Serbia / Croatia

"Solution for Genocide Suits to be Found"
B92, April 17, 2010
"Boris Tadic and Ivo Josipovic said that they are convinced that Serbia and Croatia would be able to find an out-of-court solution for their genocide suits. The Vojvodina village of Backi Monostor was the site of the first meeting between the two presidents in Serbia. They confirmed that Serbia and Croatia are ready to build good neighborly relations. Before heading to Vojvodina, the two presidents were in Hungary meeting with President Laszlo Solyom. Tadic and Josipovic met with officials of the Croatian national community in Vojvodina and visited the primary school in Backi Monostor. At the press conference following the meeting, the two presidents said that their governments would be searching for a solution that would enable both Serbia and Croatia to pull the pending genocide suits each country has filed against the other before the International Court of Justice. 'If Serbia and Croatia agree on their united future, and if they are able to gather the strength to look at the problems of the past in a way that is not traditional, if the governments have joint sessions and if one day they share the same history text books, this will show the honest desire and readiness for us to take new responsibilities in this new era, in order to project the future of the entire region,' Tadic said.
'The suits make sense if the disagreement cannot be solved in any other way, and I believe that it is possible to solve these disputes through agreements,' Josipovic said. Tadic said that a responsible and non-selective processing of war criminals is important in the process of improving relations between the two countries, which he said define the entire post-Yugoslav region. 'No crime can be left unsolved and unpunished and the rights of the citizens cannot be brought into question. These principles must be the basis for solving these questions,' Tadic said. 'We have made essential progress, taking into consideration the many painful spots in our history. This progress contributes to political reconciliation, stability and development,' he said."
[n.b. This is the complete text of the dispatch.]