Zagreb, Croatia

I arrived in Zagreb, Croatia on the night of June 2nd. On the morning of the 3rd I met with Professor Vjeran Katunaric in a café to discuss his expertise, opinions and experiences regarding ethnic relations and conflict in the Balkans. We mostly discussed the disposition of Croatians versus that of Serbians. Professor Katunaric argued that Croatia has become much more moderate, compared to Serbia, over the past 15 years. His theory on why this has happened is thus:

You must understand, not all of Croatia has ever been nationalistic… There [is] about ten percent of the population who are liberal, tolerant, the NGO types, on the other end, there is about ten percent of the population who are pathological, authoritarian and radically nationalistic. In the middle you have an eighty percent who conform. Eighty percent of the population will conform to the political elite. Tudjman was maybe one of these ten percent [pathological, nationalist].

Professor Katunaric further said that with each passing generation of Croats, the younger generations wonder what makes them and the Serbs so different. This would be encouraging, but it is a statement that no one else I have talked to has echoed.
On the issue of Europeanization, Professor Katunaric believes that it is “the best one of the realistic options for Croatia.” However, he believes that Europeanization in Serbia may not be what is best for the country as “radicals in Serbia may turn east to Russia.” However, Professor Katunaric does not believe that Serbia would devolve; rather he believes that the progress that they have made would stall, especially if the radical political parties, such as the Serbian Progressive Party and the Serbian Radical Party, were to take power, which is a very realistic scenario.
Professor Katunaric expressed his belief and concern that much of the Serb media is still radical and propaganda is still a major issue. “Serbians don’t have a sense of what happened,” he said in explanation of the country’s reaction to the Mladic capture and extradition. “News has not yet reached them.” He believes that Serbia is, and always will be more radical. “Serbs are a more extreme people. More creative as well. They have all the star athletes, inventors, etc.” Croats on the other hand “are very much conformists, they do not like to take risks or be in uncertain situations. This is very evident when you compare business dealings.” Professor Katunaric believes that there will not be another war for at least 100 years.
Throughout the course of my remaining days in Zagreb I visited the Ethnographic Museum, the Croatian History Museum, and the Croatian State Archives. Each of these experiences mimicked the last. Croatian culture mimics the west. Croatia does not consider itself eastern, not even by European standards, but rather views itself as a part of the West.
During my last evening in Zagreb, I ran into a man on the streets. He was a retired math professor and we began to talk about his views on the ethnic tensions in the region. The man, who has agreed to allow me to use his first name, Franjo, only, said first that Bosnia is the heart of the problem. He says that when Tito named the Muslims of Bosnia as a nation is when the problems started. He believes that the vast majority of Muslims in Bosnia are simply Croats with the Muslim religion. This is a point that has been contentious in all my meetings. He believes that by naming the Muslims as a separate nation it caused all the other ethnic groups (mainly the Croats and Serbs) to despise that nation. He constantly referred to the deep cultural roots that set Croats apart from Serbs, but declined to specify what exactly set them apart. We conversed briefly about the war criminals. He called Mladic and Karadzic criminals. I asked him about Gotovina (a Croatian general indicted and extradited to the Hague). He told me that Gotovina is a hero because he did what he had to do (by allowing himself to be captured) to further the interests of his country. He told me that Gotovina did nothing wrong and they simply took him because they had to look like it was a balanced prosecution. This was a highly hypocritical stance, and one that emerged constantly in the Fmr. Yugoslavia. The men who orchestrated the deaths of my people are criminals, but the men who “defended” (orchestrated the deaths of their people) are national heroes and do not deserve to be punished. I am writing this after visiting Bosnia, and in retrospect, the hypocricy and close-mindedness of many of the Croats that I spoke to (this does not include the academics) is astounding and bordering on disgusting. Propaganda is still a tool used heavily not only by governments, but by nationalists as well.