Minister Grlić Radman attends conference on Erdut Agreement

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Thursday attended a virtual conference on the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (the Erdut Agreement)

Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Thursday attended a virtual conference on the Basic Agreement on the Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (the Erdut Agreement), which had peacefully ended the Homeland War and liberated the last part of Croatia’s occupied territory. The conference was organized by the Serb National Council.

Ahead of the Remembrance Day, Grlić Radman underscored the significance of Vukovar as one of the most important symbols of the Homeland War. “Some 92,000 persons were displaced and as many as 52 mass graves and several hundred individual graves have been discovered in the region, with the exhumed remains of 2,079 people,” the minister said in his address.

Moreover, Grlić Radman stressed that Storm and other Croatian military operations had led to a fundamental shift in the power dynamic in the field and created preconditions for diplomacy and ultimately the signing of the Erdut Agreement. “In all that, the crucial role was played by the first Croatian president, Franjo Tuđman, who insisted on a peaceful resolution to the issue of the remaining occupied Croatian territory, which would not have been possible without key victories of the Croatian and Bosnian forces,” the minister underlined.

He added that meeting the stipulations of the Erdut Agreement does mean the end of the obligation to ensure the highest standards of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. “Croatia has passed a number of laws on minority rights, guaranteeing the right to elect their own representatives at all levels of government and institutional support for preserving their national identity. These constitutional solutions received the highest marks during Croatia’s successful EU accession process,” Grlić Radman emphasized.

In addition, the minister reflected on his recent visit to Subotica and talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in Petrovaradin, when it was underscored that the Croat community enjoyed the same rights as the Serb community in Croatia, based on the Agreement on Mutual Protection of National Minorities of 2004. “Our relations are still burdened by the heritage of the Homeland War. Shedding light on the fate of the 1869 missing persons, as well as granting material and immaterial rights to illegally detained Croatian citizens during the war remains one of the key issues in our relations,” Grlić Radman concluded.

 

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