EXCLUSIVE! DARKO GLIŠIĆ, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC INVESTMENT: Doctors’ forecasts were – either death or severe disability!
“The first prognosis from the doctors after the stroke was fatal. After a few hours they said that I would probably survive, but that I would have a very high degree of disability and that it was impossible to avoid. However, three days later I stood on my feet. On the first day my entire right side was completely paralysed, and during the first seven days I could barely speak, I mostly mumbled. And then, after that week, I literally learned everything again like a first-grade pupil: to speak, to write, because I had in effect forgotten how to sign my name and I could barely write sentences… I decided that exactly eight weeks later, which is how long doctors say is needed for the scar on the blood vessel to heal, I would go to the very place where it happened to me at exactly the same time, with the same presenters, to continue where I had stopped. It lifted my confidence and sent a message about my determination. I returned to where it had stopped me – and I continued!”
This is what the Minister for Public Investment and president of the SNS Executive Board, Darko Glišić, says in an exclusive interview for Kurir,having suffered a severe stroke live on air on TV Pink exactly two months earlier, on 5 August!
Two months later, Glišić met the Kurir team with a smile in his office in the Government of Serbia, where he is gradually returning to his work obligations...
You look more rested than when we last spoke at the beginning of June, before the local elections in Kosjerić and Zaječar. How are you?
“I feel well, and I am happy to be back at work. After everything, it is good, I am recovering, and the worst is behind me. I am still, of course, a bit exhausted and somewhat slower, but day by day I feel better, and my motor skills are returning. The first day at work was emotional, exciting. Everyone greeted me, so my blood pressure was a bit elevated again, but all right, when emotions are involved it is logical that a person gets a little more excited, although that is not exactly what the doctors recommend for me. I could hardly wait to return to work to the environment where, I would say, I spent almost 24 hours a day every day. I cannot yet travel much outside Belgrade, but I expect that already from next week I will slowly start visiting construction sites and moving around in the field, which makes me particularly happy.”
Do you remember anything at all from that morning of 5 August?
“I remember very clearly everything up to the moment when I completely lost consciousness. So, I lost control over my body, but I saw, heard and understood everything that was happening.”
Darko Glišić, interview with Kurir
The forecasts at the beginning were not good?
“The forecasts were very bad, I did not know that at the time of course, nor did I find out during the next 10–15 days. Only sometime upon discharge, after having spent about two weeks in hospital, was part of that conveyed to me, and during home recovery I learned some details, that it had been really quite bad. In those two weeks in hospital everything slowly began to come together, the conditions were created for me to be treated at home, but then some side effects began, especially those of a bone-related type, because I had to rest completely for six weeks, either sitting or lying down, no other form of activity existed. Then some muscles atrophy a little, then a haematoma appeared somewhere and pressed some nerves, so there were some problems with the bones as well, but the important thing is that everything is okay. I am in constant contact with the doctors, I go for check-ups, and physiatry therapies will probably begin during October where I will be fully able to work at full capacity.”
You say that you learned how to speak, how to sign your name, and only a week before that you were one of the most influential people in Serbia...
“I did not perceive it like that.”
Part of the public nevertheless perceives you that way. And then in seven days you learn how to sign your name. What went through your head then?
“I wouldn’t put it like that, I tried to be the most hardworking, I was often on the ground with citizens, so perhaps someone drew such an impression from that... I always try to look at things from the positive side. When I woke up with a tube in my mouth, connected to a hundred different devices and without feeling on the right side, the first thing I thought when I opened my eyes was: it’s good, I’m alive, not bad for a start. The medical staff were more worried than I was, I saw it as a new opportunity, a new chance life had given me, and I would see how to use it.”
The recording of you having a stroke live on air circulated not only in Serbia, but throughout the world. Did you later watch it? How did your family react to all that?
“I have not watched the video even once. I still have no desire to watch it. Only after 15 days did I see that on 6 August I was on all the front pages, the big news in the region but also on other continents. Perhaps at some point in the future I will decide to see what it looked like… Family is family, these are always difficult things. My mother found out by watching TV and, of course, like any mother, she did not take it easily. My sister was present at the Emergency Centre and was the first to hear the news that the prognosis for me would be very bad. They say a lot of people gathered there, and I am really grateful to them all; at that moment I was far from reality, from life, from everything, and I did not know what was happening, but I take this opportunity to thank everyone for their great support, it meant a lot to me and helped me return as quickly as possible.”
On the other hand, there were also, to put it mildly, inappropriate comments from part of the opposition public, which have nothing to do with politics.
“To all those who rejoiced at my stroke, I wish all the best and that they never experience what I did, because I had so much luck that it is simply unbelievable. One in 1,000 people pulls through. I wish for them not to go through it, because I’m not sure they would have quite that much luck, because judging by how they behave and what they do, they haven’t exactly deserved for God to look upon them in such difficult moments, as He looked upon me when He prompted me to change my daily schedule at the last moment. I was supposed to appear on Pink on Wednesday, not Tuesday, but under pressure from people who unwittingly saved my life I came on Tuesday, and everything happened live and close to the Clinic. In 25 minutes I was in the resuscitation room and that is why I can sit here with you today and talk. Had it remained Wednesday, we would not be doing this interview today. On this occasion I want to appeal to everyone that as soon as they feel the first symptoms, such as tingling, they should contact a doctor that very second and not wait, because the key is the speed of intervention. Of course, it helped me that I lead a healthy lifestyle and that my organs and blood vessels are, for my age, more than good, so I was able to withstand everything. One carotid artery is still completely closed, but the other has taken over 100 per cent of the blood flow to the brain, which is not exactly common.”
Many also claim that you somehow acted everything out, because it is impossible that you recovered so quickly.
“There is a full medical history in the Emergency Centre of the Clinical Centre of Serbia, the doctors there hold various political views, there are those with completely different political positions. A huge number of them were at my resuscitation. So let them testify themselves what the situation was. As for comments that I have no scar on my head, I was opened at the groin and through the groin they entered the blood vessels and reached the brain. The scar is there on both the left and right side; it is not appropriate to show that publicly in the media, but for those who are very curious, they are welcome, just let them contact me.”
Unfortunately, situations like this, when a person falls ill or ends up in hospital, often serve as a sort of litmus test. Is there someone, perhaps from the SNS, who disappointed you or from whom you expected more? And on the other hand, is there perhaps someone who pleasantly surprised you?
“You don’t have time in that moment to think about whether someone surprises you or not. I have to think positively, I have to think in a way that allows me to respond to the obligations ahead of me, but also towards my family to preserve my health, and towards those who cared for me the most. I did not notice that any party colleague thought, did or posted anything bad, quite the opposite. At the moment when I turned on my phone, I received 1,200 messages, then I put it aside. When I looked again, that number had doubled, and those were my comrades, my brothers and friends. One video message surprised me from an athlete whom I did not even believe had heard of me. It was the best, strongest man in the world, the best fighter Islam Makhachev, who sent me a video message and that really made me go wow, where did that come from. He found out through mutual friends, and I hope I will have the chance to return the support at one of his fights. The SNSis my family in a broader sense, and they gave me full support, but also many people throughout Serbia. I am grateful to everyone, I have a duty in the coming period to be even more hardworking, to try, work and fight, but of course also to take care not to worry them like that again.”
President Vučić with Glišić on the day of leaving the hospital
First come the regular local elections in Mionica and Negotin, while the so-called “students’ list” and part of the opposition are still demanding urgent scheduling of snap parliamentary elections. Is now the right moment for that?
“I expect a lot of noise from them before the elections and even more wailing afterwards. I think the numerical result will be even more disastrous for them than before, and in favour of the policy led by President Vučić. People want to live normally, to work, to function, to focus on wage growth, the construction of things that matter for their lives, and not to have these obscure types with balaclavas on their heads coming to deprive someone of the right to live, move, to attempt to burn someone alive. That is the politics they symbolise and it has less support every day. I expect that on 30 November, when the local elections are scheduled, they will have even less support, so from talking about how they will beat us and pounding on drums, after the people vote, they will pound their chests, cry, and someone else will always be to blame. Elections are scheduled when the competent authority makes a decision. The competent authority is the President of the Republic, and he will, in accordance with the interests of the citizens of this country, decide when we should go to the polls.
“In the beginning, on the wave of that tragedy, it may have seemed as though some new idea was emerging, something better, more energetic, brighter, and then it turned out that something had emerged which could lead us into deep darkness and set Serbia back not decades, but centuries. What they demonstrate on the streets resembles pagan rituals from many centuries ago. What is currently happening on the political scene is dramatically different from the previous few months.”
I expect maximum possible violence on 1 November. They see it as their last chance
Where do you see the role of the current parliamentary opposition in all of that?
“On that other side you now have an opposition that must choose whether it will disappear if it unconditionally supports that blockaders’ phantom list. They don’t actually have any list; if they had people of credibility, they would be boasting about them. When you bring a good player into a team, you immediately brag that he has joined you. So, there is nothing there, but they are trying to completely absorb the opposition and take over their voters. The opposition that agrees to that will disappear forever. Political parties that identify with the blockaders’ movement, with that sect and the madness they show with those little groups of a few dozen people who gather here and there, those parties will disappear forever. And it is no sin for the Democratic Party to disappear considering who their president is; it is entirely fitting that they drown in that blockaders’ movement. Wherever in the world a DS exists, it has brought nothing good. It is a name for original political evil in every country, including ours. And those parties that distance themselves from that blockaders’ movement, define some policy, perhaps have some chance to achieve some result in elections, to preserve themselves for the years to come. Because after these elections there will again be new elections, in two, three or four years another electoral cycle will appear. The blockaders’ movement is for one-time use; they will appear in the next elections with those spectacular candidates, such as, for example: the court jester in their court, Jovo Bakić, or Kokanović who is the symbol of education, he has one grade and two long breaks, and who lost in his own village five to one to Aleksandar Vučić. They will crash. Absolute catastrophe is the approach of that blockaders’ movement which has offered nothing to the state except chaos, violence, hopelessness, blood and everything worst. Then you have opposition parties that think: Aha, perhaps here we might get one vote more, let’s latch onto them like some little carriage, but that is a locomotive that leads to ruin. Whoever does not detach from them will not politically survive, I assure you of that.”
What do you expect on 1 November, when the protest marking the anniversary of the collapsed canopy has been announced?
“I expect violence. The greatest possible violence. They see it as their last chance to run wild, to attempt to burn down the whole of Novi Sad and anyone they see on the street who does not agree with them, to try to lynch… The blockaders hoped that some tragedy would occur again that would lift their movement. When they saw that nothing of the sort, thank God, was happening, they tried to fill their reservoirs through the elections for new protests, demolishing, smashing, burning, spilling blood on the streets, with the ultimate and only goal – to seize power against the will of the people. They know they cannot win elections, they know they do not have a majority. But they need that pretext, as elections are only a pretext for them to create incidents, chaos and violence at 8.01 pm, when the polls close. They have nothing to say, and that is why they rejected the dialogue offered by the President. When do they intend to tell us what their plan and programme for Serbia is? It does not exist.”
Do you expect that on 3 November, as planned, the academic year will begin normally at the faculties?
“Perhaps at some faculties it will begin. When it comes to the rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, a liar and fraud, I expect he will attempt to misuse it. He is a man whom nothing should be believed. I hope that at the other universities normal teaching will be established; Novi Sad is a question mark for me, considering that it is the nest of that separatist movement, you saw what happened to Patrik Drid and other deans who wanted to start classes, they barely escaped alive. Don’t think that the seed of evil, Dinko Gruhonić, will sit with his hands folded.”
To all those who rejoiced at my stroke I wish all the best and that they never go through what I did
Not long before your health problems you were the subject of a series of texts on one portal accusing you of owning a hacienda, garages, flats, and also of having gifted your partner flats and apartments... You announced a response, what is happening with that now?
“It is interesting that on 5 August everything happened on Pink, and on 6 August, at my insistence, I had a scheduled questioning at the prosecutor’s office. After eight weeks, on 30 September, I appeared again on Pink and continued to advocate the policy which I consider the best, and by coincidence the next day I had that questioning and gave my statement. Other persons mentioned in those texts will be questioned as well, and also the investors who allegedly sold me those apartments. We have all prepared thorough documentation, and it will turn out that the lying portal lied again. They tried to discredit me, to create a scandal for me; I do not own any apartments, nor have I bought any for anyone. By coincidence, they linked me to a person who also did not buy any apartments, and just because she negotiated with some investors does not mean she bought anything; those apartments were sold to someone else. As for my property, everything can easily be checked with the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption where I reported everything exactly as it is. They wanted to multiply my mother’s property by ten, well, fine, let them give half of the money they claimed it was worth… Though neither my mother nor I would sell our ancestral property so easily.
“Let the competent authorities examine every detail and it will be shown that everything was a notorious lie fed to them by a person charged with terrorism and currently in detention. That thug spread the story in a café in Kraljevo, and it turned out to be an infamous lie. I feel sorry for that man soaked in hatred, who rejoices in someone’s misfortune. The only true statement he made is that he lost the local elections in Kraljevo in 2023 and that I am to blame for that, because I directly organised the campaign to prevent people like him from coming to power. Since they say that he constantly mentions me, wakes up and goes to bed with my name, I can send him my photo if he misses me that much, or send him a photo of my scar in the groin to prove to him that I indeed had the intervention.”
Kurir Politika / Jelena Pronić