 |
Croatia Protests 'History' in UK Soccer Pamphlet
By Mark Heinrich
ZAGREB, May 22 (Reuters) — Croatia protested to Britain on Wednesday over politically "inaccurate and tendentious" information in a profile of the ex-Yugoslav republic published in a European soccer championship pamphlet. The state news agency HINA said the official Euro-96 publication contained "inaccurate linguistic and religious information about Croatia, as well as... distorted and malicious facts about its history and economy."
A Foreign Ministry statement carried by HINA did not describe the profile, circulated along with thumbnail sketches of other countries which had qualified for this summer's European soccer championships in Britain. But a copy of the pamphlet obtained by Reuterss was riddled with erroneous or outdated references to Croatian history and contemporary politics. Though not a state document, the pamphlet evidently drew resentment in a country recovering from a fierce conflict that saw its frontiers put in question.
A map of croatia in the pamphlet seemed to be bereft of its eastern territories, Eastern Slavonia, which are currently held by separatist Serbs. A spokeswoman for the Football Association, responsible for the information, appeared contrite. The map "was only intended to be a rough one," she said. But the errors appeared to mount when the Football Association moved into the realms of history.
Croatia declared independence from Serbian-led federal Yugoslavia in 1991 but minority Serbs rebelled and seized about a third of the republic. Croatian troops recaptured all but four percent of Serb-held territory in 1995. The pamphlet said 75 percent of Croatia's people speak Croatian and 23 percent Serbian. In reality, the breakdown is more than 90 percent Croat and under 10 percent Serb since much of the pre-war 12 percent Serb minority fled the Croatian army's reconquest of territory. The breakdown of religion was also outdated.
The pamphlet said Croatia was once part of the Ottoman Empire — an error guaranteed to inflame Croat national
sensitivities. It also said part of Croatia remained "occupied by Serbia." It is actually held by local Croatian Serbs backed by neighbouring Serbia.
The publication said "Croatian separatists" took power in Croatia after the death of Yugoslav dictator Tito "in 1990." Tito actually died in 1980 and for Croats, the political movement that rose in 1990 was pro-independence, not "separatist."
In a passage on the 1991-95 wars in former Yugoslavia, the pamphlet cited "reports of Serb atrocities against Croats and Muslims in Bosnia." In reality, Serb armed attacks on non-Serb civilians in Bosnia were pervasive and systematic and witnessed by U.N. observers and journalists. The pamphlet also said a "peace settlement under the auspices on the U.N. and NATO is currently under discussion." The Dayton peace treaty actuallly took effect six months ago.
In a section on Croatia's economy, the pamphlet said it had been badly damaged by "the civil war" and the country was plagued by "high inflation." In reality, Croatia vanquished hyper-inflation in 1993 by imposing monetary austerity. Inflation crashed to zero within weeks and is under five per cent today. Croats also reject the notion that their war was "civil." They say it resulted from Yugoslav army aggression on a nation that had declared its sovereignty. Serbs say it was a "civil war" involving a secessionist part of Yugoslavia.
Miroslav Rede of the Croatian Football Association (HNS) said the flap over the Euro-96 pamphlet was "rather unusual." "We forwarded only data on players and the national side scores to London. I don't know how this (country description) came about," he told Reuterss. The Euro-96 pamphlet ran profiles of all countries in the championship. "The consequences of inaccurate information are all the more serious because it was distributed to 3,200 schools," the Croatian Foreign Ministry statement said. |
Berserkistan,
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved