Croatia sends diplomatic note to Montenegro: Return property in Tivat and Dobrota

Croatia has sent a diplomatic note to Montenegro warning that it is seeking to resolve an issue that is equally important for the Croatian community in Montenegro, but also for Montenegro itself if it wants to join the European Union (EU) - to finally return the property that it seized from members of the indigenous Croatian minority through various machinations and strange entries in cadastral and other plans during the aggression against Croatia, the Croatian Večernji List writes today.

The media outlet states that these are 51 families from Tivat who to this day have never received any compensation for the confiscated property that has been in their families for centuries.

Večernji list states that in the Dobrota area, Croatian families had their property confiscated in the 1990s.

Croatian media outlet Jutarnji list reports that the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, strongly emphasizing the need to resolve the issue of property restitution to members of the Croatian national minority in Montenegro.

The media outlet states that this is a long-standing problem for Croatian families in Boka Kotorska, whose property was illegally seized, and court proceedings have never been concluded in their favor.

The note states that restitution is one of the key benchmarks in Chapter 23 of Montenegro's accession negotiations with the European Union (EU) and that return procedures must be carried out non-discriminatory, within a reasonable time and in accordance with European standards.

Particular attention is paid to the cases of 51 Croatian families from Tivat, whose land was confiscated in 1959, although the courts in Kotor and Podgorica finally recognized their ownership, but to this day they have not managed to register their rights.

As Mirjana Tripković-Pantar, a representative of the families, said, their properties are worth more than 250 million euros, and together with the property of other Croatian families, the total value of the illegally seized property exceeds half a billion euros, according to Jutarnji list.

The media outlet also states that the cases of Croatian families from Kotor, Dobrota, Kavači and Škaljari, whose real estate was illegally transferred to third parties during the 1990s, are equally alarming.

The Croatian Ministry expects Montenegro to immediately take steps to return property and provide fair compensation, and announces that it will monitor the issue within the framework of bilateral dialogue and Montenegro's accession process to the European Union.

The Dabinović family, once prominent shipowners from Kotor, stands out in particular, whose historic palace "Kokot's Tower", where 13 generations lived, was also illegally alienated and left to decay, according to Jutarnji list.

Advisor to Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman, Vanda Babić Galić, previously told Nedjeljni Jutarnji that this case is a prime example of systemic pressure and discouragement of the Croatian minority in Montenegro through the judicial system.

"The Government of the Republic of Croatia will not silently observe the looting and culturicide, but will do everything to protect the rights of the indigenous Croatian minority in Montenegro," she said.

Grlić Radman recently spoke during his stay in Montenegro about the issue of "the stolen property of the Croats of Boka Kotorska, especially Tivat and Dobrota".

"There are verdicts and those verdicts must be implemented, so the owners whose property was seized must be registered, and we will persist in that in order to protect ownership. Property is inalienable, universal, no one has the right to seize someone else's property and enter into possession of someone else's property," said Grlić Radman on October 4 in Morinj, where he and Montenegrin Foreign Minister Ervin Ibrahimović laid wreaths in front of the memorial plaque on the site of the former Morinj camp.

Grlić Radman said the same day at the 2BS Forum in Budva, "I didn't know that 90 percent of the plots in Dobrota and Tivat were seized, someone else registered them.

"It cannot happen that this cannot be registered if there are verdicts," said Grlić Radman at the time.