The Islands of Croatia. Rudolf Abraham

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      Titova špilja, used as a base by Tito during the Second World War, on the slopes of Hum, Vis (Walk 22)

      Following the end of the Second World War, the Federal Peoples’ Republic of Yugoslavia was established on 29 Nov 1945, consisting of six republics and two autonomous provinces. Tito initiated a number of constitutional reforms and formally broke with Stalinism in 1948. But the perceived over-representation of Serbs in government positions and the security forces, combined with the suppression of organised religion, led to increasing dissatisfaction in Croatia, culminating in the ‘Croatian Spring’ of 1971. Following Tito’s death in 1980, discontent and nationalist aspirations which he had largely driven underground in 1971 slowly rose to the surface.

      Free elections were held in April 1990, with Franjo Tuđman and the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) elected to office with 40 per cent of the vote. Mass dismissals of Serbs from the public service sector, combined with an unrelenting Serbian media campaign heralding the rebirth of the Ustaše, prompted Croatia’s 600,000 strong Serb community in the Krajina and eastern Slavonia to demand autonomy. In May 1991, following the deaths of 12 Croatian policemen near Osijek, a referendum was held, with over 90 per cent voting in favour of Croatian independence, which was formally declared on 25 June 1991. In response, the Krajina Serbs held their own referendum and voted to remain part of Yugoslavia. JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army) forces entered Slovenia, which had also declared its independence, but were comprehensively defeated in five days. In Croatia, the so-called ‘Homeland War’ was to take a very different course.

      In June 1991 heavy fighting broke out in the Krajina and eastern Slavonia, after which the Serb-dominated JNA increasingly intervened on its own authority in support of Serbian irregulars. European Community mediation persuaded Croatia to freeze its declaration of independence to prevent the country spiralling into further bloodshed, but in the three months following 25 June a quarter of Croatian territory fell to Serb militias and the JNA. In September, the Croatian government ordered the blockade of federal military installations within Croatia; in response the JNA blockaded the Adriatic and laid siege to the historic town of Vukovar on the Danube. The United Nations declared an arms embargo on all republics of the former Yugoslavia.

      In October the JNA and Montenegrin militia positioned themselves on the hills above Dubrovnik, beginning a siege that would last until June the following year and draw widespread international media attention. In November Vukovar finally fell, having been almost razed to the ground by relentless air and artillery bombardment, and many of the surviving inhabitants were massacred. By December, thousands of people had died in the fighting in Croatia, and more than half a million fled their homes.

      Korčula town, said to have been the birthplace of Marco Polo

      A ceasefire and UN negotiations in early 1992 were accompanied by the withdrawal of the JNA, although significantly it did not mark a return to pre-war borders or provide for their future settlement. In May 1995 Croatian forces took matters into their own hands and entered occupied western Slavonia, quickly regaining control of the area; the Krajina Serbs responded by shelling Zagreb. In August Croatia retook the Serb stronghold of Knin. In December 1995 the Dayton Accord was signed in Paris, and Croatia’s international borders were recognised.

      The years since 1995 have seen most of the physical scars of the war repaired, at least on the coast – although many parts of Vukovar in eastern Slavonia still remain in ruins. Tourist numbers and foreign property buying have soared, and local salaries have risen. Croatia achieved candidacy status for EU membership in 2004, finally joining the EU in July 2013.

Language

      Croatian is a South Slavonic language, closely related to Serbian and Bosnian. The relationship between Croatian and Serbian is variously seen as similar to that between British and American English, or as that between two wholly separate and distinct languages, depending on one’s point of view. The standardisation of language while Croatia was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1991) resulted in the amalgamation of Croatian and Serbian (as the two dominant languages within the Federation) into Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat. This was written in the Latinised Croatian alphabet in Croatia, and in Cyrillic in Serbia. Since independence, there has been a concerted effort on both sides of the border to untangle, and in some cases polarise, the two languages.

      English is widely spoken in Croatia, particularly in Zagreb and major tourist centres on the coast (although less so in smaller towns and villages off the main tourist trail). However, as anywhere making the effort to learn at least a few words of the local language will be appreciated by locals and make travel more rewarding.

      Road sign at Križići, on the island of Cres (Walk 8)

      Croatian is a phonetic language – that is, every letter in a word is pronounced, and the pronunciation of a given letter is always the same (which makes it far more consistent than English). A number of letters occurring in English are pronounced completely differently in Croatian, most notably ‘c’ (pronounced ‘ts’) and ‘j’ (pronounced ‘y’), so learning the correct pronunciation of these will greatly improve your chances of being understood properly.

      See Appendix E for a list of useful Croatian words and phrases.

Getting there

      By plane

      Visitors can fly to Croatia and take a ferry to the islands from the Adriatic coast. There are several major airports on the coast – (north to south) Pula, Rijeka (the airport for which is actually on the island of Krk), Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik. For the walks in this book, Split, Zadar and Rijeka (see Appendix B for information on these gateway cities) are the most convenient, as they are the main departure points for the islands by ferry (see ‘Getting around’ for more information on СКАЧАТЬ