Yugoslavia break up

Some reflections on the Croat-Serb Conflict

Catholic Church in Karlovac with partially repaired war damage © Ricky Yates

I’m sorry for the two week delay in posting my final piece about our time in Croatia. Since being back in Prague we’ve had a succession of visitors which has left little time for blogging!

We spent the night of Monday 20^th July, our last in Croatia, in the town of Karlovac. Although considerable work has been done to repair the damage caused to buildings in Karlovac during the 1991-95 conflicts that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, there still remains much to do.

The picture on the left is of part of the outside wall of a Roman Catholic Church attached to a Franciscan Monastery in the centre of the town. You can clearly see where holes caused by bullets and shrapnel have been filled in at lower levels whilst higher up, they remain un-repaired. Within the nave of this Church there were three modern stained-glass windows, presumably replacing ones damaged beyond repair during the fighting.

Orthodox Church Seminary & Admin Offices in Karlovac © Ricky Yates — Orthodox Church Seminary and Administrative Offices in Karlovac © Ricky Yates

Sign on Orthodox Church building in Karlovac © Ricky Yates

However, on another street corner not very far away, was this completely boarded up building that had clearly also been badly damaged in the conflict. The plaque on wall offered a partial explanation in Croatian, English and German. Until the ‘Croatian War of Independence’, it had served as an Orthodox Seminary and the administrative headquarters for the Orthodox Church in the surrounding area. The sign acknowledged that the building had been badly damaged in the war, but offered no further explanation as to why nothing has been done to repair it since.

The explanation unfortunately lies in the division between West and East that took place in the history of the Christian Church more than a thousand years ago. The division between Rome and Constantinople, between Roman Catholic and Orthodox which in turn is, the division between Roman Catholic Croat and Orthodox Serb. As with the area around Knin, when the Croatian army regained full control of Karlovac and the surrounding area, the vast majority of the Serb Orthodox population were either driven out or chose to flee. There is therefore now very little of the Serbian Orthodox Church functioning in Croatia so far as I could ascertain.

Much as we both enjoyed our time in Croatia, I did feel that this situation is a very bad reflection on Christianity as whole, regardless of different traditions. Christians ought to be at the heart of the important work of reconciliation. Instead, it seems that the respective Churches have allowed themselves to be far too closely associated with ardent nationalism.

The Roman Catholic Church is remarkably strong in Croatia. But I very much sense that this is in part due to its close association with the resurgence of the Croatian national identity which has shown very little concern for any minorities. Likewise, the Serbian Orthodox Church has been very much at the heart of the rise of Serbian nationalism with once more, very little concern for non-Serbs. This phenomenon is unfortunately not unique to the former Yugoslavia. The Russian Orthodox Church, seeking to recover from its suppression during the Soviet Communist era, is now very strongly associated with the rise of Russian nationalism and shows very little tolerance for anyone of a different persuasion.

Of course, these are the reflections of an outsider on a two week visit. There may be groups of Christians on either side of the divide who are working to bring about reconciliation. I hope there are! For whilst many buildings have been or are in process of being repaired, many lives have be irreparably damaged. The Christian Church, regardless of tradition, ought to be playing its part in bringing healing to the lives of those on both sides of the Croat-Serb divide, who have suffered so much as a result of this conflict.

Journey home through the interior

Sign warning of landmines by the road side between Šibenik & Knin © Ricky Yates

After spending the nights of Saturday 18^th and Sunday 19^th July in Primošten and exploring Šibenik, we set out on the morning of Monday 20^th July on the long journey back to Prague. Having driven down into Croatia on the coast road, we decided to return through the interior. Therefore, once we had reached the outskirts of Šibenik, we headed inland on the road leading to Knin.

From background reading, I knew that we would be travelling through an area that was fought over during the conflict that took place between 1991 and 1995. So I was expecting that we would almost certainly see some remaining war damage. However, what we did observe still did come as quite a shock.

Within 20 km of the coast we saw the first few damaged buildings. Shortly afterwards we began to see signs like that in the adjacent photograph, warning people not to stray from the road onto the adjoining land because of the danger of the presence of unexploded landmines. Again, I’d read the advice on the Foreign and Commonwealth website warning British visitors to Croatia of this danger but it was still quite disturbing to see the signs in person.

In one sense I should not have been so surprised to see all this so near to the Dalmatian coast bearing in mind what I have written previously in this blog about Zadar being under siege for three months at the height of the war. Likewise, the guide I purchased to Šibenik Cathedral stated that the dome of the Cathedral had suffered war damage which has thankfully since been repaired.

War damaged bar-restaurant © Ricky Yates

Shrapnel and bullet damage © Ricky Yates

One particular building seemed to encapsulate what happened during the conflict and the situation that exists now. We saw this building as we drove by and stopped to investigate. It would appear to have been a bar-restaurant with accommodation for the owner on the upper floor. But it was completely burnt out with shrapnel and bullet damage still clearly visible.

This area around Knin is known as Krajina and, before the conflicts of the 1990s, it had a majority Serb population although lying within the boundaries of Croatia. When the nationalist government of Franjo Tudman declared Croatian independence in June 1991, the Serbian enclave of Krajina proclaimed its own independence from Croatia with the idea that it would become part of a ‘Greater Serbia’. Ethnic cleansing followed with the Croatian minority resident in the area being reduced from 44,000 to 900 in the following months.

However, when the Croatian army retook the area in 1995, driving out the Serb militia forces, up to 150,000 members of the Serb population also fled with the militia. The looting and burning that followed was no doubt designed to discourage their return.

The Dayton Accords signed in December 1995, which brought an end to the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, recognised the traditional borders of Croatia but provided for the return of Serbian refugees and the restitution of their property. Whilst good in theory, the reality on the ground is very different. I suspect this property belongs to a Serb who has decided not to return. Hence it is ‘Na prodaju/For sale’ with a mobile telephone number. The owner is either fearful to return and/or can see no future for his former business in an independent Croatia.

War damaged house near Knin © Ricky Yates

Here is another photograph of a burnt out house. Whilst now peaceful, this area is littered with damaged buildings similar to these. Clearly the total population is now only half what it was before 1991.

I’ve deliberately referred to what happened between 1991 and 1995 as ‘the war’ or ‘the conflict’, trying to adopt the role of the neutral observer. But I couldn’t help but notice the language used in tourist material and published guides. Much tourist material makes no mention of ‘the war’ at all. After all, they don’t want to put off visitors! But when reference is made, it is called ‘the patriotic war’ (guide to Šibenik Cathedral) or ‘the homeland war’ (tourist literature about Karlovac – see my next post). Once I saw it referred to in slightly less jingoistic terms as ‘the Croatian War of Independence’. But all of these descriptions inevitably imply that the Croats were the ‘goodies’ and the Serbs were the ‘baddies’. The reality, as I’ve briefly described, is that atrocities were carried out on both sides and that much still needs to be done in the coming years to try and make some amends, resettle people and allow those that want to, to return to their former properties.

Moutainous scenery west of Knin © Ricky Yates

On reaching Knin, we headed northwest on a good road that runs through a wild and beautiful mountainous area roughly parallel to the Croatia/Bosnia border. I hope this picture on the left gives some indication of the attractiveness of the landscape. Eventually we reached the small town of Gracac where we managed to procure a late lunch in a pizza restaurant.

House being re-built in Gracac with prominent Croatian flag © Ricky Yates

Sitting on the balcony on the first floor of the restaurant building, we could see across the road to a small group of houses of which two or three were being repaired/re-built. Out of the roof of one of them was a flag pole with a large Croatian flag attached. Clearly the owner of this property wanted to make a very public statement as to his ethnicity. Whatever the nationality of any past owner, he was a Croat repairing/re-building his house within the independent Republic of Croatia!

Zadar

Zadar is the largest city on the north Dalmatian coast with a population of around 70,000. Its historic centre lies on a peninsular only 500m wide with a Roman street pattern containing marble paved traffic-free streets and a wealth of Roman remains and historic buildings. Chief amongst these is St. Donat’s Church, an amazing circular building which dates from the beginning of the ninth century.

Although located in Western (Roman Catholic) Europe, the Church is of early Byzantine (Eastern Orthodox) style. What makes it even more fascinating is that it was built over part of the Roman forum that dates from the 1^st century BC to the 3^rd century AD. Therefore, incorporated into the Church are two complete Roman pillars, together with other stonework containing Latin inscriptions. It is possible to climb a stone stairway to a first floor arcade and walk completely around in a circle looking down on the ground floor.

Outside of the Church, there are many more Roman remains including another pillar that was used as a ‘shame post’ during mediaeval times. It is ironic that some of these Roman remains were only discovered as a result of allied bombing during World War II which destroyed the more recent properties which had been built on top of them.

Walking around this fascinating city on a sunny Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning in July 2009, it was hard to believe that less than 18 years previously, it had once more been part of a war zone, under siege for three months from Serb gunners during the Croat – Serb war that resulted from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Now it is a bustling city, welcoming the visiting tourist and resident citizen alike and displaying a wealth of history stretching back more than 2000 years.

Mistaken Identity

Dalmatian islands seen from the coast road between Senj and Zadar © Ricky Yates

On Monday 6^th July, we drove right across Austria via Linz in the north to Klagenfurt in the south. As we did so, the rain got heavier and heavier so that, as we headed towards the steep mountain pass that would take us into Slovenia, it was positively tipping it down. The weather was no better on the Slovenian side of the border. However, as we joined the motorway to head south towards Ljubljana, (having purchased an expensive vignette to travel relatively few km of motorway), the rain slowly started to ease. And having bypassed Ljubljana and travelled on to Postojna where we left the motorway for the somewhat windy road that leads to the Croatian border, the sun came out as though to welcome us to our holiday destination.

At the Slovenian – Croatian border we had our passports checked for the first time on our journey. I couldn’t help but reflect on the irony of the situation and how the political geography of Europe has changed in the last twenty years. We had crossed from the Czech Republic to Austria and from Austria to Slovenia where, in both cases, border controls are now non-existent because all three countries are EU members and also part of the Schengen agreement. Yet now we were having our passports checked at a border that used not to exist until the beginning of the 1990s with the break-up of Yugoslavia.

It was also as we had our passports checked on the Croatian side of the border, that questions about our somewhat complex identity first raised their head as we tried to explain why a Brit and a German were travelling in a car with Czech number plates! This was the prelude to two cases of mistaken identity that occurred the following day.

We spent Monday night in the small Croatian coastal town of Senj. On Tuesday morning, after the secession of an early morning thunderstorm, we set out along the winding coastal road towards Zadar with wonderful views across to nearby islands. As we drove, we passed three motorcycles parked at the side of the road. Their riders & pillion passengers who were having a mid-morning break, waved to us in a very friendly fashion. We waved back and soon realised that the reason they were waving was because they were Czech and thought they were waving to fellow Czechs. Suddenly their friendly smiles turned to very quizzical looks when they noticed that my steering wheel was on the ‘wrong’ side!

Later in the day as we approached Zadar, we used a short section of motorway. As we turned off the motorway to drive into Zadar, we had to present our ticket and pay a small toll. Sybille wound down the car window and gave our ticket to the young man in the toll booth. ‘Pet’ he said, which is the word for ‘five’ in Czech. (There should be a hacek over the ‘e’ to lengthen the sound but most computer browsers won’t cope with it if I put one in and will instead render it as a ‘?’)! He seeing the Czech number plates was trying to be helpful and tell us in Czech, that we needed to pay five kuna, bearing in mind that both Czech and Croatian are Slavic languages with similar vocabularies. He couldn’t understand our blank looks until he saw where my steering wheel was located. ‘Five kuna’ he then said, and we paid!