The Ambassador of Croatia in Belgrade, Hidajet Biščević, confirmed today that in the past two days, four Croatian citizens were expelled from Serbia, and in the last three months there were 15 such cases.
Biščević assessed that this affects the creation of a bad climate and a bad feeling among the citizens of Croatia and among Croatian citizens living in Serbia.
Biščević - after the news about the expulsion of the Croatian citizen Arien Stojanović Ivković, a doctor married and working in Belgrade and the mother of a minor child from that marriage - said that the decision on the expulsion due to security risk was even delivered to the official representative of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce in Belgrade.
"In the last three months, there are already about fifteen cases. And this frequency is something that causes concern," Biščević told N1.
He did not want to talk about possible motives, especially in the context of the current social and political situation.
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"I would not enter into speculation as to the motives behind that. I would not want to harm what the Republic of Croatia was guided by during these sensitive social and political events in Serbia - and that is showing exceptional restraint on our part. Nothing from the Croatian official side violated the elementary rule of international relations of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states. As a state, we did not give any reason," said Biščević.
Citizens of other countries have no problems
He pointed out that it was only about Croatian citizens and that they did not notice that numerous citizens of other countries were facing the same problem.
He reminded that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Croatia warned its citizens that, if they go to Serbia, they should be extremely careful and refrain from participating in any public events, making statements or highlighting slogans.
At the same time, the Croatian ambassador points out that in the explanation to each of the citizens who were handed the expulsion decision, it is stated that the reason is because they represent a "security risk", for one year.
"What confuses me a little - how will someone judge after a year that this woman or the representative of our Chamber of Commerce is no longer a security risk? So, it's a little confusing," said Biščević
He assessed that the whole situation leads to the creation of a bad climate and feelings among Croatian citizens, and that it causes a certain kind of fear among Croatian citizens living in Serbia.
It is clear that Croatian citizens are being targeted
Biščević explained that there is no way to file a complaint and that only a diplomatic note is possible
"There is only what we are preparing right now - a diplomatic note in which we will request an explanation and explanations from Serbian institutions, considering the frequency, and considering that it is clear that the citizens of the Republic of Croatia are being targeted," Biščević said.
The N1 journalist noted that it seems that the key problem with all these people was that they somehow supported the student protests.
"Well, you can't in a democratic society, we're not North Korea, for the government or the ministry to issue a decree 'don't write on the Internet'. Secondly, we believe that every citizen has the right to express his opinion about the situation in Iraq or about Trump. I'm quite sure that there are 5.000 comments on President Trump's policy, but no Croatian citizen has been expelled from America because of that," the Croatian ambassador pointed out.
He added that he did not know if, after sending the note, he would receive an answer from the Serbian authorities.
"It is the right of any country in the world not to have to provide explanations. Unfortunately, that's how it is," he stated.
Source: FoNet, N1
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