Serb Democratic Party (Croatia)
Encyclopedia
The Serb Democratic Party (Serbian
: Српска демократска Странка, Srpska Demokratska Stranka, СДС or SDS) was a political party in Croatia
whose primary constituency were the Serbs of Croatia
. It led the Republic of Serbian Krajina
. It existed between 1990 and 1995.
The SDS was founded in the Socialist Republic of Croatia
on February 17, 1990. It was organized by Jovan Rašković
in 1990, with the wake of incoming democratic parliamentarism and rebirth of nationalism across Yugoslavia. The Croatian Democratic Union
desired to gather the Croats, while SDS' aim were the Croatian Serbs. A sister party was founded in the neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina
which took over the same lead, while the minor sister-parties in Serbia and Montenegro, where socialism was still strong, never became prominent.
SDS participated in the first democratic elections
in Croatia in April and May 1990, winning 1.55% of the vote in the first, and 2% in the second round, giving them several seats in the Croatian Parliament where they were in the opposition. At the time, Franjo Tuđman considered the SDS as the primary representative of the Serbs in Croatia. They were the largest explicitly nationally inclined Serb party in Croatia, although their election success hardly matched the percentage of Serb population in Croatia, at the time 12.2% of the total population.
The self-professed main goal of SDS was to protect the Serb population, which it reckoned endangered as per the new Croatian Constitution
that revoked the status of its Serbs from a constituent nation to a national minority. On July 6, 1990, Milan Babić
convened a meeting of representatives of Serb-populated municipalities, where they rejected the constitutional changes which would preclude such municipal associations, introduce exclusively Croat symbols, and change the name of the language spoken in Croatia (from hrvatskosrpski Croato-Serbian
to hrvatski or Croatian
). SDS also countered HDZ's desire of an independent Croatia, wishing to remain in the same country as most Serbs.
In the early 1990s its popularity grew along with reports of harsh discrimination of the Serb populace in Croatia by the regime of Franjo Tuđman. There were also reports of oppression of Serbs, as well as a media campaign directed by Belgrade that portrayed the Serbs of Croatia as being threatened by the Croat majority. This caused intense emigrations.
Later in 1990, the right wing and nationalist stream in the party won that considered that Serbs cannot live together with Croats in an independent Croatia and Rašković left Croatia along with his close supporters. Milan Babić
took over party leadership and it became instrumental in the organization of events regarding the breakup of Yugoslavia on Croatian territory.
In July 1990, Babić and others organized and participated in a Serbian assembly in Srb
, where they passed a Declaration "on the
Sovereignty and Autonomy of the Serbian Nation" in Croatia and formed a Serbian National Council as the executive body of the assembly. The Council decided to hold a referendum on autonomy and sovereignty for Serbs in Croatia. It was held in late August, but the Croatian government declared it illegal, so it was held only in settlements with Serb majority, where the vote was 97.7% in favor. At the same time, Milan Martić
started distributing weapons to the Serb population and started to erect barricades in Knin which marked the beginning of the Log Revolution
.
In December 1990, they formed SAO Krajina
. In April 1991, the party decided to secede their territory from the Republic of Croatia, and convinced the Serb minority to boycott the Croatian independence referendum of May 19, 1991, considering it illegal. Instead, the SDS organized their own referendum a week earlier (May 12) on which they elected to stay in Yugoslavia. Their referendum was in turn unrecognized by the Croatian government.
The Croatian War of Independence
which escalated in 1991 was the culmination of ethnic hatred between Croats and Serbs. SDS subsequently took charge over the self-proclaimed breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina
formed on a little over 30% of Croatian territory under Serbian control. After Croatia seized most of Western Slavonia early in the war (Otkos 10
and Orkan 91
), the territory controlled by the RSK, and by extension SDS, stabilized in January 1992.
The political party had to deal with increasing troubles, including economic bankruptcy, high unemployment rates and numerous refugees from the rest of Croatia. The arrival of international peacekeeping forces (UNPROFOR) and the subsequent United Nations protectorate greatly helped the situation, but occasional hit-and-run attacks by Croatian forces (Miljevci, Dubrovnik hinterland, Peruča, Maslenica
, Medak
, Dinara
) greatly exhausted the entity. Inner-party divisions over the future of RSK further destabilized the political party.
When RSK was pushed out in Operation Storm
in 1995, the party effectively ceased to exist. A number of its leadership was and is charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
for crimes committed against Croats in the war, most notably its leader Milan Babić who pleaded guilty.
In 2005, rump remains of party members founded a self-styled Republic of Serbian Krajina Government in Exile in Belgrade
, Serbia
.
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
: Српска демократска Странка, Srpska Demokratska Stranka, СДС or SDS) was a political party in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
whose primary constituency were the Serbs of Croatia
Serbs of Croatia
Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
. It led the Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
. It existed between 1990 and 1995.
The SDS was founded in the Socialist Republic of Croatia
Socialist Republic of Croatia
Socialist Republic of Croatia was a sovereign constituent country of the second Yugoslavia. It came to existence during World War II, becoming a socialist state after the war, and was also renamed four times in its existence . It was the second largest republic in Yugoslavia by territory and...
on February 17, 1990. It was organized by Jovan Rašković
Jovan Raškovic
Jovan Rašković was an ethnic Serbian psychiatrist and politician from Croatia....
in 1990, with the wake of incoming democratic parliamentarism and rebirth of nationalism across Yugoslavia. The Croatian Democratic Union
Croatian Democratic Union
The Croatian Democratic Union is the main center-right political party in Croatia. It is the biggest and strongest individual Croatian party since independence of Croatia. The Christian democratic HDZ governed Croatia from 1990 to 2000 and, in partial coalition, from 2003...
desired to gather the Croats, while SDS' aim were the Croatian Serbs. A sister party was founded in the neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
which took over the same lead, while the minor sister-parties in Serbia and Montenegro, where socialism was still strong, never became prominent.
SDS participated in the first democratic elections
Croatian parliamentary election, 1990
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 22 April 1990, with a second round of voting on 6 May. The first free elections since multi-party politics were introduced, they resulted in a victory for the Croatian Democratic Union, which won 55 of the 80 seats...
in Croatia in April and May 1990, winning 1.55% of the vote in the first, and 2% in the second round, giving them several seats in the Croatian Parliament where they were in the opposition. At the time, Franjo Tuđman considered the SDS as the primary representative of the Serbs in Croatia. They were the largest explicitly nationally inclined Serb party in Croatia, although their election success hardly matched the percentage of Serb population in Croatia, at the time 12.2% of the total population.
The self-professed main goal of SDS was to protect the Serb population, which it reckoned endangered as per the new Croatian Constitution
Constitution of Croatia
The current Constitution of the Republic of Croatia was adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia on December 22, 1990. It replaced the Constitution of 1974 ratified in socialist Yugoslavia...
that revoked the status of its Serbs from a constituent nation to a national minority. On July 6, 1990, Milan Babić
Milan Babic
Milan Babić was from 1991 to 1995 the first President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, a Croatian region at the time of the war largely populated by a Serbs of Croatia that wished to break away from Croatia.He was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former...
convened a meeting of representatives of Serb-populated municipalities, where they rejected the constitutional changes which would preclude such municipal associations, introduce exclusively Croat symbols, and change the name of the language spoken in Croatia (from hrvatskosrpski Croato-Serbian
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
to hrvatski or Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
). SDS also countered HDZ's desire of an independent Croatia, wishing to remain in the same country as most Serbs.
In the early 1990s its popularity grew along with reports of harsh discrimination of the Serb populace in Croatia by the regime of Franjo Tuđman. There were also reports of oppression of Serbs, as well as a media campaign directed by Belgrade that portrayed the Serbs of Croatia as being threatened by the Croat majority. This caused intense emigrations.
Later in 1990, the right wing and nationalist stream in the party won that considered that Serbs cannot live together with Croats in an independent Croatia and Rašković left Croatia along with his close supporters. Milan Babić
Milan Babic
Milan Babić was from 1991 to 1995 the first President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, a Croatian region at the time of the war largely populated by a Serbs of Croatia that wished to break away from Croatia.He was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former...
took over party leadership and it became instrumental in the organization of events regarding the breakup of Yugoslavia on Croatian territory.
In July 1990, Babić and others organized and participated in a Serbian assembly in Srb
Srb
Srb is a village located in the southeastern part of Lika, in Croatia, administratively divided into Donji Srb and Gornji Srb . Srb lies in the Una River valley, on the road from Donji Lapac to Knin, and is east of Gračac. It is currently part of the Gračac municipality.In the census of 1991, when...
, where they passed a Declaration "on the
Sovereignty and Autonomy of the Serbian Nation" in Croatia and formed a Serbian National Council as the executive body of the assembly. The Council decided to hold a referendum on autonomy and sovereignty for Serbs in Croatia. It was held in late August, but the Croatian government declared it illegal, so it was held only in settlements with Serb majority, where the vote was 97.7% in favor. At the same time, Milan Martić
Milan Martic
Milan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
started distributing weapons to the Serb population and started to erect barricades in Knin which marked the beginning of the Log Revolution
Log Revolution
The Log Revolution was an insurrection which started on August 17, 1990 in areas of the Republic of Croatia which were populated significantly by ethnic Serbs....
.
In December 1990, they formed SAO Krajina
SAO Krajina
Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina or SAO Krajina was a self proclaimed Serbian autonomous region within modern-day Croatia . It existed between 1990 and 1991 and was subsequently included into Republic of Serbian Krajina...
. In April 1991, the party decided to secede their territory from the Republic of Croatia, and convinced the Serb minority to boycott the Croatian independence referendum of May 19, 1991, considering it illegal. Instead, the SDS organized their own referendum a week earlier (May 12) on which they elected to stay in Yugoslavia. Their referendum was in turn unrecognized by the Croatian government.
The Croatian War of Independence
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
which escalated in 1991 was the culmination of ethnic hatred between Croats and Serbs. SDS subsequently took charge over the self-proclaimed breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
formed on a little over 30% of Croatian territory under Serbian control. After Croatia seized most of Western Slavonia early in the war (Otkos 10
Operation Otkos 10
Operation Otkos 10 was a military offensive undertaken by the Croatian army against the Yugoslav People's Army in SAO Western Slavonia...
and Orkan 91
Operation Orkan 91
Operation Orkan 91 was a military operation during the Croatian War of Independence. After successful completion of Operation Otkos 10, the first offensive operation of such scale by Croatian army in the homeland war, Croatian troops were in position to retake further territory and neutralize a...
), the territory controlled by the RSK, and by extension SDS, stabilized in January 1992.
The political party had to deal with increasing troubles, including economic bankruptcy, high unemployment rates and numerous refugees from the rest of Croatia. The arrival of international peacekeeping forces (UNPROFOR) and the subsequent United Nations protectorate greatly helped the situation, but occasional hit-and-run attacks by Croatian forces (Miljevci, Dubrovnik hinterland, Peruča, Maslenica
Operation Maslenica
In early September, 1991, during the opening stages of the Croatian War of Independence, Serb-dominated units of the Knin Corps of the Yugoslav People's Army , under the command of Colonel Ratko Mladić and supported by the ethnic Serb Krajina militia, conducted offensive operations against areas...
, Medak
Operation Medak Pocket
Operation Medak Pocket: Mid-September 1993 United Nations Protection Force and the 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry advanced into the Medak Pocket, named after the village of Medak, in Southern Croatia, with orders to implement a ceasefire between the Croatian Army Troops...
, Dinara
Operation Winter '94
Operation Winter '94 was a joint military offensive of Croatian Army and Croatian Defense Council launched in Western Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 29 and continuing up until December 24 of 1994 during the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War...
) greatly exhausted the entity. Inner-party divisions over the future of RSK further destabilized the political party.
When RSK was pushed out in Operation Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
in 1995, the party effectively ceased to exist. A number of its leadership was and is charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
for crimes committed against Croats in the war, most notably its leader Milan Babić who pleaded guilty.
In 2005, rump remains of party members founded a self-styled Republic of Serbian Krajina Government in Exile in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
See also
- Serbs of CroatiaSerbs of CroatiaVišeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
- Croatian War of IndependenceCroatian War of IndependenceThe Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
- Serbian Democratic PartySerbian Democratic PartyThe Serbian Democratic Party is a political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is led by Mladen Bosić...
(Bosnia and Herzegovina)