Defenders of Dubrovnik, former prisoners of the Montenegrin Morinj camp, are involved, beyond their knowledge and will, in the election campaign for the local elections that will be held in Montenegro this weekend. Our mayor Mato Franković was also present at the ceremonial participation in the Montenegrin local elections. He and the Dubrovnik victims of the Morinj camp were tricked by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman and the Minister of Croatian Veterans Tomo Medved.
The two knew very well what they were going to write on that board. They knew that neither the Government of Montenegro nor the municipality of Kotor made the decision to place the memorial plaque, so the memorial plaque is practically illegal. And they knew that it was set up at the initiative of the long-term coalition partners of today's president, Milo Đukanović, whose Democratic Party of Socialists is currently in the opposition.
Here is what is disputed.
On the plaque placed in the presence of our high state delegation, our mayor and our civilian and military victims who died in that camp, it is written - "We remember the crimes committed to disgrace the name and spirit of Montenegro".
Therefore, these crimes were not committed in an attempt to conquer a part of Croatian territory (of which Montenegro still disputes Prevlaka and the sea belt), but the crimes - and the plaque says that they are Greater Serbian - were committed to harm Montenegro. Which is absolutely not true! On October 22, 1991, the current president, then prime minister of Montenegro explained to the readers of Pobjeda that - "Montenegro was attacked by the Ustasha".
He also said that "once and for all, the error of the communist cartographers should be corrected" and by the way, he was disgusted with chess because of the Croatian chessboard. Those words, and the fact that during the war a total of 60 thousand Montenegrin citizens participated in the attack on Dubrovnik, that 300 of them died during the conquest of Dubrovnik, tells us that the aggression mentioned by this plaque was not made to harm Montenegro, but Dubrovnik itself.
Đukanović's long-time wingmen, Krivokapić and Konjević, spoke to themselves with this memorial plaque, as nicely established by journalist Jovana Kolarić on the portal nomad.ba.
This is where ministers Grlić Radman and Medved made a mistake.
Croatia has an embassy and a consulate in Montenegro. Therefore, our ministers are very well versed in the context in which the memorial plaque is placed. They knowingly entered into a diplomatic scandal that escalated this week with the decision of the Directorate of Inspection Affairs to remove the memorial plaque. They risked not to support the SDP leaders, who are close to Đukanović, because - admittedly with reason - they believe that with the last two governments, Montenegro has taken a deep step into the Great Serbian embrace of Aleksandar Vučić, that is, Vladimir Putin.
There is no doubt that it is in Croatia's interest that Montenegro not be on that side, but that it be a member of NATO (which it already is) and the EU (which it won't be for a long time). But that is no reason for Croatia to interfere in the political elections of another country in that way, even at the level of local elections. How did Tomo Medved, who, according to Milo Đukanović, was the general of the Ustasha army that attacked Montenegro, forget whose government signed the mobilization orders in Montenegro in the 90s?
Đukanović took the opportunity to distance himself from Milošević, his "second eye in his head". Đukanović did realize the idea of an independent Montenegro, but it was the idea of people whom he called traitors until then. Đukanović also brought Montenegro into NATO, but he stumbled when adopting EU democratic and legal standards wherever he could.
He is a pragmatic and wise politician, as Radman and Medved would like to become. Yes, he expressed regret for the attack on Dubrovnik, which we interpreted as an apology because the circumstances at that time in Montenegro, which was separating from the Serbian overcoat, were like that. In many ways, he changed the image of Montenegro for the better, but democracy, the rule of law, and the free market were not tools dear to him at all.
Even today, Montenegro is not a finished country (just as BiH is not a finished conflict), but that country must finally stand up with its own forces. If she relies on Grlić Radman, her prognosis is more than bad.
The author is the editor-in-chief of Dubrovnik Vjesnik
Bonus video:
