Serbia, Croatia “see history differently”

Source: Beta

ZAGREB -- Croatian President Ivo Josipović has said that it is unrealistic to expect Serbia and Croatia to see some aspects of history the same way.

Ante Gotovina, Ivo Josipović and Mladen Markač (Beta/Hina)

He told Zagreb-based Večernji list that he believed that time would come when the two countries would have similar views of political aspects of war.
“There will be viewpoints we maybe won’t be able to agree with but we should find that minimal consensus and that it a will to have peace, reconciliation and respect of every victim,” the Croatia’s president said commenting on the acquittal of Croat Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač.

When asked whether Croatia “will ever get to hear a true apology from Serbia for its aggressive policy of war”, he said:

“Permanent peace means readiness to apologize, to accept responsibility and honor every victim”.

Josipović said that a society needed to mature enough in a democratic and every other sense in order to make certain gestures.

He added that Montenegro had apologized to Croatia and that former Serbian President Boris Tadić had condemned Slobodan Milošević’s policy, “which was an important gesture and a contribution to reconciliation at the time”.

The Croatian president said that the Hague Tribunal’s verdict showed that there was no joint criminal enterprise and that Croat leaders led by then President Franjo Tuđman had not planned to expel the Serbs.

He noted that the indictment against Gotovina and Markač was a result of “unwillingness to react to the crimes that did happen in Croatia on time“.

Josipović said that Croatia needed to recognize all the victims and continue with positive processes of reconciliation in Croatia and the whole region.

He received the two acquitted generals after they had arrived to Zagreb and said that they “carried the weight of somebody else’s crime”.