Croatia: Italian Rights

The Istria district has a statute again, as of February 3. The statute was suspended last year by the Croatian government which said 36 articles in it were unconstitutional and asked for a ruling from the constitutional court. The court ruling was a draw, 18 of the articles were passed the rest were rejected.

Initial reactions in Istria were: "They've taken everything from us!" The bitterness and disappointment dominated statements by the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) which has an overwhelming majority in Istria, and the Italian Union. The statements said the abolishment of some of the statute articles had a direct bearing on the position of the Italian national minority and could cause lower levels of protection for them especially in regard to bilinguality and equality of language, the right to consensus in governing bodies and the legitimacy of the Italian Union. The IDS added that the court rulings were made under pressure from the ruling party and said it would inform the international community.

The international community's reaction came quickly, in the form of threats from neighboring Italy. Italy said it would do everything possible to prevent Croatia from joining Europe and getting favorable loans.

Everything hinges on the rights of the Italians since most of the abolished articles were about their rights. The constitutional court ruled that the article which made Croatian and Italian equal languages in Istria was unconstitutional as long as bilingual people get priority in applying for jobs. The writers of the statute were led by historic reasons, despite that fact that just 15,000 Italians live in Istria or a total of 21,000 in all Croatia. The court stuck to the letter of the law and allowed Italian bilinguality only in communities where they make up over 8% of the population. In that regard, bilinguality was not abolished altogether but was reduced to local levels which is consistent with the principle of Croatia as a unitary, centralized state. If the IDS program had not been rejected it could have been expanded to include all of Croatia's territory which would have far-reaching consequences.

 

Serbia: War Crimes Trial

Sabac district court judge Vladimir Bajic will have a hard time getting enough solid evidence together to sentence Dusan Vuckovic, the only Serb accused of war crimes in Yugoslavia. That became clear on February 20 when the trial reconvened and then adjourned indefinitely. It seems the authorities knew that would happen while their investigation was underway and it is now clear that this is a sloppily staged trial which will end in chaos.

Vuckovic has been charged with war crimes against civilians for cutting off the ear of a Moslem hostage in June 1992 and then killing 16 and wounding another 20 civilians. He admitted the crimes during the investigation but later denied them in court.

Aco Bajic, a Serb from Trsic in the Bosnian Serb Republic, is the prosecution's only witness. He gave a detailed account of the massacre to investigators but refused to appear in court to testify.

The judge ordered Bajic's testimony read out in court but problems surfaced. Article 82 of the criminal code says: "All the pages of statements are to be signed by the person being interrogated." Bajic signed only one page and it's hard to believe that an experienced judge would make a mistake like that. Vuckovic's defence council objected and the prosecution lost its strongest card.

The name of Marko Pavlovic (as the man presented himself), commander of the Zvornik territorial defence came up several times during the trial. The court heard that Pavlovic was in charge of security of prisoners and the massacred Moslem civilians. The investigation failed to confirm Pavlovic's identity and the court couldn't subpoena him. It's a public secret that Pavlovic is actually Branko Popovic from Sombor.

"The crime in Celopek (the center where the prisoners were held) is not the only one by the group of mental cases who roamed Zvornik as volunteers," Popovic said and added that these are individuals who should be publicly branded "because that is the only way to clear the names of Serb volunteers, patriots who fought bravely in the former Bosnia-Herzegovina."

"Zvornik could easily have been destroyed like Vukovar," Popovic said but he didn't specify who could have destroyed it. In any case he would be a valuable witness in court.

At its latest hearing the court heard neuropsychiatrist Ratko Kovacevic say Vukovic is a "mentally disturbed person whose ability to grasp the significance of his acts and ability to control his behavior during the time of the crimes was significantly diminished". Interestingly, other psychiatrists concluded that Vuckovic is "mainly dangerous to himself and his surroundings". They added that he doesn't need treatment. In other words, Vuckovic was born a psychopath with pronounced anti-social tendencies (aggression, tension, impulsiveness, a tendency to quickly satisfy his needs).

Jovan Dulovic

 

Macedonia: Clashing in Tetovo

"Everything in Macedonia is still fragile and nothing that has been done so far is strong enough to prevent its fall," Macedonian prime minister Branko Crvenkovski said last October. Just months later, he had an opportunity to see his prediction come true.

Macedonia was shaken strongly on Sunday. The tremor came from Tetovo where police and demonstrators clashed over the opening of an ethnic Albanian university. One person was killed and 28 others wounded.

Macedonia's ethnic Albanian political party leaders blamed Crvenkovski and president Kiro Gligorov for the latest inter-ethnic tension. They said the two politicians did nothing to finally resolve the serious problem of Albanian language education.

The dispute over the Tetovo ethnic university started in January when the police sealed the rectorate and the government ruled that the university is unconstitutional. The Albanians responded by saying they were going to open it come what may. It soon became clear that Macedonia's Albanian population was united over the issue and even their arguing leaders got together.

Despite assurances by the Albanians that they don't want a political university, many analysts in Skoplje saw a strong leaning towards demands for full Albanian political and state identity in the republic.

The opening of the university was calm on February 15. A crowd of several thousand gathered including Albanian leaders and guests (the most prominent guest was Joseph Diogardi, head of the Albanian lobby in the US). Rector Fadil Suleimani said the Tetovo university is "a contribution to a rapprochement between Albanians and Macedonians".

Two days later, that rapprochement happened when Macedonian police clashed with demonstrators who were protesting the closing of the university. Taunts turned into stone throwing and the police responded with tear gas. Finally, shots rang out. Suleimani was arrested. Former congressman Diogardi was asked to leave Skoplje as soon as possible because he had abused Macedonia's hospitality.

Inter-ethnic conflicts and disputes won't be easy to calm into a semblance of peace and that was shown by vandalism in a Moslem (Albanian) graveyard in Kumanovo when 35 tombstones were broken one night.

International mediators intervened immediately to calm things down, insisting that the education issue has to be solved under Macedonian law. Max Van Der Stuel, the OSCE high commissioner for minority issues, insisted on that point. He came to Skoplje immediately for a meeting with Gligorov. The Macedonian president claims the "escalation over the Albanian university is the result of political not education goals and is aimed at radicalizing the Albanian issue in the region".

Albanian party leaders, meanwhile, decided to freeze the Tetovo university until agreement is reached with the authorities. They'll probably also freeze their participation in parliament. Albanian parliament deputy Arben Jaferi said the "main motive of the crisis in Macedonia is the tendency of one nation to dominate another". He added that everything Milosevic is trying to gain through war is being gained through laws by the Macedonian authorities with the same final outcome.

The Tetovo clash has placed a serious burden on Gligorov's concept of harmonizing inter-ethnic relations and the implementation of international standards of civil rights and nationality laws. He keeps repeating that his state opted for the harder way to resolve inter-ethnic relations. Some radical Albanian leaders, like Menduh Taci, claim Gligorov is presenting a false image of himself as a politician who is securing stability while in fact raising inter-ethnic tension.

Despite Gligorov's commitment to harmony, Macedonian-Albanian relations have been going downhill for years. Some analysts say the ethnic distance between Albanians and Macedonians is even greater than in Bosnia before the war erupted. They also made horrific speculation of a new potential war in the south of the Balkans.

 

Slovenia: Relations With Yugoslavia

This spring could bring some shy thaw in Slovenia-Yugoslavia relations if the latest signals from the Slovenian foreign ministry can be trusted.

A debate on the issue by a foreign relations committee and a number of steps taken by Slovenia prove something is changing. "It's high time to do something about it, if it isn't too late already," a ranking Slovenian diplomat said.

A recent speech by Slovenian National party leader Zmago Jelincic is just the tip of the iceberg. Jelincic condemned Slovenia's foreign policy as wrong and added that Slovenia should have more contact with "England, France, the Russians and Serbs" instead of contacts with Zagreb, Vienna and Rome.

His statement was motivated by an initiative launched by the Catholic archbishop of Belgrade, Slovenian France Perko. Perko asked for a normalization of Slovenia-FR Yugoslavia relations and the opening of a Slovenian bureau in Belgrade at a ceremony for newly appointed Slovenian foreign minister Zoran Thaler. Thaler didn't object but he said he should hear the voice of the public before taking that decision.

The wave of good will in Slovenia came from other fields as well. A few months ago, parliament (in accord with UN resolutions) partially suspended their interpretation of the sanctions against the FRY (air traffic hasn't been restored because of a clash between JAT and Adria). Serbian musicians sold out concerts in Ljubljana and Maribor and there were some sports events. The Slovenian government also lifted a strict ban on movement for cars with FRY registrations.

Slovenia also drastically reduced the list of people (mainly former Yugoslav army officers whose families live in Slovenia) who were banned from entering the country from 770 to 81 people.

The reasons for the change in approach towards Belgrade vary. Undoubtedly the FRY's changed role after the easing of the sanctions has a lot to do with it. Many commentators feel that Slovenia, because of its problems with Croatia, had to improve relations with the FRY long ago to put pressure on Croatia which is going to become very sensitive to its rear after the cancellation of the UNPROFOR mandate and will want relations with its northern neighbor to be as good as possible.

That gives Slovenians the chance to speed up the resolving of disputed bilateral issues. Analysts said 61% of the 23 agreements signed with Croatia have not been ratified by Zagreb.

But the main reason for rapprochement with Belgrade are property issues. The Yugoslav national bank is an important element in resolving Slovenia's debts with commercial banks.