BORKOVIĆ: WE KEEP WORKING ON PRESERVING SERB NATIONAL IDENTITY

SPLIT, MARCH 31 / SRNA/ - The City Council of the Serb National Minority in Split will keep working on preserving the cultural identity of Serbs in Croatia together with colleagues from Zagreb and compatriots from all over Croatia, the chair of the Council Ilija Borković told SRNA.

Borković has stated that the Council's this year's programme includes the continuation of work on the preservation of the culture, language and alphabet of the Serbs who live in the area of Split and its surroundings.

"We are very active and I believe we are working well on the concept of building and preserving our cultural identity, which is closely related to building and preserving national identity," said Borković.

He stated that the work of the Council last year was marked by cultural events, summer workshops of the Cyrillic alphabet for children and youth, as well as private lessons in mathematics and English, and announced that similar activities would be continued this year as well.

"We will also insist on bilingualism. You have a number of municipalities and cities in Croatia where bilingualism is respected, and these are usually local communities where Serbs make up 30 percent of the total population," Borković pointed out.

He added that, according to the 2021 population census, there are 2,000 Serbs in Split, but according to unofficial data, there are around 5,000.

According to him, the difference in the number is a consequence of the fact that many Serbs do not publicly declare their national and religious affiliation.

"This number is enough to teach Cyrillic alphabet in schools in Split," said Borković.

He has pointed out that the Council is successfully working to relax relations between Serbs and Croats in this local community, which is possible and feasible.

"How are you going to relax relations? Well, let your guests be members of all communities. And let's finally leave these unfortunate, traumatic 1990s behind us. We have to leave them behind and move forward," said Borković.