Metropolitan Porfirije: Serbs in Croatia are afraid

27/2/15

In Zagreb 30,000 Serbs live, but many of them are afraid to declare themselves publicly because of the fear that their rights to have normal life would be endangered,  Serbian Metropolitan Porfirije of Zagreb-Ljubljana said three days ago.  The Metropolitan also noted that the arrival of Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic in Zagreb, on the feast-day of Meeting of the Lord, the state holiday of Serbia, was a great encouragement for the Serbs in Croatia.

Metropolitan Porfirije added as examples that only about two or three hundred Serbs attend church services on Sundays. “The reason is fear. It is particularly precarious in situations when there is a possibility that a camera of some media is present, and consequently even a less number of them goes to church, because they fear to be seen. They fear that they could have problems”, he said. He also added that these problems were different, but the people fear, in one word, that their rights to have normal life would be compromised.

He added that our people in Croatia rejoiced at the arrival of the Serbian Prime Minister in the capital city of Croatia, “because it is primarily an expression of Serbia’s concern for the position and problems of the Serbian people in Croatia”. “There are numerous open issues between Croatia and Serbia regarding the status of the Serbian people in Croatia, which cannot be resolved without a dialogue. The lack of communication is of no use for anyone, and the problems deepen.  Hence, this visit of Prime Minister Vucic, it seems to me, represents a shift in relations between the two countries”, Metropolitan Porfirije concluded.

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