ZAGREB, 4 Sept, 2021 - The biggest challenges faced by the ethnic Croats in Serbia are exclusion from decision making and the policy of ignoring or denying crimes committed against them in the 1990s, a round table on the Croats in Serbia's Vojvodina province was told in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek on Saturday.
The fact that the Croats in Serbia are still excluded from decision-making processes raises a number of concerns because they cannot deal with their problems institutionally, said Tomislav Žigmanov, director of the Culture Institute of Vojvodina Croats. The needs and interests of the Croat community are instead addressed ad hoc, he added.
The authorities in Serbia still ignore or deny the crimes committed against Vojvodina Croats in 1990s, notably the fact that "they were the victims of ethic violence, persecution and murder, and that 30 years on there is still no act or monument commemorating the most tragic period for the Vojvodina Croats," Žigmanov said.
He also warned of the very strong state interventionism in the identity dispute over the Bunjevci community and their being part of the Croatian people, which he said is a scientific truth.
"Unfortunately, we do not have enough power to oppose this, and we expect Croatia to continue asserting its interests when it comes to our cultural heritage," Žigmanov said.
Zvonko Milas, state secretary at the Central State Office for Croats Abroad, said that the biggest problem for the Croats was that Serbian institutions have still not accepted what had happened in the past, "all the crimes against Croats, terrorism, killings and the departure of tens of thousands of Croats from those areas."
The Croatian government and the Central State Office will be partners in raising public awareness both in Serbia and in Croatia, where people should also know what our ethnic kin went through and what they need today, Milas said.
The deputy head of Osijek-Baranja County, Mato Lukić, said that about 70 percent of Croats had moved out of Serbia in the last 50 years, and that the majority of Vojvodina Croats had been expelled.
"The Croats in Vojvodina are often stigmatised, which is one the reasons for their departure," Lukić said.
Lukić said that there would be a population census in Serbia next year and that it would be good if the Croats identified themselves as Croats. He said that there were reports indicating that some of them did not want to identify themselves as Croats in order to avoid possible problems.
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