Media Watch
Nikolic advocates “Greater Serbia”
NOVI SAD -- Wednesday – Presidential hopeful Tomislav Nikolic said last night that his Serbian Radical Party had not given up on the idea of a “Greater Serbia”.
“My desire is to once again found a state in Serb Krajina”, Nikolic told Novi Sad Television Apolo, in reference to the area in Croatia which was briefly declared a Serb republic during the war in the early 1990s. “Why wouldn’t I want Greater Serbia to be united?” he asked.
Nikolic, who topped Serbia’s abortive presidential election, said that with the existing borders Serbia should cut diplomatic ties with Croatia.
The Radicals’ deputy leader said that if he became president he would insist on the return of the Serbian army and police to Kosovo. Asked if this implied the possibility of another war, Nikolic replied: “Yes, if you mean clashes with Albanian terrorists.”
“Whoever attacks a Serb village or a Serb house, we’ll get into a conflict with him. If defending Serbs means confrontation, then I’m ready for confrontation”.
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Radical candidate says Croatia an “occupying force” | 16:18 | Tanjug
BELGRADE -- Thursday – Serbian presidential hopeful Tomislav Nikolic has denied saying his Radical Party would go to war over the Krajina region of Croatia, but reiterated that Croatia remains “an occupying force” on Serb land.
“It’s a lie that I said we’d go to war”, Nikolic told a press conference today, when asked about his comments on Tuesday evening on Novi Sad television Apolo.
He claimed the media had summarised his hour-long interview in three sentences.
“This is my truth”, he said today. “Croatia is an occupying force in the territory of the Republic of Serb Krajina. One day, when the circumstances in the world change, when each and every person in the world gets the opportunity to live on his own land, then I guess Serbs will also be allowed to live on their own property.
Then, he added, Serbs living in Serb Krajina will have the right to say whom they wish to live with.
Nikolic came top in this month’s abortive Serbian presidential elections. His party is also expected to perform well in parliamentary elections in December.
