Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anušić announced today that he canceled the meeting with his Montenegrin counterpart Dragan Krapović because of his statements about the memorial plaque in the former Morinja camp and the Jadran ship.
“The views of Minister Krapović, which he expressed in the media in recent days, leave no room for discussion and completely deviate from the views of the Republic of Croatia and historical facts,” Anušić wrote on Facebook.
The media reported that Anušić, who is staying in Montenegro where he is supposed to attend the celebration of the Croatian People’s Day, canceled the meeting with the Montenegrin Minister of Defense scheduled for today in Podgorica.
According to the media, Krapović recently said that a mistake was made when the plaque was placed in the former Morinj camp and that the inscription, which, among other things, says that the events in that camp are “the consequences of Great Serbian aggression”, does not correspond to the facts.
Krapović also said that what happened in the Morinj camp was a consequence of the war in the former Yugoslavia, and that the plaque should be replaced, Hina agency reported.
Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman reacted to that statement earlier, saying that “without facing the recent past, Montenegro cannot become an equal member of the EU, nor be a credible NATO ally”.
He also said that he will consider any attempt to remove the plaque in Morinje as a violation of the memory of the victims of Croatian citizens and the dignity of Croatia.
For the Croatian minister, Krapović’s statement about the ownership of the school ship Jadran is also disputed. Namely, he said that the Montenegrin government is not ready to negotiate ownership and that Croatia has no right to claim the ship.
