“War” with diplomatic notes between Croatia and Serbia continues.
Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovač said on Friday evening that Croatia had refused to receive a protest note from Serbia for burning its flag during the celebrations of the anniversary of the operation Storm in Knin, because “inflation of diplomatic notes is creating a mess”, reports Večernji List on August 6, 2016.
It was the fifth protest note that the authorities in Belgrade sent to Zagreb in the last ten days, which accuse Croatia of rehabilitating the Ustasha movement and glorification of convicted terrorists, and accuse Croatian courts for their decisions “aimed against the Serbian people”.
The police reported that they had arrested two people for to the burning of the Serbian flag which took place on Friday in Knin.
Kovač said that the Ministry was aware of the note which was sent by fax, but they refused to officially receive it. “This is obviously a Serbian strategy, and they want to create an impression that Croatia has no credibility in the field of the rule of law. We are a country that is credible, and Serbia should demonstrate that it is also credible”, said Kovač in Knin. “They should not direct attention away from their obligations which should be implemented in the context of negotiations on EU membership”, said the Foreign Minister.
Commenting on criticism by his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dačić, who protested about the speech made by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović in Knin on Friday, Kovač urged Serbia “not to comment on the speech which was excellent”. “The diagnosis in the speech was correct, since the President said that the operation Storm was an operation for the liberation of occupied Croatian territory”, he said. “We have defeated the idea of Greater Serbia in Croatia, and this was an important contribution for a part of the Serbian people to get rid of the virus of Greater Serbia”, said Kovač.
