Serbia Slams Croatia Barring Serbian Delegation From Visiting Concentration Camp

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th September, 2019) Serbian high-ranking officials have decried the decision by the Croat government to stop a Serbian Defense Ministry delegation from entering the country to pay respects to a concentration camp's victims.

The delegation, which included military officers and cadets, was going to visit Croatia to honor the memory of the Jasenovac concentration camp's victims. The Serbian Defense Ministry claims that the Croatian authorities were warned about the visit. Nevertheless, the delegation was denied entrance at the Croat border, prompting a bitter exchange between Belgrade and Zagreb.

"Common sense suggests that there is no bigger provocation than to bar Serbs from praying in a place of suffering of many Serbian children. There is no more retrograde policy than the one which seeks to justify 'for homeland - ready' [a salute used by the Croatian Ustasa movement, an ally of Nazi Germany during WWII] and fascist crimes," Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, on his part, accused Serbia of engaging in provocations as well, since the Serbian delegation was trying to enter the country while wearing army uniforms.

"I understand that Croats do not want to remember their past and what was happening during World War II," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said regarding the situation.

During the Second World War, the ultranationalist Ustasa movement created the Independent State of Croatia, a fascist puppet state propped up by Nazi Germany. The Ustasa regime actively participated in the Holocaust, targeting Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and political dissidents.

The Jasenovac concentration camp was created in 1941 and was operated solely by the Ustasa. While there is a debate about the precise number of victims, most estimates vary between 77,000 and 100,000 people, half of which were women and children.