Vučić: Emotions in Serbia, BiH and Croatia are worse than in 1995

A return to the past would be a catastrophe for Serbia, and the situation in the region is very bad because the Hague Tribunal has not fulfilled its role of reconciliation among peoples in the former Yugoslavia, so emotions in Serbia, BiH and Croatia are worse than in 1995, assessed Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, reports the Patria News Agency. 

Speaking on B92, Vučić claimed that extremism is strengthening in all Western Balkan countries and stated that he does not want to be the prime minister who would have to cooperate with the protagonists of instability in the region.

"I do not want to make compromises"

"Regardless of the changes in mood, I do not want to make compromises with such ideas. This is a policy that would cost Serbia the most," said Vučić.

Recalling that 21 years have passed since the Dayton Agreement, and since the operations Storm and Flash, Vučić assessed that the situation in the region is worse because, among other things, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has not achieved its primary goal - reconciliation of peoples.

"The primary goal, one of the three that the Hague Tribunal set for itself, which is the reconciliation of peoples in the former Yugoslavia, has not been achieved. And today, emotions and sentiments in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia are worse than in 1995," said Vučić, stating that there is no expected progress.

"We have achieved nothing. We have all lied to each other a little; when Europe asked, we would pose for a photo, say a nice word. And the situation is worse," explained Vučić in the show he participated in with the former director of the Humanitarian Law Fund and anti-war activist Nataša Kandić and journalist Dejan Anastasijević.

Vučić emphasized that he is sure that "many more years will pass" before someone in Croatia understands what a crime Operation Storm was, and that the same applies to BiH.

Vučić, opposing Nataša Kandić's positions, said that there is more politics than law in The Hague. According to him, one cannot say that only the verdicts against (generals Ante) Gotovina and (Momčilo) Perišić "were political, not based on law," as Kandić assessed.

"More politics than law in The Hague"

"It is enough for that one case to say that there was more politics than law in the Hague Tribunal," said Vučić, mentioning the cases of Naser Orić, accused of crimes against Serbs in eastern Bosnia, and Ramuš Haradinaj for crimes against Serbs in Kosovo.

"There are living witnesses to crimes against Serbs, witnesses to Orić's direct crimes - and nothing. He was acquitted, proceedings are underway in BiH, it is certain that these proceedings will not be concluded or will not be concluded with a final verdict," Vučić is convinced.

He pointed out that 60 Serbs, 11 Croats, and six Bosniaks were convicted before the Hague Tribunal, emphasizing that he does not want to deny that there were criminals among Serbs.

"I condemn every Serb who was a criminal," stated Vučić, opposing journalist Dejan Anastasijević's position that the Tribunal's goal was not reconciliation, but justice.

"No one asked the Tribunal to reconcile Radovan Karadžić and Alija Izetbegović, or (Naser) Orić and (Milan) Lukić, but the point was for peoples to understand each other and look to the future, and the Tribunal did not fulfill that, nor did the political elites, nor the EU, nor the US," asserted Vučić, assessing that the Tribunal "served to impose someone's political interests, not justice."

"We make political and legal concessions, but we only ask that they respect our victims. Karamarko said he asks Serbs to respect Croatian victims. We respect Croatian victims, and we ask you to show the same towards Serbian victims," said Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. 

Nataša Kandić, now director of the Regional Commission for Establishing Facts about War Crimes and Other Serious Human Rights Violations (REKOM), assessed that Vučić's message about the verdict against Vojislav Šešelj was good.

"It is not easy to say on camera the day after the verdict that the Greater Serbia project is harmful to the future and that it will not be the policy of the Serbian government... the prime minister says that the Greater Serbia policy will never be continued here and admits that this policy was harmful, even though he participated in it at one time," said Kandić, writes Hina.