Pupovac: We will address EU for assistance

BELGRADE - The motives behind the latest demolition of Cyrillic signs in Vukovar overstepped the bounds of acceptable behavior for the marking of anniversaries and election campaigns, took on the aspect of a historical-civilizational conflict, even the scale of antagonism against the Slavic literacy, Serbs and Serbia, said President of the Serb National Council in Croatia Milorad Pupovac.

"We have the possibility of addressing the OSCE, Council of Europe, and European Parliament for violations of the constitutional law on national minority rights," Pupovac said in a statement to the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti that was published on Thursday.

The institution of the Serb community should act, and present the Cyrillic script in Croatia in a different way from the one affirmed by the Headquarters for the Defense of Crotian Vukovar, the Church and political parties, he said.

"In the last year or two, Cyrillic has been stigmatized, which implies that the neighboring countries using the script are also being stigmatized, but also the entire civilization and cultural heritage. Besides that, fears are spreading within the Serb community, and that hinders the exercise of other rights- education, but also a free feeling of ethnic and religious affiliation," Pupovac said.

"There is no doubt that, when it comes to the presentation of the historical dimension of the Cyrillic script, we will need Serbia's assistance, but even more than that we will need Serbia's commitment to the better position of Serbs in Croatia," said the SNV president and member of the Croatian parliament.

"We expect the state to approach the issue in line with the agreement on minority rights and EU documents and obligations stemming from the...