DARKO TANASKOVIĆ FOR KURIR: 'Pope Francis unlikely to canonize Stepinac. Croatia has no direct leverage over the procedure!'

Professor Darko Tanasković is well-versed in the affairs of the Balkans. As the former Ambassador of Serbia to UNESCO, he warns in his interview with Kurir of how endangered the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo is. As a member of the Orthodox-Catholic commission which looked into the life and work of the controversial cardinal Aloysius Stepinac during World War II, he is of the opinion that it is unlikely that Stepinac will be canonized.

How do you comment on the persistent efforts of Priština to appropriate the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo? Can the extent of the threat to our shrines actually be determined, especially those on the UNESCO list?

"In addition to the changing demographic picture and the ratio of Serbs to Albanians in Kosovo in favour of the latter – which has been going on with varying intensity since the end of the Second World War and the Serbian war Golgotha, only to gain a powerful momentum in the late 1990s – the cultural identity-related 'de-Serbianizing' of our southern province is an important element of the overall Greater Albania strategy of creating an independent and ethnically highly uninational 'Kosovo', whose state borders with Albania would be (and already are) considerably relativized and porous. The Kosovo Albanians exert a threefold, varyingly dosed pressure on the Serbian cultural and religious heritage, primarily on the religious buildings of the Serbian Orthodox Church."

How?

"By physical desecration and destruction, by laying false pseudo-scientific claims, i.e. retroactive 'Albanizing', and – which has been very noticeable recently – by a sort of 'Kosovo-izing' or placing under 'state auspices' , in the sense of insisting on the cultural heritage of the 'state of the Kosovo' as a whole, regardless of cultural and national identity. Priština is allegedly ready to assume the responsibility for the protection, maintenance, and promotion of this heritage in the international community context, in line with the highest UNESCO standards. We know full well what that looks like in practice and, thankfully, many people abroad know it too. It is therefore understandable for the Priština officials to react angrily and hysterically when, for example, a renowned non-governmental organization like Europa Nostra places the Dečani Monastery at the top of the list of seven most endangered heritage sites in Europe.

"Still, we shouldn't delude ourselves that all those who should know what lies at the bottom of the threats posed to our cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo really do know this, or that they want to know in the first place, as they follow their political agendas. This is why we must use any means available and all channels of communications in using arguments to always be proving the historical truth, as well as to provide fact-based accounts of the present situation in order to expose the Albanian plans and actions. These actions are systematic, persistent, and always aiming to be aligned with the assessments of the current circumstances in the international community. For instance, the Priština officials recently sent out 'diplomatic circulars' to the addresses of the most important international organizations and 56 heads of state/government, fully committing to taking care of the overall cultural heritage in the territory of their 'state'. Is it surprising then that the Croatian Prime Minister Plenković was among the first to express a deep respect for his counterpart Kurti's cultural commitment?"

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Suffering of the Serbs in Sarajevo between 1991 and 1995, of which you are a member, has recently completed a report on the goings-on in this city during the war. What are its conclusions and the next steps?

"This commission was set up by the Government of the Republic of Srpska, as an earlier decision to set up such a commission had been obstructed at the level of the Bosnian state, leaving the suffering of Serbs in Sarajevo – very well-known in and of itself – institutionally entirely underexplored and insufficiently documented, and therefore lacking an objective account. The Commission, made up of competent and truly independent world-renowned experts, among whom I was the only Serb, has examined in a deeper historical and broader modern contexts, all the aspects of the Sarajevo Serbs' fate in war, presenting its findings and conclusions in a report of over 1,250 pages, in English and Serbian. It's impossible to list even the main conclusions in a brief conversation, but the report will be presented to the domestic, regional, and broader international communities, in different ways and suitable forms. I therefore believe that it will contribute to providing what is necessary for a more balanced account of what is a distinctly one-sided story of Sarajevo as a 'martyr city'. It certainly was that, but for all nations. The report will also provide a more balanced account of the war in Bosnia as a framework of the road beset by hardships that Sarajevo was on. More than 3,000 Serbian civilian casualties and thousands who were forced to leave their city have the right to the truth and the dignity of suffering. The refugees were declared to be the 'aggressors' attacking their own homes, as Nele Karajlić (aka Nenad Janković) put it with a touch of witty bitterness, in a compellingly confessional book titled Last Call in Sarajevo (Fajront u Sarajevu). This mustn't go down in history in its present form."

Croatia isn't giving up on making sure Stepinac is canonized, but the Vatican hasn't yet announced its final decision. Is it possible to predict the outcome of this case?

"The Commission, the first of its kind in history, was set up based on the agreement between the late Patriarch Irinej, who suggested it, and Pope Francis, who readily accepted the suggestion. The aim was to engage in a new, 'joint perusal' of the documents and material relating to the role and activities of Archbishop Stepinac before, during, after the Second World War. The Commission worked in a very congenial atmosphere but, as could be expected, views couldn't even be brought closer on any issue of significance. Still, there is general agreement that the fact that the Commission worked and eventually adopted a joint statement was a useful experience. As things seem to stand now, the chances that Pope Francis will decide on canonization are negligible. The reasons for this are many, but that doesn't mean that Cardinal Stepinac will never be 'elevated to the height of the altar' – in line with the Vatican criteria, the postulator in charge of the canonization has finalized their work and completed their file, so now it all depends on the Pope's decision. A future pope might actually take that decision. For most Croats, Stepinac is already a saint and, what's more, worshipped in a religious-national cult, but as a state, Croatia has no direct leverage over the canonization procedure."

Revising regional history

'We shouldn't turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to facts'

Do you get the impression that what we are seeing in the region are persistent attempts at revising history? Moreover, not just recent history, the 1990s, but also the history that comprises the events of the Second World War…

"Revising the past isn't possible, but revising historiographical interpretations of the past and, as is often said nowadays, shaping new historical narratives is a constant process. History as a discipline is actually concerned with these in light of new findings. This process becomes especially intensive and leaves the domain of objective historical science in times and situations when those who aren't happy with their own roles and the roles of others in specific past periods and events aim to embellish their self-portrait in the mirror of history and adapt it to the current and future political need and plans. The world and our region have for a while now been going through one such period. As Serbs, we don't need that sort of 'revision', but history is being revised in many ways at our expense. We must not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to that fact."

Boban Karović