Grabar-Kitarovic: Serbian President's visit to Croatia was not a mistake

NEWS 16.02.201917:39
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Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said on Saturday that she would not pay a return visit to Serbia until progress regarding the missing Croatian civilians and soldiers from the 1990s war is made.

Addressing a press conference after four years she spent in office, the President of Croatia said the last year’s visit of Serbian President to Croatia was not a mistake.

“I think it is not a mistake to talk to anyone, even if it doesn’t bear fruit,” said Grabar-Kitarovic.

According to her, a lot has been done after that visit which improved the lives of the Croat community in Serbia. However, she added, there was no progress in solving the issue of missing persons from the 1990s war, which she finds more important.

The President said she hoped Aleksandar Vucic’s visit would result in something more about that matter but that there was no result.

“As long as there is no progress in solving the destiny of missing Croatia’s soldiers and civilians, there will be no return visit to Serbia,” she said.

Grabar-Kitarovic admitted that she was wrong to say that the salute ‘For Homeland Ready’ used by pro-Nazi Ustasha regime in Croatia during the WW II was a Croatian historical greeting.

„I accept what historians have said, that it is not a historical Croatian greeting. But the point of my statement was not that part of the sentence, but that it is compromised and unacceptable,“ the president said, adding that her advisors had told her the greeting was historical.