Dividing the Property

Embassies, residencies, consulates, flats... which were all built or bought in the states throughout the world with which Yugoslavia had diplomatic links, form a part of the common property which in the multilateral "court case" of the candidates for the inheritance will feature in the delicate debate. Namely, 125 buildings (along with the building site) were estimated to an impressive figure of half a billion dollars.

These, throughout the world dispersed bits of "Yugoslavia" are legally represented by the "responsible organ" in the image of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The disintegration of Yugoslav diplomacy , according to the collective reserved attitude of the interested parties, has not, until now, initiated a discussion on this subject. The until recently united Yugoslav diplomatic service is now short of Slovenes, and certain Croatian members. No one took a thing with them. "Embassies" are still intact. Vlada Sultanovic, the deputy secretary at the Ministry for Internal Affairs confirms this: "The Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia will be in charge of that property until a federal property settlement has been worked out, or rather, until the talks concerning its future framework are concluded".

According to him, it is too early to speculate on the principles and criteria which would serve as a basis for future settlement. By the same token, the premature recognition of Slovenia and Croatia would also be "invalid": "A premature and 'immature' recognition does not give these states the legal entitlement to any part of property formerly owned by the state of Yugoslavia. It follows from here that none of the separated republics are entitled to any part of it.

Since there are no principles and criteria involved here and bearing in mind that the Yugoslav case is unique in that respect, anything is possible. Theoretically speaking, the simplest of all options would be the hypothetical sale of this part of our national treasure at market price. It would be easiest to divide the money on the condition that everyone's contribution is evaluated first, which, again could prove to be the most difficult thing to do. The historical process which until now proceeded the other way around, seemed less painful. First the Kingdom of Serbs, Croatians and Slovenes, and then the two Yugoslavias, in the international and legal sense were the heirs to the Kingdom of Serbia which went for property relations as well. The curiosity which accompanies that continuity was reflected in the last year's payment of 180,000 dollars from the federal safe into the Turkish state safe in the name of the purchase of a site by the Kingdom of Serbia in Istanbul in 1904.

According to the present state property accounts abroad all the present building were acquired (be it by building or second-hand purchase) during the 72 years of common living. The oldest (by the date of purchase) is the building in the Cale Dorobaktilor street in Bucharest which was bought in 1919. Although it has was put down under the name of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croatians and Slovenes, there is ample ground for believing that it was bought by Serbia immediately before the unification, which included two of its diplomatic posts abroad. According to the relevant documents, nothing was left in its original form in the meantime. But the funds from their sale were used to purchase other buildings, which will, in the final settlement, ensure certain rights for Serbia, which are certain to exceed any moral justification.

The final settlement, say the experts, will be made more difficult by the dubious conditions under which certain objects were acquired. For the embassy in Budapest, which was acquired on the eve of the Second World War (1940), the official documents say "cause of purchase unknown". The rumour has it that the socialist Yugoslavia also inherited what Pavelic's short-lived NDH (the Independent State of Croatia) received as a gift from Italy. The additional trouble which would be present at the best of times can be expected when considering the property of unknown origin, when the domination of certain patriotic lobbies is at stake as well as personal presents.

The embassy building in Argentina was given as a present in 1929. The anonymous donators to the Kingdom are the Croatian immigrants, whom Zagreb will remember when the time comes. One of the most valuable buildings from the present Yugoslav state safe, which is worth 69 million dollars, is a residency in the heart of Paris, which the French president gave as a present to king Alexander.

The fact that Karadjordjevic is a royal is bound to help Serbia. The settlement concerning one other extortionate gift, however, will be much more interesting to watch. It concerns the residential complex which covers over 11.000 square metres which includes the luxurious embassy with the residence in Adis Ababa and has been evaluated to around 5 million dollars. It is a gift from tzar Selassi to president Tito. Although Tito's "spiritual" heritage is widely frowned upon, it is unlikely that his inheritance will receive the same treatment.

Statistically speaking Yugoslavia acquired most of its diplomatic residential buildings during its "second history". Non-alliance as the most enduring foreign policy orientation of Tito's Yugoslavia has left to its heirs a real treasure in the Third World countries. Embassies and residencies which mostly consist of luxurious villas with huge gardens and parks were built in the period from the fifties to the eighties in Lussaka, Dar-es-Salaam, Pnom Phen, Harare, Nairobi, New Delhi, Jakarta, Brasilia...

Although the opening and acquisition of diplomatic missions in the non-aligned countries reflect the then prevailing state and political interest, we should bear in mind that the second Yugoslavia took over the embassies and other buildings in most of the neighbouring and other European countries from its predecessor. In certain cases, however, the buildings were swopped for others. That is how the practically priceless building of the Yugoslav embassy in Vienna was acquired. It is a jewel of architecture and it is under the Austrian state protection as a monument of culture. It was built by a wealthy Viennese at the beginning of this century, on the basis of the project devised by an architect Otto Wagner. The exquisite building with the unique pillar line changed hands several times. Yugoslavia bought it from Poland in 1956 after selling to Vienna its previous embassy residency.

The old embassy building in Berlin has also gone "under the hammer". The building was sold in mid-fifties when Yugoslavia along with many other countries changed the Berlin residency for the one in Bonn. The Germans have, after the unification, decided to make Berlin the capital again. Yugoslavia is still in possession of the building where our military mission used to be stationed, but it is hard to say now who will get it.