In Montenegro, history is used every year to downplay current issues, but no resolution has changed anything in the facts, so it won't do it now either - a civil activist assessed for "Vijesti" Stefan Djukic.
Commenting on last night's decision of the Assembly to adopt the Resolution on Genocide in the system of the Jasenovac, Dachau and Mauthausen camps, he said that Montenegro has reached a schizophrenic situation, that the smartest thing to do is what its parliament will deal with - determining according to the past, which, he says, is nothing changes.
"Nothing changed in Montenegro when the resolutions on Srebrenica, Velica and Doli were passed, nothing will change now either. Not one nation, nor is it possible, will suddenly become collectively responsible for anything - only some minds that reason wrongly they can talk about the collectivism of guilt, evil or anything," Đukić points out.
According to him, this is manipulation of the current situation and emotions, because, he says, it is easiest to use victims for everyday political points.
Last night, 41 members of the parliamentary majority voted for the adoption of the Resolution on Genocide in the Jasenovac, Dachau and Mauthausen camp system. He was opposed by a member of the ruling Albanian Alliance Ilir Chapuni, and the majority of deputies did not vote Miodrag Laković i Tonći Janović (Movement Europe Now) and representatives of the Albanian Forum Artan Chobi i Nikola Camaj.
During the voting, MPs from the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Social Democrats (SD), Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI), Bosniak Party and Civic Movement (GP) URA were not in the hall.
President of the Assembly and leader of the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) Andrija Mandic, on whose initiative the resolution was included in the agenda of yesterday's session, said that he was proud that it was adopted and that no one "from outside" interfered in it.
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The resolution originally referred only to Jasenovac, so that Mandić and the leader of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knezevic yesterday, before the beginning of the session, submitted amendments, so it was extended to the German Dachau camp and the Austrian Mauthausen.
The representative of the United Montenegro did not agree with that Vladimir Dobričanin who said that the story of Jasenovac is being "watered down" and that Dachau and Mauthausen, which are part of the Holocaust, are being reduced to the level of genocide.
"Again, due to some political interest, we are adding... We have an obligation to Jasenovac, my people have... Why didn't we add Bratunac, Kravica... to Srebenica?", asked Dobričanin, who did not vote for the adoption of the resolution.
And Đukić says that the question remains why Dachau and Mauthausen were included in the resolution, why Auschwitz or some other camp - in Hungary, then occupied Serbia - was not included...
"A thousand questions are being asked and it is simply unclear what was intended with it, with the entire resolution and the current version that we received... And if it served for some points, it is obvious that everything was done without excessive thinking and consideration," he says. he.
Đukić says that the Assembly, although it has historians and educated people, is not a gathering of academics, nor a scientific conference.
"Why did our politicians decide to deal with it, to regulate the past, to try to control some narratives, to inform their political opponents in this way - this only speaks to their level of awareness," he stated.
As he added, since 2021, when the Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica was passed, it was clear that it would be used as a precedent, to make various resolutions.
"The opposition wanted to harm the then prime minister (Zdravka) Krivokapić and his ministers, they partially succeeded in that, but they succeeded in opening that box - so if it can be about Srebrenica, then it can be about Velica, Doli, Jasenovac, Šahovići... Then it is logical to ask the question why not the genocide of the Armenians , Indians, Aborigines... We also had that resolution about 1918, so when we have that - why not also have 1941, 1879, whatever year you think of, you can put it in," he stated.
He believes that it was naive that those who first started with the resolutions thought that they had a numerical moment and an opportunity to influence "what may and may not be said" and that they did not expect that the other side, when they gathered enough number of hands, also vote their resolutions.
Again about Chetniks, partisans, Ustashas...
During the debate on the resolution, which lasted for about four hours, MPs from both the government and the opposition lectured each other, as well as the citizens, about the Chetniks, Partisans, and Ustasha, each from their own perspective. Some very vividly described the suffering of the victims in Jasenovac and other camps on the territory of the then Independent State of Croatia (NDH), who were "cooked in ovens, put on daggers, raped... just because they were Jews, Serbs, Roma and Croats who opposed the Ustasha ideology at the time".
The opposition strongly opposed the adoption of the resolution, stating that it was only a response to the resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica, which was adopted by the United Nations on May 23, and Montenegro voted for it. They also warned of a possible response from Croatia, which previously sent a protest to Montenegro due to the announcement of the adoption of the resolution on Jasenovac.
The Croatian "Večernji list" announced yesterday that there is a possibility that Croatia will withdraw its ambassador from Podgorica, as well as that it was being considered that the deputies who voted for the resolution should be declared persona non grata. When asked if this is true, the adviser to the Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanda Babić Galić she told "Vijesti" that they do not respond to media speculations.
"We do not respond to media speculations, but be sure that Croatia has the right answer," she said.
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The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia announced last night that it regrets that Montenegro decided to ignore the calls of their country and "do not politicize the victims of Jasenovac" and do not take steps that could have a negative impact on bilateral relations and Podgorica's European path.
They said that they expect that Montenegro will prioritize determining responsibility for the crimes committed by Montenegrin citizens during the aggression against Croatia.
In his introductory speech, Mandić said that the resolution is not to anyone's detriment, and that it can be to the benefit of all citizens.
"Montenegro will become the first country on the planet to condemn the genocide in Jasenovac, and that will serve to honor those who may not vote for the resolution, and I invite them to be part of the great history of Montenegro," he said.
MP of DPS Andrija Nikolić he said that for them the Nazi, racist and genocidal character of the Ustasha regime, as well as the crimes committed in the Jasenovac camp, is indisputable.
"However, the resolution does not state who committed the crime, leaving room for manipulation as to who is the culprit. Everything points to the fact that it is a deliberate manipulation where Croatia and its people want to be brought under the Ustasha regime," he said.
Leader of the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI) Adrian Vuksanovic he said that Jasenovac is the biggest shame for the Croatian people, and that the first to say that was "cardinal Alojzije Stepinac".
"Is there a leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) today who would say the same about Srebrenica? Stepinac said that in 1943 (Anto) Pavelic, and the Ustasha killed his brother. A large number of Serbs wanted to testify for him," claims Vuksanović.
"Spajić deceived the Croats"
Leader of GP URA Dritan Abazovic, stated that Mandić "chosen the first between the armchair and defending the interests of the Serbs", and as compensation proposed a resolution on Jasenovac "so that all the noise and anger of the Serbian people due to the resolution on Srebrenica would not be blamed on him".
"I do not agree that (the president of Serbia) said this Aleksandar Vučić - he told his MPs about the same resolution to exercise restraint," said Abazović.
He claims to be the prime minister Milojko Spajic "deceived the Croats, because, as Nacional announced, he told them that he would not vote for the resolution".
Milan Knežević replied that no one had deceived them like Abazović, "and with a smile."
"That's really why you are a top politician. Mandic and I may sometimes have different points of view on how to reach the goal, and the Assembly has shown how to reach the goal. The essence is not in coalitions, but in ideologies," he said.
He said that the resolution is a sign, not of memory, but of obligations to the past and resistance to the "relativization of the genocide in Jasenovac".
"Because year after year, quasi-historians in Croatia try to reduce the number of Serbian victims, and Jasenovac tries to present itself as an entertainment and cultural complex where Serbs, Jews and Roma performed Schiller plays, translated Goethe, and our children danced on carousel of the NDH and the Third Reich," said Knežević.
The opposition criticized Mandić for violating Article 94 of the Rules of Procedure by putting a resolution that was included in the agenda only yesterday as the first item on the agenda. They reminded that according to that article, new items that are included in the agenda are included in the agenda in the order determined by the President of the Assembly, announcing the established agenda, "with the fact that, as a rule, new items cannot be considered on the first day of work sessions". Mandic said that he has the right to make an exception, because in Article 94 of the Rules of Procedure it says "as a rule", which, as he stated, means that there can be exceptions, which, as he says, there were in the previous period.
Krivokapić: Dirty work for the account of Belgrade
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ranko Krivokapić, assessed yesterday that by adopting the resolution on Jasenovac, the government was performing "the dirty tasks of the government in Belgrade".
According to the Hina agency, on the sidelines of the Dubrovnik Forum, he called the government in Podgorica "the third government of the Church of Serbia", saying that Montenegro is "more than ever dependent" on Belgrade and the "Serbian-Russian world".
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Krivokapić stated that Podgorica is "doing a dirty job for the Serbian will", adding that Montenegro did not pass a resolution on the Serbian annexation of Montenegro, on the Christmas uprising "which proportionally to the population had many times more victims than Croatia in the Homeland War", nor on " the flight of the Serbian army while Montenegro was guarding its back at Mojkovac", whereby Serbia "destroyed the statehood of Montenegro".
"Instead of those resolutions, we are adopting the resolution on Jasenovac. It is clear that this is a way to open a new front with Croatia at the request of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, under whose rule Serbia did not adopt such a document," Krivokapić said.
Croatia: Make war crimes your priority
The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia assessed that the intention of adopting the resolution was not to build a culture of remembrance and reconciliation, "but to instrumentalize the memory of the victims of Jasenovac for the short-term political goals of the initiators of the resolution."
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That ministry says that, in accordance with the EU's Common Position for Chapter 23, Montenegro must show progress and results related to the prosecution of war crimes, including determining responsibility at high levels, resolving cases of missing persons, as well as the issue of compensation for victims and the protection of national minorities. and their rights.
"Croatia expects that Montenegro will prioritize solving the issue of determining responsibility for the crimes committed by Montenegrin citizens during the aggression against the Republic of Croatia in the 1s. This especially includes those committed during the attack on Dubrovnik that began on October 1991, 1992 and the siege of the city. which lasted until May 350, as well as the crimes committed against Croatian citizens in Montenegro, including the Morinj camp where more than 1991 Croatian citizens were detained from September 1992 to August XNUMX, and the issue of fair compensation for all former camp inmates."
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