residents of the villages of Singjelik, Stajkovci, Smilkovci and Cresevo. Police said that by 3pm Sunday 21 people were found dead of whom 20 are identified and bodies of the deceased were handed over the families while determination of identity of one person is still ongoing Police told that by 6am Sunday, 22 injured people received medical treatment, of whom five at the City General Hospital “8 September,” 12 people in Clinic for Surgical Diseases “Ss. Naum Ohridski” and five people in the Emergency Room in Skopje. Additionally from 7am to 11am another 56 injured people received medical treatment in health facilities, nine are hospitalized and the rest were released from hospital.

EU extended condolences to Macedonian families, Hahn: EU ready to help Macedonia (Telegraf.mk)

Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, extended Sunday his condolences to the families of victims of yesterday’s storm in Skopje and Tetovo regions. “My condolences to the families of victims of floods in Skopje and Tetovo. The EU stands ready to help” said Hahn. The European Union also expresses its deepest sympathies to the families who have lost loved ones during the floods. “We hope that all those who have been injured or caught up in this disaster will have a speedy recovery. In these difficult moments, the EU is ready to help the authorities through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, should such assistance be required” EU’s Office in Skopje said Sunday in a press release.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Milosevic exonerated by International Tribunal, media is silent (Telesur)

The last communist leader of Yugoslavia was compared to Hitler as his country was sanctioned, torn apart and thousands killed by the U.S. and NATO.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague failed to hold a press conference or announce that on March 24 it deemed that the late Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was not responsible for the major war crimes he was charged of during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Instead, the tribunal conveniently buried it in the middle of its verdict against Radovan Karadzic. The former Bosnian-Serb president was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 40 years in prison, at the same time as the tribunal found unanimously that it “is not satisfied that there was sufficient evidence presented in this case to find that Slobodan Milosevic agreed with the common plan” of the “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims and Croats from Serbian territory.

In fact, the tribunal found the exact opposite to be true. Much like the Western media hype around the “weapons of mass destruction” lies that led to the U.S. war against Iraq in 2003, Milosevic was called the “Butcher of the Balkans” in the “trial of the century” and was charged with “war crimes” in the midst of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Arrested in March 2001, Milosevic faced a 5-year-long trial, defending himself and poised to win his case, when he died in prison on March 11, 2006, under rumors of being poisoned. The ruling stated that in meetings between Serb and Bosnian Serb officials “Slobodan Milosevic stated that ‘(a)ll members of other nations and ethnicities must be protected’ and that ‘(t)he national interest of the Serbs is not discrimination’.” It also stated that “Milosevic further declared that crime needed to be fought decisively.”

The trial chamber noted that “Milosevic tried to reason with the Bosnian Serbs saying that he understood their concerns, but that it was most important to end the war.” The judgment also stated that “Slobodan Milosevic expressed his reservations about how a Bosnian Serb Assembly could exclude the Muslims who were ‘for Yugoslavia’.” The ICTY went on to say that “from 1990 and into mid-1991, the political objective of the Accused (Karadzic) and the Bosnian Serb leadership was to preserve Yugoslavia and to prevent the separation or independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which would result in a separation of Bosnian Serbs from Serbia” It was only because of the research of journalist Andy Wilcoxson, who uncovered the  ICTY’s ruling in late July, that the exoneration came to light, but it has yet to make international headlines. The last communist leader of Yugoslavia was demonized and compared to Hitler incessantly by the mainstream media as an excuse for NATO and the U.S. to sanction, tear apart and kill thousands in the former Yugoslavia. This latest revelation comes 10 years after Milosevic’s death.

Serbian war crimes boast highlights prosecution failures (BIRN)

Despite Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s claim that his country has the best record on war crimes prosecution in the Balkans, data suggests that Serbia is lagging behind neighbors Bosnia and Croatia. Aleksandar Vucic’s misleading claim this week that Serbia is leading the region in war crimes prosecutions has again highlighted how Balkan countries have struggled to prosecute those responsible for the atrocities and abuses committed amid the break-up of Yugoslavia. Since the end of the 1990s wars, which left more than 130,000 people dead, progress has been slow and prosecutor’s offices have often been criticized by international observers for their poor records.

Vucic however insisted that Serbia was an exception. “We have convicted more than 153 people for war crimes – our people, Serbs – while cases like this can be counted on the fingers of one hand in Croatia,” he told a press conference after a Croatian court decided to quash the conviction of wartime general Branimir Glavas for crimes against Serbs. Serbia has prosecuted more Serbs than Croatia has prosecuted Croats, but BIRN’s examination of court records and war crime monitoring reports showed that Serbia has not prosecuted the largest number of people in the Balkans, nor has it prosecuted more people than Croatia. Since it was established in 2003, Serbia’s war crimes prosecution office has indicted 184 people in 64 cases. The total number of people convicted so far is 84. Bosnian prosecutors have indicted more than 550 people, while in Croatia 141 war crime cases have been launched, with more than 400 people indicted. Most of the defendants in Croatia however were prosecuted in absentia because they were in Serbia. In recent years, prosecutions have downscaled their work on war crimes prosecutions, except in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which still has a backlog of investigations into thousands of alleged perpetrators to deal with. From 2013 to 2015, Bosnia indicted 260 people for war crimes, followed by Croatia with 105 people, Serbia with 23 people and Kosovo in last place with 21 indictments.

However these numbers by themselves do not give any indication of how serious the crimes were, or how important the suspects. Most of the people indicted in Croatia were Serbs, although a former member of the Croatian Army, two former Croatian police officers and two former Croatian Defence Council fighters were charged with war crimes last year. Most of the cases launched in Serbia over the last three years were related to the Bosnian war. In 2015, the Serbian war crimes prosecution didn’t issue any indictments at all. In 2014, seven indictments were issued against nine people. According to a monitoring report published by Humanitarian Law Centre, all these cases are relatively simple, with half of them dealing with crimes in which there was one or a maximum of five victims. Only one of these indictments, against three former Yugoslav Army troops, was for crimes committed during the Kosovo war, while four of the cases were transferred from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2013, the prosecution issued eight indictments for 14 people, also mostly for war crimes committed in Bosnia.

The OSCE mission in Serbia has criticized Belgrade for not launching enough new war crimes cases and continuing to fail to prosecuting high-ranking suspects from the 1990s conflicts. According to an OSCE report published last year, none of the defendants prosecuted in Serbia so far held high-ranking positions at the time of the offences, while only 10 per cent of them were middle-ranking. The report also says that Serbia’s war crime institutions “have been the object of political pressure since their establishment”, and that there has been a significant drop in the number of new indictments since 2010. Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party has been in government since 2012. Kosovo, which has the lowest numbers of war crimes prosecutions from 2013 to 2015, is still the only country in the former Yugoslavia in which the justice system is administered by international missions.

Local prosecutors are still yet to launch any of their own cases, and later this year a special war crimes court will open in The Hague to try senior Kosovo Liberation Army figures because it has proven impossible to prosecute them at home, where any such attempt is seen as an insult to the KLA and its war against Serbian rule. Although Bosnia and Herzegovina can boast the most prosecutions, it also has the largest backlog of unresolved cases and its prosecutors have also been accused of failing to work quickly and effectively enough. Along with issues such as a relatively small number of prosecutors, the complexity of the investigations, and the fact that some of the suspects have fled to neighboring countries and some witnesses have died, Bosnia is also facing the issue of a lack of political support to prosecute high-level perpetrators and an apparent lack of will among prosecutors to indict.

During a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina last year, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Serge Brammertz, told BIRN that the country’s judiciary appears to have insufficient dedication to prosecuting war crimes cases. “I have to say with all due respect to my prosecutor colleagues that I was not always convinced all of them had the commitment to move war crime cases forward,” Brammertz said. Investigations into alleged war crimes by at least 7,000 more people in Bosnia and Herzegovina remain to be resolved by December 2023, but although the justice ministry has said that this target can be reached, some observers are highly skeptical.

Bosniaks in Serbia hold rally in support of Turkey (Anadolu)

Over a thousand people from Novi Pazar and across Sandzak Region show solidarity with Turkish people and democracy.

More than a thousand people attended a pro-democracy rally in the Serbian city of Novi Pazar on Sunday to express their support for Turkey.The rally had been organized by the Society of Friends of Turkey with the support of the main Bosniak parties and organizations in the region.People from Novi Pazar and across the Sandzak Region attended the rally, and expressed solidarity with Turkey’s people, democracy, government and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Participants also carried banners written in Turkish, saying “Sandzak is with you, Sandzak is the bridge between Turkey and Serbia.”A video link at the rally also showed the massive gathering of people in Istanbul, where a separate Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally was held Sunday to protest against the defeated July 15 coup mounted by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

A series of videos about the attempted coup on the night of July 15 was also screened at the rally in the Serbian city. On behalf of the Friends of Turkey Association, Nafil Sejdovic said: “We defend the basic principle of democracy, the rule of the people. The elected people must be respected.

“Sandzak Bosniaks are a bridge of friendship and cooperation between Serbia and Turkey, and the Sandzak is the gate and cooperation.” Turkey’s Ambassador to Serbia, Mehmet Kemal Bozay, in his message said: “I firmly believe that this meeting will strengthen the foundations of the existing friendly relations between our two countries of which you are one part.” The Sandzak Region is on the border between Serbia and Montenegro and has a sizable Muslim community. An estimated five million people attended the pro-democracy rally in Istanbul on Sunday, according to the Istanbul Police Department. The massive gathering of people is believed to be the largest of its kind for a political rally anywhere in the world. It was also the first time the leaders of the Justice and Development (AK) Party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) had shared a platform. Turkey’s government has said the July 15 coup bid was organized by the followers of Fetullah Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 1999. Ankara is asking Washington to extradite Gulen in an ongoing formal process.

Will Serbia ever try generals for Kosovo crimes? (BIRN)

Two years after the Serbian prosecution started investigating a Yugoslav Army general for allegedly ordering attacks on Kosovo villages that left 120 civilians dead in 1999, no military official has been indicted.

Two years ago, in what was seen by rights campaigners as a brave move towards getting justice for Kosovo war victims, the Serbian war crimes prosecution office opened a probe into the role of Yugoslav Army general Dragan Zivanovic in the 1999 attacks on the Kosovo villages of Cuska, Pavlan, Zahac and Ljubenic. This was the first time that Serbia had made any effort to prosecute the army generals responsible for crimes committed during the 1999 war that left 12,000 people dead and saw 800,000 Kosovo Albanians expelled. According to a statement from the war crimes prosecution office on August 5, 2014, Zivanovic, as the former commander of 125th Motorised Brigade of the Yugoslav Army, was suspected of committing a war crime against civilians because he “didn’t take any measures and didn’t prevent the murders of at least 118 Albanian civilians, the injuring of 13 civilians, the destruction of 40 houses, robberies and expulsion” in the four Kosovo villages. But two years on, Serbian prosecutors haven’t charged Zivanovic, nor expanded the investigation to probe other commanders responsible for some of the most brutal attacks of the Kosovo war. Simultaneously, the ongoing trial of 12 men accused of involvement in the Kosovo village attacks, almost all of them ordinary Yugoslav Army soldiers, has been hampered by delays, slow progress and legal disputes. The trial, considered a landmark as it was one of the biggest in Serbia for Kosovo war crimes, started in 2011. It initially resulted in the conviction of 11 men in February 2014, but the case was then sent for retrial and the defendants released because the court argued that the first-instance verdict was not clear and had legal errors. The judge who delivered the first-instance convictions was meanwhile sacked in what she believes was a political move, and the case was given to other judges. The men were now free, and some of them have managed to abscond.

One of the key defendants, Ranko Momic, initially sentenced to 15 years in prison for the massacre in Cuska, fled to fight on the pro-Russian side in Ukraine, despite the fact there was a court order for him not to leave the country.

Another key defendant, Dejan Bulatovic, initially sentenced to 20 years in prison, got cancer so the court decided to terminate the proceedings against him. All the others – 11 of them alleged direct perpetrators of the attacks – are being retried. The retrial is at its very beginning and will probably not end this year considering the slow pace of proceedings in the past. The case itself has now dragged on for five years, which caused one more worrying situation – the victims lost both their patience and the hope that the trial will end in convictions. At the last court hearing, two key survivors of the attacks refused to testify, citing their “betrayal” by the Serbian court. They said they didn’t want to participate any more in what they called a “farcical trial”. But it is not only the Kosovo Albanian victims who are not showing up at the trial. Those who allegedly ordered the crimes are not even on the witness list, let alone being listed in the indictment.

Over these five years, Dragan Zivanovic, who signed the order for the army to be send to the village of Cuska in spring 1999, never appeared as witness at the trial, although it is clear he had significant knowledge of what happened in Kosovo at the time. He did however appear as a witness at trials at the UN tribunal in The Hague, where he denied involvement in any war crimes. Despite numerous attempts by BIRN to get a comment, the prosecution has never explained how it is possible to put people on trial who were his subordinates and went to the village under his orders but not to include Zivanovic in the court process. It is also unfortunate to note that two years after he was initially investigated for war crimes, no indictment has been raised against those who gave the orders for this crime. Despite pledges to uphold the rule of law, the Serbian war crimes prosecution’s record remains poor when it comes to high officials – no army or police general has ever faced trial in Serbia for wartime crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

Instead we have a war crimes prosecution office without a chief prosecutor being appointed for eight months, and a government that welcomes home as heroes criminals who have been convicted of war crimes in Kosovo by the UN court. It remains to be seen if the pledges that to prosecute high officials for war crimes that Serbia recently made in its war crimes strategy as part of its EU accession package will be fulfilled. It also remains to be seen how tough and principled the EU will be in pressuring Serbia to keep its promises during the accession negotiations. If no progress in made in holding high-level suspects to account, this will be one more grim story in which politics trumps justice.