Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Saturday his statements like the one that he was also the president of Croats not living in Croatia would be “completely or somewhat superfluous” once Croats were able to elect their representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina on their own.
“It’s a difficult situation when I have to say that I’m also the president of Croats not living in Croatia, who have the right to vote because they are Croatian citizens. And not just Croats. There are Bosniaks and Serbs in BiH who also have Croatian citizenship. Perhaps they vote, perhaps they don’t. When Croats are able to elect their representative in Sarajevo on their own, equally as the other two constituent peoples, then those words of mine will be completely or somewhat superfluous,” Milanovic told the press in Varazdin.
He was responding to BiH Presidency Chairman and its Croat member Zeljko Komsic, who said on Thursday that by saying that he was also the president of all Croatian citizens in BiH while Komsic was not, Milanovic had surpassed even Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
“If you want to chase Croats out of BiH or alienate them from BiH, then you’ll deprive them of those fundamental constitutional rights, while simultaneously accusing those who only fight for basic house rules of being destroyers and comparing them with warmongers,” Milanovic said, adding that “the more Croats insist on that right, the more, more than before, they care about staying there.”