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Reconciliation in the Successor States of former Yugoslavia
CDRSEE held a Reconciliation Dialogue between
Zagreb and Belgrade in February 2001.
Project Objectives
The objectives of this very important undertaking
are three-fold: to begin the process of reconciliation between the different
ethnic groups that live in the nations that formerly made up the Republic
of Yugoslavia; to counterbalance the stigmas and stereotypes associated
with "the other," particularly in literature and journalism;
and to create an open discussion in which ethnic groups can address their
own wrong-doings in the past decade of war in the fall of Yugoslavia.
Reconciliation between
Zagreb and Belgrade
The first reconciliation dialogue meeting took
place between Serbs and Croats in Belgrade on 23-25 February, 2001. The
panel discussion of the Belgrade meeting was led by novelists, literary
critics, publishers, translators and historians, five Serbs and five Croats.
The President of the German Institute for Foreign Relations and an official
from the Federal Office for Information spoke about the German experience
of reconciliation with their neighbors after World War II. The panel consisted
of 14 individuals who addressed an audience of citizens of the host city.
This structure allowed the freedom to approach difficult topics, but in
a controlled environment. The whole conference was covered by B92, now
Yugoslav state television. Several other radio stations and the two most
important Yugoslav newspapers (Politika and Danas) as well as the News
agency BETA reported about the Reconciliation Dialogue.
At the Conferences, issues such as the idea to create bilateral and multilateral
truth commissions, a discussion on amnesty, a discussion on the co-operation
with the Hague Tribunal on War Crimes in Former Yugoslavia were included.
Finally, an expected outcome is that the participants would identify possible
directions that will contribute to solutions to seemingly irresolvable
differences of political opinions and perspectives. Among the political
issues that are crucial for reconciliation are the return of Serbs to
Krajina, the return of the Bosniaks to Srebrenica and other parts of the
Republika Srpska, the future of the divided city of Mostar, the future
of the Serbian population in Kosovo, and the divided city of Mitrovica.
For full
conference report, click
here (pdf file, 120 kb).
List of Participants
in Reconciliation Dialogue between Zagreb and Belgrade, February 2001:
1. Dimic, Lubodrag
2. Fink, Volker
3. Glavac, Hrvoje
4. Gojkovic, Drinka
5. Gudzevic, Sinan
6. Ilic, Dejan
7. Kuhnert, Barbara
8. Kempf, Herwig
9. Kovacevic-Vuco, Biljana
10. Mandic, Igor
11. Niksic, Stevan
12. Popovic, Nenad
13. Prokopijevic, Dr. Miroslav
14. Reuter, Jens
15. Snajder, Slobodan
16. Waldburg-Zeil, Alois Graf v.
Program of the Reconciliation
Dialogue between Zagreb and Belgrade, February 2001:
Friday, February 23, 2001
18:00
Opening Ceremony, welcome speeches by Barbara Kuhnert (ifa) and Jens Reuter,
CDRSEE
18:15
Lecture by Alois Graf von Waldburg Zeil, Reconciliation after World
War II: The German Experience
Lecture Alex Rondos, Reconciliation after a Civil War: The Greek
Experience
Saturday, February 24, 2001
9:00
Lecture by Dubravka Ugresic, My view of Serbia and the Serbs after
the Wars of the Nineties
11:15
Lecture by Dragan Velikic, "Croats and Serbs - a difficult neighborhood?
14:30 - 19:00
Short Statements by all the Croatian and Serbian speakers followed by
discussions.
The speakers:
Zarko Puhovski (University Professor, Zagreb)
Stevan Niksic (Editor in Chief, NIN, Belgrade)
Sinan Gudzevic (Translator and author, Zagreb)
Drinka Gojkovic (book author and journalist, Belgrade)
Igor Mandic (book author and journalist, Zagreb)
Momcilo Grubac (Ministry of Justice, Belgrade)
Hrvoje Glavac (minister of stateh, Zagreb)
Veran Matic (journalist and human rights activist, Belgrade)
Reception given by the German Embassy Belgrade
at the Hotel "Moskva". |
