[RSK]

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIAN KRAJINA – IN EXILE
11.080 Земун, Магистратски трг 3, Serbia
Тел/факс: 3077-028, vladarsk@gmail.com -
Бр. 1458/12 - 14. јул 2012.

A N N O N O U N C E M E N T
Western-European resolution on behalf of the separation of Vojvodina from Serbia 1878

In Serbian governmental and intellectual circles, one has been acting upon anti-Serb decisions by the Vatican and Western-Europe, which were confirmed and passed at the Berlin congress in 1878. One of these resolutions contained the preventing of the unification of Vojvodina with central Serbia. This may sound as an invention, but it is not. In fact, Austro-Hungary was a multinational country which comprised German, Italian, Hungarian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovakian, Romanian and Ukrainian territories. Therefore it had been foreseen that the possible establishment of a Serbian state could include the unification of Serb territories on the Balkans and from Pannonia. So, in 1878 preconditions were established for the disintegration of Serbia into decentralized states. Obviously, the CPY (Communist Party of Yugoslavia) incorporated this aim into its political platform. At the 4th congress of the CPY at Dresden, on 12 November in 1928, this party introduced the obligation of the creation of the following states: Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Vojvodina and Montenegro. At that point, the main secretary of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia were Jovan Martinovic and Djuro Djakovic. Such an anti-Serb initiative did not occur in communist Yugoslavia only, however, also in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The fact of the matter is, that the establishment of so called ‘Banovina Croatia’ took place in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1939, when prince Pavle, of course under pressured of Germany and Italy, allowed the annexation of Serb historic and ethnic territories, such as Krajina and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Croatia. These Serb territories were unfortunately by Serb historian Vaso Cubrilovic marked as Croatian territories. Nowadays, Serb governmental organs and intellectuals are carrying out this old decision from the Berlin congress, claiming that Serbia’s northern province of Vojvodina is the richest part of Serbia (which as a matter of fact is a fraud) and therefore should achieve a high degree of autonomy.

Will the Serb intellectual elite come to its senses? Let them read first a book on the Berlin congress at which was aimed to:
1: the establish a non-Serbian nation in the part of old Serbia, Macedonia;
2: the establish a non-Serbian nation in the part of old Serbia, Kosovo;
3: assimilate Serbs of Krajina and Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Croatian and Bosniak nation;
4: the establish a non-Serbian Orthodox church of Macedonia and Montenegro;
5: to prevent the unification between Serbia and Montenegro

The Republic of Serbian Krajina
– Government in Exile

[Magnetonium]

Vojvodina used to be part of Hungary, and before that, Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia was given that land as a gift when the Western powers severely punished and heavily divided Hungary for its communist aspirations in 1919 or 1920 or whatever. A huge portion of native Hungarian speakers were left outside its borders. Serbia, Romania, Slovakia were the main beneficiaries. Even today there is some tension left over, because not all Hungarian speakers have assimilated and some retain their Hungarian language and culture.

Also I am a bit confused about the date of the Congress, November 2012 - it hasn't happened yet! You're saying like it happened.

What is happening today with Serbia is a lot similar to what happened with Hungary nearly a century ago. You just can't fuck with Western Europe. If you dare stand up to them, try to humiliate them, they will beat your ass and divide you against any logic and ignoring any precedents that may result in. Lucky for you, Vojvodina today is populated with majority Serbians, so chance that it will be carved into a new country are very unlikely.

Sorry to hear about the fate of your Krajina region, but nothing will bring it back. It was your fault for losing it. You took a big gamble by trying to essentially create and independent Serbian state within Croatia, and you lost the gamble. Nothing will bring that back, because many Serbs have since left the country. And ironically then you talk about separation of Vojvodina? Is this some Greater Serbia thing you are talking about here? Can you elaborate on this, please.

You see, while Canada and UK have their own big issues of pro-independence groups trying to carve new and independent states (among other Western examples) - to which they oppose, but for the sake of divide-and-conquer they support the creation of Kosovo as an independent state. And so far it is very obvious that Kosovo is a failed state, and cannot be run on its own without heavy Western subsidies and policing.

to prevent the unification between Serbia and Montenegro

In case you don't know, there was a referendum a few years back when people of Montenegro voted for independence.

[RSK]

Also I am a bit confused about the date of the Congress, November 2012 - it hasn't happened yet! You're saying like it happened.

Thanks for noticing it. It is November 1928, in stead of 2012. I made a mistake, during the translation. I am sorry.

[RSK]

of course under pressurеd of Germany and Italy

Pressure*

[Aekos]

In case you don't know, there was a referendum a few years back when people of Montenegro voted for independence.

I'd say it was the busloads of people brought in from Bosnia and Kosovo who voted for independence, but the hostility of my Montenegrin relatives to anything Serbian lends credence to the idea that the vote might in fact have been legitimate.

[Magnetonium]

I'd say it was the busloads of people brought in from Bosnia and Kosovo who voted for independence, but the hostility of my Montenegrin relatives to anything Serbian lends credence to the idea that the vote might in fact have been legitimate.

There is no proof to that, just speculation. Sounds like Serbia's determination to keep Montenegro in its union.

I think it was best for both countries that they are now independent. Now Serbia can focus and build good relations with its receptive neighbour. There's no hostility between Serbia and Montenegro. Nationalism has not ruined the relations between their peoples because they avoided going down the same path as Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo. Conflict only creates and builds more hatred and rarely solves ethnic problems.

I think if Belgrade just let countries decide their future in 1991 without resorting to violence, today we would have much better relations between nations.

[Aekos]

I think if Belgrade just let countries decide their future in 1991 without resorting to violence, today we would have much better relations between nations.

Given the ethnic tensions and the history of barbaric outbursts of internecine violence, this outcome is very unlikely. The rights of Croatian Serbs would've been stripped (now a moot point) and Bosnian Serbs would have had no right to self-determination (that they now enjoy, after a long and bloody conflict).

I have no hope for the region as a whole -- the best people can do is find ways to migrate westward.

[RSK]

Vojvodina used to be part of Hungary, and before that, Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia was given that land as a gift when the Western powers severely punished and heavily divided Hungary for its communist aspirations in 1919 or 1920 or whatever. A huge portion of native Hungarian speakers were left outside its borders. Serbia, Romania, Slovakia were the main beneficiaries. Even today there is some tension left over, because not all Hungarian speakers have assimilated and some retain their Hungarian language and culture.

You are right up to a point. Vojvodina used to be part of Hungary, however, that does not give rights to Hungary to possess that territory baring in mind that Hungary was an occupier of Vojvodina. In addition documents from Austria and Austro-Hungary provide us with important data which certainly can leave a sobering effect upon the current citizens of Hungary. The fact of the matter is that during the occupation by Austria, Hungary and Austro-Hungary the state policies of these imperial empires aimed to reduce the % of Serb population as much as possible. To achieve that, Serbs were submitted to crimes as forced conversions, assimilations and even ethnic of cleansing. As soon as the danger of the Turkish expansion towards the borders of the Catholic Austrian Empire declined, the Austrian authorities immediately abolished the rights which the Serbs were entitled to, which unleashed a climate in which Serbs had no other choice than to start feeding for example to Russia in order to avoid assimilations, etc. Hence, Serbian populated territories were submitted to forms of denationalization and assimilation during the occupations by Hungary, Austria, Venice, etc. Therefore, to state that a Serb historic and ethnic territory such as Vojvodina actually belongs to Hungary only because it used to occupy it at a certain point in history, is not valid.

In Austro-Hungary in 1907 a law was passed, which can explain the root cause of the crimes executed against the Serbs on their national and historic territories. Austro-Hungary occupied Slovenia, Croatia, Krajina, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Vojvodina and parts of today’s Rumania. Within Austro-Hungary, Hungary enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, possessed its own parliament and occupied the entirely the territories of the Krajina Serbs. Then Hungary introduced measures compared to the assimilation programs which occurred for example in Croatia, such as converting Serbs into other nations etc.. Nowadays, such acts are characterized by the UN as crimes of genocide. Hence, Hungary converted and assimilated Serbs as had happened in Nazi Croatia during WW2 and between 1990 and 1995. Throughout the middle ages up to the 20th century, Serbs were confronted with such colonial measures. The former Hungarian minister Aponi mentions and describes these occasions in his documents. Based on his proposal ( in 1907) Hungary implemented laws on its national minorities, calling for the assimilation of the national minorities (Serbs) into Hungarians. One of the preconditions of this law was the banishment of the Serbian language in Serbian schools in Hungary. Due to such measures, the Serbian children could not learn the Serbian language and alienate from their Serbian roots. A goal was set up whose purpose was to assimilate the Serbian inhabitants of Hungary into Hungarians during the upcoming 40 years (until 1947). In response, the Serbs organized a congress against dedicated against this policy on 31 March 1907 at the place Zrenjanin.

Hence, many today's Hungarian territories used to be populated with Serbs prior to the introduction of colonial measures which led to the assimilation of Serbs into Hungarian, which was the official state policy of Austro-Hungary however very similar to the conduct of Nazi-Germany and its fascist satellites on the Balkans, in WW2.

What is happening today with Serbia is a lot similar to what happened with Hungary nearly a century ago. You just can't fuck with Western Europe. If you dare stand up to them, try to humiliate them, they will beat your ass and divide you against any logic and ignoring any precedents that may result in. Lucky for you, Vojvodina today is populated with majority Serbians, so chance that it will be carved into a new country are very unlikely.

What has been done with Serbia is a result of the continuation of the traditional colonial politic which nowadays is used (continued) by the leading EU and NATO nations which as a matter of fact destroyed and divided Yugoslavia (Russia's gateway to the Balkans) into marginal states where they installed puppet governments and so deprived them of their sovereignty.

Sorry to hear about the fate of your Krajina region, but nothing will bring it back. It was your fault for losing it. You took a big gamble by trying to essentially create and independent Serbian state within Croatia, and you lost the gamble. Nothing will bring that back, because many Serbs have since left the country. And ironically then you talk about separation of Vojvodina? Is this some Greater Serbia thing you are talking about here? Can you elaborate on this, please.

The establishment of the Republic of Serbian Krajina was a result of the collapse of the former Socialist Republic of Croatia which was in 1945 by the anti-fascist forces created as a federal unit within the federation of Yugoslavia and was according to the Yugoslav as well as S. R. Croatia's constitution defined as a bi-national state comprising Croat and Serb national territories. Therefore in 1991, both nations: Croats and Krajina Serbs founded their own national states based on the right to self-determination which applied to both nations when the former common state (Socialist Republic of Croatia) collapsed due to the fact that the Serbs of S. R. Croatia were deprived of their constituent rights which was a result of the unlawfully adaptation of the S. R. Croatia's constitution by the Croatian separatist regime headed by Ustasha-sympathizer Franjo Tudjman in 1990.

[Magnetonium]

Therefore in 1991, both nations: Croats and Krajina Serbs founded their own national states based on the right to self-determination which applied to both nations when the former common state (Socialist Republic of Croatia) collapsed due to the fact that the Serbs of S. R. Croatia were deprived of their constituent rights which was a result of the unlawfully adaptation of the S. R. Croatia's constitution by the Croatian separatist regime headed by Ustasha-sympathizer Franjo Tudjman in 1990.

You're joking, right? I guess you're not aware of the fact that Krajina Serbs were involved in ethnic cleansing and murder of Croat civilians while in the pursuit of their nationalistic agenda. They went into Croat villages and forced people out, killed some, pillaged others.

Serbs didn't found their own state in Croatia. Croatia was a state within Yugoslavia and Krajina was just a mythical Serbian creation designed to split Croatia into Serbian and Croatian entities. Ethnic Serbs were a minority in Croatia at the time, unsatisfied with the fact that Yugoslavia was crumbling. They didn't want to live under Croatian regime. So instead of taking a political route and negotiate, they took up arms and the gamble failed big time.

[RSK]

You're joking, right? I guess you're not aware of the fact that Krajina Serbs were involved in ethnic cleansing and murder of Croat civilians while in the pursuit of their nationalistic agenda. They went into Croat villages and forced people out, killed some, pillaged others.

You are right however up to a point. On the other hand, the situation in Croatia escalated when Franjo Tudjman arrived into power in 1990. Tudjman did not want to secede Croatia from Yugoslavia according to the constitution. In other words, he did not want to separate Croatia from Yugoslavia in a peaceful and democratic manner, since in such way he could not deprive the Croatian Serbs of their constituent rights and convert Croatia into a single national state, however S. R. Croatia was a bi-national state. Tudjman started violating the rights of Krajina Serbs in 1990 which was a huge provocation similar to the conduct of the leader of Nazi Croatia Ante Pavelic who in 1941 with support from Hitler also unlawfully separated Croatia from Yugoslavia by also abolishing the constituent rights of the Krajina Serbs. At the same time, Tudjman's paramilitary forces launched attacks on Serbs and the Yugoslav army throughout Croatia while Croatia was still within Yugoslavia.

Moreover, Tudjman’s paramilitary secessionist forces started first attacking Serbs and since Tudjman’s arrival into power throughout Croatia pro-Ustasha pro-Nazi meetings were held and hatred towards Serbs became normal. The fact which is also worth mentioning is that the Croatian government did not try to put an end to this rampage but encouraged it. Croatian separatists who were inspired by the anti-Serb Ustasha doctrine expelled Serbs from Croatia and those expelled Serbs arrived to Krajina before the armed forces of Krajina were established. First acts of ethnic of cleansing took place in Croatian major cities and towns right after Tudjman in 1990 organized unlawfully of course, paramilitary forces, eliminated the Serb constituent rights and to a certain degree rehabilitated the Ustasha-Nazi policy from 1941.

You are right up to a point that Croats left Krajina and to a certain extent were thrown out from Krajina, however, your are not aware of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Croats in Krajina was organized in the Croatian separatist military formations which were carrying out acts of ethnic of cleansing and war crimes against Serbs throughout Croatia. Hence, you completely misinterpret this fact that Croats left or were expelled from Krajina - that is was a result of a deliberate Serb nationalistic policy, however, the fact of the matter is that the Croatian separatist regime provoked the Krajina Serbs first and started to terrorize them and Krajina Croats to a high degree supported such Croatian extremely nationalistic and fascistoid regime of Tudjman.

Serbs didn't found their own state in Croatia. Croatia was a state within Yugoslavia and Krajina was just a mythical Serbian creation designed to split Croatia into Serbian and Croatian entities. Ethnic Serbs were a minority in Croatia at the time, unsatisfied with the fact that Yugoslavia was crumbling. They didn't want to live under Croatian regime. So instead of taking a political route and negotiate, they took up arms and the gamble failed big time.

You are not aware of the fact that Croatia as federal unit of Yugoslavia was bi-national state, according to the constitution's definition: "ARTICLE 1: The Socialist Republic of Croatia is a national state of the Croatian people, the state of the Serbian people in Croatia and the state of the national minorities living in it". Tudjman adapted the definition as followes:"ARTICLE 1: The Socialist Republic of Croatia is a national state of the Croatian people and the state of the national minorities living in it". . Which deprived the Serbs of their constituent rights. Hence, you are wrong when you claim that Serbs were in Croatia prior to the arrival of Tudjman a national minority, they were a political constituent nation of Croatia and were entitled to the same rights as all other constituent nations of Yugoslavia were, so the right to self-determination applied also to Krajina Serbs next to Croats. The constitution is clearly about that.

So, why would not the Krajina Serbs be entitled to right to self-determination since they were in and entered Yugoslavia as a constituent nation?

[Magnetonium]

Given the ethnic tensions and the history of barbaric outbursts of internecine violence, this outcome is very unlikely. The rights of Croatian Serbs would've been stripped (now a moot point) and Bosnian Serbs would have had no right to self-determination (that they now enjoy, after a long and bloody conflict).

I have no hope for the region as a whole -- the best people can do is find ways to migrate westward.

You're absolutely right. Its hard for me to disagree with what you said here, except for the last paragraph. In my opinion there's hope in the region, and peace there is much more likely today than in the Middle East. However, just like the Middle East, there are many groups and powerful interests involved, and far from everything is resolved. The fact that its quieter there right now has something to do with the fact that the region has yielded its geopolitical strategic importance to the Middle East. They should just divide Kosovo and split it between Serbia and Albania, and then another key war will be prevented in the future.

[Ghinci]

On the other hand, the situation in Croatia escalated when Franjo Tudjman arrived into power in 1990.

What precisely escalated?

Tudjman did not want to secede Croatia from Yugoslavia according to the constitution.

Tudjman seceded Croatia from Yugoslavia according to the Constitution. Even at the time of the proclamation of Croatian independence, SFR Yugoslavia did not formally exist.

In other words, he did not want to separate Croatia from Yugoslavia in a peaceful and democratic manner, since in such way he could not deprive the Croatian Serbs of their constituent rights and convert Croatia into a single national state, however S. R. Croatia was a bi-national state.

Isn't true. Tudjman did not deprive the Croatian Serbs of their constitutional rights. Croatia 1990/1991 = new independent State= new constitution. You are referring to the Yugoslav constitution of 1974 and the Constitution of the former Socialist Republic of Croatia. At this point, that constitution is no longer in force. Croatia is a State of all the Croats and other national minorities. The Croatian Serbs have the status of a national minority and it is right, normally and just.

Tudjman started violating the rights of Croatian Serbs in 1990 which was a huge provocation similar to the conduct of the leader of Nazi Croatia Ante Pavelic

This is a lie. This is just your imagination.

At the same time, Tudjman's paramilitary forces launched attacks on Serbs and the Yugoslav army throughout Croatia while Croatia was still within Yugoslavia.

The other way round.The Croatian regular army was defending Croatian territory by Serbian terrorist paramilitary forces supported by the so-called "jna" at the time when SFRY did not exist anymore. Serbian terrorists started first attacking Croatia and they occupied 1/4 of Croatian territory called it "krajina".

Croatian defenders expelled Serbs from Croatia and those expelled Serbs arrived to Croatia before the armed forces of Croatia were established.

Croatian defenders only liberated the occupied territory of Serbian terrorists. I believe that this is the fundamental right of every people whose territory is occupied.

First acts of ethnic of cleansing ...

There was no "ethnic cleansing" there. Responsibility for the tragedy of the Serb minority in Croatia is borne by politicians such as Slobodan Milosevic, Milan Martic, etc. Their aggressive policy toward the Croatian people caused the disappearance of most Serbs from Croatia.

Hence, you completely misinterpret this fact that Croats left or were expelled from
occupied parts of the Croatian territory.

Many Croats were expelled from occupied parts of the Croatian territory. That's fact.

So, why would not the Croatian Serbs be entitled to right to self-determination since they were in and entered Yugoslavia as a constituent nation?

Because Croats and Serbs had the right to secession under the Yugoslav constitution within the then socialist republics and borders. Thus, SR Croatia and SR Serbia were Federal Units in SFR Yugoslavia. So simply, isn't it? Croatian Serbs as a national minority from Croatia, they also exercised the right to independence. Their state is called Croatia and not a so-called "krajina".

[Kaiserschmarrn]

[KS moderator note: @Ghinci, please do not necropost, i.e. resurrect old threats from long ago. If you want to discuss the conflict in former Yugoslavia, feel free to make a new thread, although the History subforum might be a better place for it unless the discussion involves more recent issues.]