Croatia in World Cup: The story of its origin

Croatia’s prominence in the football World Cup freshened memories of its origin in the war which expanded after the then German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher recognized Croatian and Slovenian independence, ahead of other European Union (EU) countries which were palpitating because German reunification in 1990 had already added to their anxieties.

As the Persian expression goes “Ek na shud, do shud”. Before one source of anxiety could subside, another surfaced.

Cardinal Franjo Kuharic, headquartered in Zagreb’s magnificent Cathedral, marched off to the Vatican to seek the Pope’s and Italy’s support.

This was promptly given. Some EU member countries began to have nightmares of the ‘Axis’ being revived.

I was in the Cardinal’s office in the Cathedral which dominates Zagreb square, when the door of the ante room flung open and Father Juraj Jezerinac of the Topusko Parish walked in.

I had been introduced to him at the earliest stages of the conflict in one of the livelier cafes in Zagreb square. He was full of stories.

One night, his orthodox Serb counterpart from the neighbouring church compound came to him, looking very conspiratorial. He had received word from the Orthodox headquarters in Belgrade that Orthodox priests must lead all Serb populations out of Western Croatia in the Topusko area because the Serb army was preparing to attack the area and annex it as part of Greater Serbia. This was a scoop.

Was further proof required to confirm coordination between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches? They would put aside their intraChurch conflicts and join hands against the Bosnian Muslims.

The cruel irony was that Sarajevo, the centre of art, music, theatre, literature in former Yugoslavia, was primarily a Bosnian Muslim city.

Sarajevo went down, nursing art and culture, unable to cope with the assault of Philistinism. At the outset when, some EU members suspected German and Italian encroachments, Britain and France came covertly on the side of Serbia which had been with them during World War II.

Nothing could have exceeded Serbian brutality than the four-year long siege of Sarajevo.

The siege of Sarajevo was graphically chronicled by a daily newspaper, Oslobodenje, which won global awards for its bravery.

The paper’s office itself was an astounding sight. The offices and the press were in a huge basement, beneath the debris of a multi-storeyed building brought down during the war.

The editor Kemal Kurspahic

THROUGHOUT THE FOURYEAR CONFLICT, EUROPE MAINTAINED A HANDSOFF POLICY TO AVOID INTERNAL DIVISIONS WITHIN EUROPEAN UNION.

whom I had met at the last nonaligned summit attended by Rajiv Gandhi in Belgrade, looked none the worse for his travails.

But he had, nevertheless, developed a mark on his forehead. This happens when the forehead hits the ground for namaz five times a day over months and years.

“Have you become a devout Muslim?” I asked. “There is no alternative but God when the world abandons you.” There was conviction in his voice.

“Who helped you publish the paper in these circumstances?” His reply stunned me. “George Soros.” Throughout the four-year conflict, Europe maintained a hands-off policy to avoid internal divisions within EU.

The mainstream narrative was fudged even on such crimes as the Srebrenica massacres in which 8,000 young Bosnian men were separated from their families and shot dead by Serb militias.

Why did the Dutch Peace Keeping Forces move away from the site of the massacre?

The 78-day US bombing of Serbia during the Kosovo war was designed to oust the Serbian dictator, Slobodan Milosevic.

Russians had been outmaneuvered by the western alliance in a theatre Moscow considered its pan Slavic sphere of influence.

Therefore, when the responsibility of various parts of Kosovo was being distributed between the countries of Europe, Russian armoured carriers barged into the area around Pristina airport, uninvited.

They are still in occupation of that airport.

Britain, Germany, France control other segments of Kosovo, a tiny country dotted with exquisite monasteries.

Considering that this World Cup has been a celebration of multiculturalism, how do I explain my being distracted into Balkan tribalism?

How swiftly a nation of 4.5 million has made its mark, wrenching itself away from a recent and messy past.

Supposing Sefik Ibrahimovic had not migrated from Bosnia to Sweden in 1977 where the great soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was born?

Well, Zlatan could have claimed a slot in the Croatian team with considerable justification. His mother, Jurka Gravic, is after all a Croat.

Remember, there was multiculturalism in the Balkans too before sectarian tribalism was let loose.