Ante Beljo

Good morning and welcome to the first scholarly meeting in Zadar, based on the topic, SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE FROM 1918 TO 1995 in Zadar. In my opening words, I wish to stress why we have chosen this time and this place to organize meetings and discussions among eminent local and foreign scholars, publicists and politicians.

The history of this central European and Balkan territory is full of contradictions and conflicts of various cultures, civilizations and religions. In these century old conflicts, it was precisely the Croatian people with 14 centuries of tradition in all the above domains, who experienced the greatest losses. For centuries, and until recently, Croatia has been experiencing loss of its national territory and part of its population.

Now, when the Croatian people have finally achieved their century old dream of having their own independent state, we would like this territory to become a meeting place and a bridge connecting past diversities and contradictions. We would like for history to be written about objectively but before entering into the third millennium of western civilization, the Croatian side and the opinion of objective foreign researchers must first be heard. Until now, before the existence of the Croatian state, we have only heard one side. As they say, history was written by the victor; those who were victorious on the green field or at the green table.

In the last one hundred and fifty years, at the border of central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula, where Croats and Serbs live, a battle of ideas and politics was being lead between those who wished to create a unified Yugoslavian nation and those who endeavored to expand Serbia and assimilate other nations to achieve the Greater Serbian idea. However, there were also those who endeavored to achieve freedom, independence and statehood for all nations living on this territory; an aspiration which was actualized with the breakdown of the second Yugoslavia.

If we wish to begin writing history objectively and if we wish to re-assess past results, we must organize scholarly meetings of prominent researchers from various countries, in peace. For, these meetings are certainly better than conflicts and the solving of accumulated problems with violence and war.

Since we believe that the violent actualization of the Greater Serbian idea was caused by a number of conflicts, this will be the primary topic at hand. It is specifically the period between 1918 and 1995 that will be addressed, during which time Yugoslavian nations were destroyed by force. The basic idea in both Yugoslavias was: to create a Greater Serbia. The idea of unity and Yugoslavianism was only a passing phase. In both Yugoslavias, Serbs were the majority. They were the strongest and most organized nation. This is again the case in the third, smaller Yugoslavia, organized around Belgrade and Serbia.

Our task is to provide all those who concern themselves with this problem, an opportunity to actively participate in our scholarly meeting, and afterwards to join us at a round table, to discuss the accomplishments of our meeting, as it is done in Europe and in the world. In this respect, the nations of the Scandinavian Peninsula, should serve as an example to us, as nations who shared a history and despite their share of problems, peacefully separated and today, objectively and rationally write about their past together.

It is a special honour to be able to greet so many well-respected guests from around the world in our ancient historical Croatian city, Zadar. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the representatives of the local and district governments, and delegates from the Croatian assembly and government. I would like to extend a special welcome to the lecturers from numerous neighbouring and distant countries, who put their own work aside to, not only to participate in the reconstruction of the historical picture in this area, but to assist with the development of long lasting peace; which is long overdue in this area, metaphorically nicknamed " gunpowder barrel" at the beginning of the century.

I would also like to invite the present experts to participate in a discussion after the scholarly meeting, at the "round table", and at the popular lectures later to be held in Split, Mostar and Dubrovnik.

Thank you all very much for coming. Thank you, as well, to our hosts, representatives of the city of Zadar, who so graciously received us as guests in their city, where we can still smell the gunpowder and where ruins and fresh graves remind us of the past, and invite future long lasting peace.

I would know like to invite Mr. Mario Matulina to say a few words on behalf of the town council and the mayor.

Mr. Mario Matulina:
Ladies and gentleman, as the president of the town council, and on the behalf of our Mayor, who is unable to be here, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you here today at this distinguished meeting, which will discuss this territory's political history throughout this past century. It is an exceptional honour to hold such a meeting in the city of Zadar. Zadar, deserves to host this gathering because it is a city full of historical and archeological sediments and a city, which has been the centre of numerous significant events throughout history. The historical significance of Zadar, which even the local people of Zadar will attest to, earned Zadar its Faculty of Arts, as well.

I believe, that it is extremely important for us to hold such gatherings, here, and in Europe, simply because they assist us in destroying the negative propaganda which has been dominant here for centuries. They will allow for objectivity and assist in clarifying history, which will certainly please all of us. Once again, I welcome all our distinguished guests and hope the next three days prove enjoyable for you all. We have given you a photo-monograph illustrating Zadar as it once was, as well as the effects of the war on Zadar. You might not be able to notice the effects of the war on Zadar today, because as soon as a bomb would fall, we would immediately clean and fix anything that was destroyed. The photo-monograph will thus give you a more distinct picture of the dreadful effects of the war on Zadar.