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5/1/1994 - Istria’s shifting shoals by Chandler R. Rosenberger

NOT FOR PUBLICATION CRR WITHOUTWRITI WSCONSENT INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWORLDAFFAIRS Istria shifting shoals Chandler RosenberSer Peter B Martin ICWA West Wheelock St Hanover N H 03755 USA Dear Peter Pula CROATIA Navigating along sandy coast tricky business Winter storms shoals floor quickly So September rented friends along Slovenia shore I relieved skirting rocky After years crossing disputed borders I could finally worrying whether right The Istrian peninsula medieval Venetian churches still stand secure water Their square towers better landmarks harbor bouys Leaving Koper sailing count might stops familiar route But towers testament strength Venetian Republic built Only great trading power could routes enough allow their shore CHANDLER ROSENBERGER John Crane Memorial Fellow Institute writing aboutthe nations ofCentralEurope Since Institute Current World Affairs Crane Rogers Foundation provided fellowships enable outstanding young adults outside United States write about international areas issues Endowed bythelateCharlesR Crane theInstituteisalsosupportedbycontributionsfromlike mindedindividualsand foundations Whentherepubliccollapsed itstradewassustainedbytheHabsburgswho inherited lands But disappeared after First World War vanished How could build towns great powers claiming ground Over eighty years every ideology nationalism fascism communism least swept across Is And their supposed differences results usually factories seized populations expelled currencies printed debased For while Yugoslavia offered sustenance locals could tourism rumors visitors borders hobbled other industries remain The democratic Italian Slovene Croat states share peninsula slowly building links But bitterness still grips region leaders shows lesson Adriatic It storms harbors always survive It political storms shift borders inland finish Trieste without patrons If shabbiness dominated Central Europe before sense energies spent lingering scent culture death Prague Budapest Go Trieste In Prague American entreprenuers turne siecle Obecni Dom raging night featuring grunge bands Budapest Rakoczi Street flickers signs English advertising striptease shows stops supermarkets There Dunkin Donuts Only Trieste still haggard Habsburg exhaustion The Venice Customs House served Central Europe looks across BOSNIA Occupationb A Riva Mandracchio empty concrete quays For business district HERCEG Piazza della Borsa awfully sleepy The young mostly university students later escape inescapable Theoretically Communism could reinvigorating effect Trieste cousin cities north since could again reopened eastern markets Trieste first boomed Habsburg emperor Charles VI granted special trade privileges today under Italian still trade zones It still enjoys excellent Slovenia Vienna Austrians built relieve dependence Danube access waterways Unfortunately finds itself wrong border While Prague magnet ambitious Czechs Budapest boomtown Hungarian businessmen Trieste remains without hinterland fortified outpost Italian irredentists Slavophiles wished fallen theSlovenes Withtepassageoftime theEnglishhistorianA J P Taylor wrote blurring distinction between historical historic peoples Trieste would doubt become Slovene Prague become Czech Budapest Magyar Slovene misfortune arrived consciousness Whatever state national consciousness Slovenia state express Italy When Austro Hungary enemies first World War offered Istria Gorizia South Tyrol Dalmatia enticement switch sides switch Receiving Italy betrayal Eastern front fictional Habsburg patriot soldier Svejk confident victory nationalists Now again tells comrades N enemy front again economical munitions The children there family The Empire rulers seemed assured In early Austria attempted separate peace Rome promising Dalmatia insisting keeping Trieste The Italians refused Vienna decided Trieste valuable sacrifice fought In supported Slovene leaders still active Austrian politics feared Italian would prove benign Austrian Some Monsignor Korosec noted Italy Allies approved Serbian leadership Facing future divided between Italy Yugoslavia Belgrade Korosec tried breathe called Trialist solution Austria South Slavs federalizing empire granting Southern Slavs political rights Magyars already enjoyed But national solution backing Allies One U S president Woodrow Wilson Points called Italian border along national lines border destined Trieste trusts census under Italian I19 Trieste residents called themselved Italian Slovene While paper national solution actually Trieste death Cut border eastern markets economic decline And national solution riddled contradictions A strictly national borders would given Italians minority overall control entire peninsula Force prevailed force argument It would however given Croatian Rijeka Fiume CARINTH SEA Scale miles Slovenes Italians Magyars Germans Croats Serbs Areas national majority lstria region Habsburg which Italian majority Instead Treaty Rapallo proclaimed Following precedent force again prevail where argument failed In Gabriele D Annunzio Italian aviator private soldiers garbed cloaks armed daggars occupy The comic opera government collapsed after three months Mussolini marched Rome later fortunes changed The Italian dictator annexed As fascists other parts Yugoslavia later force argument Today Trieste shallow curve stria Gorizia behind since granted Yugoslavia after second world But electoral success Italy March elections National Alliance section which Italian Social Movementl direct heirs Mussolini raised question whether expand Italian lands vigorously their political ancestor Despite National Alliance leader Giofranco Fini attempts appear moderate hardline pressure within party forced Fini nominate Mirko Tremaglia former soldier Mussolini chairman parliament foreign affairs committee Tregmaglia treaty confirming Italy borders Slovenia Croatia should ripped allow Rome again pursue territorial claims The Italian Social Movement MSI characters I spoke Trieste December inherited ilDuce ideas borders style No comic opera nationalist Roberto Menia twentysomething national coordinator MSI Trieste Surrounded posters portraying monuments former Italian cities Yugoslav coast Menia pondered floor through flowing black locks played Hermes scarf called irredentism Istria Fiume Rijeka Dalmatia We never renounced Menia We struggled years stronger renegotiate everything borders included We territorieswehadbeforethewar MeniaevensuggestedthattheItalians Serbs might cooperate divide Croatia between Fini already Belgrade We interests interests Serbs together Today Slovenes Croatians protest presence postfascists Italian government merely because Mussolini annexed Rijeka As turned deadly advent Balkans sleeve In early 1930s Croats disaffected Kingdom Yugoslavia Mussolini agents established links their fascist movement Ustashe When Axis powers crushed Belgrade regime helped install GERMANY Ustashe leader Ante Pavlevic nominally independent Croatian state Worse still Mussolini annexed thirds BARAN Slovenia Dalmatian coast Zagrcb previously three percent Italianl control hinterland along INDEPENDENT Adriatic Croatian nationalists royalist Bahia Luka STATE Yugoslav nostalgics Communists alike opposition When Fini National OF Alliance today reported saying CROATIA Mussolini greatest Italian Split statesman century fiercely Communist Croats Slovenes shocked To Mussolini represents Communist collectivism oppression spilt blood ruined lives Frontiers Yugoslavia before April But supporting regime unpopular among Boundaries areas partition ordinary Croats Mussolini played hands Partisan revolt indirectly seeding Istria second storm communism Scale miles Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito bring under umbrella fascist units Slovenia Croatia despite later official necessarily communist At meeting Anti Fascist Council National Liberation Bosnian Jajce Tito promised reunited Yugoslavia would annex territories Italy Istria Rijeka Trieste Gorizia largely populated Slovenes Croats Tito further promised postwar Yugoslavia would federal unitary state As Mussolini government collapsed German forces withdrew Tito large ideologically diverse force little trouble sweeping vacuum making promises ground example evacuated later Titos forces continued occupy orizi lands movement sought The Italian Yugoslav peace treaty Postojna NE confirmed gains except Trieste G parts eastern Friuli Free TRST C Territory Trieste along TERRITORY OF TRIESTE Istrian coast The declared international split British American troops administered Pazin western region around Trieste A Yugoslavs controlled Italo Yugoslav B Trieste _____oo littlel Boundary under P hinterland Free Territor Trie If memories Mussolinil still haunt stria Slavs cruelty Tito regime between still embitter thousands ninsula Italians Their genuine brought visited offices Unione Delgi striani Trieste ferociously irredentist organization The Unione offices decorated enormous yellowing Italian Istria heraldry uprooted families occupied sweet women expelled under rubric collective guilt Here I found noneoftheadventurismoftheMSI onlypoignantremindersofaculture destroyed We apology Croats SIovenes Denis Zigante Union president Partisans killed people people caves And because Communists theysaidwewerefascists ButwefledbecausewewereItalian It complaints settled level commission another property values judge civil damages But damage something Partisans campaign cannot measured currencies Fortunately Slovene negotiators acknowledge importance discussing paying Thoughout common history there moments bright unfortunately there bright Stefan Cigoj former Yugoslav diplomat Rome Slovenia chief negotiator There number bloody events burden Slovene Italian relations burden consciences populations along border The Italian Slovene foreign ministers therefore established special commission historians review history century The difficult question course historians common period within which discuss their common ground Here other parts Central Europe national relations merely matter settling borders space establishing borders The Italians Cigoj compla wanted focus issues graves Italians executed between expulsion other Italians The Slovenes other wanted discuss fascist crimes perhaps treatment Slavs under interwar Italian We aware these historical events Cigoj further search reasons comprehensive review investigate instances So fueding families searching vaults competing earlier deeds commission spend setting period which injustices discussing injustices themselves A similar problem plagues another commission charged establishing whether Italian pension payments residents Zone B should calibrated A crucial issue Slovenes Croats think since Italians seven years worth Italians statistical charts Until Slovenes Italians common foundation their friendship their future together however amicable Trieste defensive Surrounded embittered Triestians defensive Yugoslavia courted In early 1950s Tito broken Stalin Yugoslavia socialism begun West against In signed American brokered Balkan Pact nonaggression Greece Turkey Although treaty letter paved London Agreement which allowed Yugoslavia annex B Free Territory Trieste administering Italy A As further sweetener allies extended Tito build Koper alternative Trieste became Istrian ltalian refugees Admittedly small funds offers Italian government soften But little consolation those resigned change borders change property deeds Surrounded sides Communist state saddled aging population refugees Trieste became paranoid political pressure cooker The cooker boiled Italy signed Osimo Agreement Yugoslavia Under agreement Italy agreed forgo claims seized property accepting instead Belgrade would II0 million dollars period I0 years starting I The agreement principle although occasionally modified Under Rome Agreement example Yugoslavia million returned properties their original Italian owners Osimo enraged Trieste refugees Istria Not compensation inadequate Tito seemed conspiratorially minded plotting seizure Trieste after Osimo legal foundations constru ction Novi Trst industrial Z F I C Zona France Industriala Sul Carso Yugoslav border Trieste To Communist activists Vedella Screan appeared Tito planning import Slavs other regions Montenegro Bosnia press unification Novi Trst Trieste It occupying preparation They always Trst Nas Trieste To protest Osimo agreement Screan others founded Italy first regional political party Lista Per Trieste Benefitting Yugoslav expansion anger Rome perceived pusillanimity Lista candidates Trieste mayors years In December mayoral elections Lista posters showed opposition CRR carrying placards Tito Osimo Slovenska Skupnost Slovene Community political organziation Trieste Slovene minority ofcourse TrstjeNas The Lista thenwentontobecome element Fini National Alliance With collapse Yugoslavia Triestans apparently longer losing their Belgrade In December Guiliano Staffieri incumbent mayor candidate Lista opposition candidate Franco Illy openly supported Slovene minority But Trieste still revision compensation agreements written Osimo If Communism doesn exist Yugoslavia doesn exist property Zigante because stolen Someone Rome apparently listening On May Italy prevented Slovenia joining membership which requirement Eastern European states would European Union Ironically designed diffuse historical grievances border disputes The Italians return property Slovenia share compensation Osimo A Slovene foreign ministry official disagreed We asking number account which deposit money Buttheyneveranswer Theyjustcomplainthatwearenotpaying Italy wants property money Cigoj A joint commission discuss restitution Italians little chance Slovenia refuses return property seized Communists citizens At least former Italian residents Istria Gorizia rights property Slovenes enjoy which foreigners although lease years They write themselves Zigante expect S1ovenia promises a11ow foreigners become member European Union In meantime foreign ownership certainly special rights Italians Slovenia sensitive ownership property Cigoj Their purchasing power greater Italy France Germany If would Slovenia And there minority issues sides complain about their conationals across border Italy obstructing Slovenia integration EU before right government power Rome In May Italy objected Slovenian membership Council Europe In December Italian government Slovenia should allowed stability which Central European state agree respect rights their minorities Rome complained Slovenia TV Koper Italian language broadcasting hours Italy EU extending countries conflict Slovenia No Slovenia without Croatia their refrain Slovenia upset minority enjoys rights granted German speakers Trentino The London agreement article Italian constitution article Osimo treaty basis grant Italy Slovene minority rights schools bilingual signs television broadcasting Cigoj But years passed Italy except attempts anything A allowing Slovene television broadcasts Gorizia Trieste resulted single minute state TV And Italy first electoral makes impossible minorities spread elect candidates common party Under Staffieri Trieste banned Slovene official contacts bilingual signs But Slovene foreign ministry officials remain optimistic relations improve Trieste mayor strong advocate closer links Italy restrained EU other members especially country biggest stake foreign investment Germany Even Greeks official think Italian complaints Slovenia comparable their ownvirulent dispute Macedonia They against minority issues We offer protection Italian language rights reserve member assembly Italian Hungarian candidate As property allow foreigners right members EU A common future The lands Yugoslavia annexed Italian territory Italy given Drive Trieste heading might check twice Italian Slovene border leaving Italy entering The square Koper Capodistria wrapped oddly irregular Byzantine facades Venice The effect dramatic water If Koper other towns Slovenia short coast Izola Piran Po counting their square Venetian belltowers Koper tourist attractions remind Italian Friday night quickly discover tourist The pleasure boats mostly German Austrian owned protected narrow jetty wakes commercial ships steaming Slovenia For their historical disputes Slovene Italian governments build future based principle exploiting their ports proximity Central Europe But become colleagues competitors The Koper Slovenia economic projects The government expanding hectares plans deepen channel meters minimum required commercial shipping channel meters Slavko Han state secretary Slovene Ministry Transportation hopes serve Austrian Czech Slovak Hungarian Ukrainian shipping needs Of million shipped through million Austria million Hungary million Czech lands But Austrian Greens forced tight restrictions trucking Czech goods cannot south instead north through Gdansk adding travel goods heading Far East The construction decent connecting Hungary But depends EU funding subject Italian approval So Italian government supported Slovenia EU funds improve roads A European Union build Barcelona Kiev includes stretch Trieste Ljubljana Hungary earmarks milion ECUs I ECU USD Trieste Hungary I0 Of course Italian interest build since Austria Trieste LIUBkIANA NOVA KRgKO GORICA constructedhighways iiiii KO EV E plannedhighways until commencement ofconstruction But Italy Slovenia develop other aspects essentially competitor Central European governments Italy Austria Hungary Bavaria Romania Bulgaria Croatia coordination committee RP Adria region transport But comes access every itself We collaborate Hanzel quite clear everyone interest large percentage transport possible New border problems If Koper Istrian coast remember counting those capellos Croatian seaside villages Umag Porec Venetian belltowers Koper Potoroz similarity there Slope accidentally towards Croatian coast raided U N officials lookout runners Once strung pearls along Venice trade route ports Western stria divided rigorous Slovene Croat border And their common Yugoslav St John church Umag about helpful their problems their shared Italian heritage All accoutrements independence sovereignty international fishing cutting regional continental shelf dividing values currencies played havoc local along border within larger state The remaining Italians merely trapped Slav state divided between bickering aggrieved nostalgic thedayswhentheircapelloshungroundtheneckofaunited Istria But Slovenes Croats frustrated These states often little babies Alex Luttenberger president Istrian autonomy movement There inevitable border disputes The Yugoslav authorities borders relied medieval kataster marked Catholic church diosceses Unfortunately Croats their kataster Slovene foreign ministry official By passes Slovene Croat border before rounding Savudrijian peninsula The position border given conspiracy theories among Slovenes could scripted Trieste Italian circa Under international shipping Croatian control peninsula gives headlock Slovene trade through Koper Slovenes since Croat right police waters twelve miles coast Since Croatian waters overlap Italian region these Slovenes Italians Croatian could least could Slovenes mercy other Fear being Croatia mercy extreme Slovene nationalists argue border should further south Zone B argue divided under assumption republics federation independent states would share coast Danijel Starman Slovene nationalist popular along coast claims kataster border should along Mirna River If taken seriously would Slovenia whole Zone B Even technocrat Hanzel Slovene state secretary transport thought government should negotiate control peninsula There border disputes inland The Croats example believe Dragonia R marks international border Gulf Trieste The Slovenes claim border yards south Secovlje On May Slovenes infuriated watch their neighbors start construction customs where their medieval should The disputes would little border dramatic difference between state states But Slovenia Croatia To Croats Slovenes quick problems Yugoslavia happy Croatia military frontier buffer state between deeper Balkan problems The Croats Slovenes argue extortionists trying conflicts which exacerbated waging brief against Bosnian government The Croats military favor Slovenes according Slovene defense advisor spoke condition anonymity Zagreb worries supplies north country along coast Dalmatia should between Croatia Serb forces occupying Croatian flare again The Croats would Slovene roads which Serb missiles based occupied Croatian lands cannot reach But Slovenes proof these Krajian Serbs Orkan Frog missiles which could easily reach southeastern Slovenia Ljubljana succeeded portraying itself foreign investors argue cannot taking Serb Other economic problems SIovene economic success In whenthetworepublicslaunchedtheirnewcurrencies theSlovene tolar Croatian dinar pegged Last Croatian dinar ravaged wartime inflation percent month while tolar coasted tolerable percent The I traded tolars dinars Croatian dinars Slovene tolar It minor annoyance watch spare Croatian change between trips Zagreb But imagine effect along Istrian coast where Croats Buje emergency Piran hospital where Croats Slovenes alike Slovene owned brewery Buzet The local situation might improve Croatia commemorated stabilization economy launching currency Croatian dinars But larger disputes remain unsolved Croats argue example Ljubljanska Banka former federation respected favors Slovene clients demand Slovene government repay million USD currency savings Croats The Slovenes currency actually currency Belgrade Milose moment started Slovenes complain Croatia irresponsibly managing cross border economic commitments Croatia defaulted example obligation complete nuclear power plant Slovene Krsko seized Slovene shares brewery Croatian Buzet Croatia accommodated Bosnian refugees large holiday complexes owned Slovene companies private Slovenes weekend homes Croat Croat Continue little further Istria dusty gnarled hills valleys forget country True monstrous concrete resorts those Umag Porec Slovaks Hungarians rented rooms bargains Germans Italians If local hears speaking English scathing remarks about clientele serve awkward Slovak friends I And other visitor Roman amphitheatre Pula local climbed fence But soliders stations waiting return service after break If Zagreb sniffs every scent stria turns fumes disgust Cobbled together regions semicircle around Bosnia Croatia would difficult together times Spun chaos example devastates easternmost Slavonia while leaving Istria intact regions nothing common bears their shields We destined suffer terrible centrifugal forces Dusko Topalovic political geographer Zagreb One those forces Istrian Democratic Assembly Istarski Democratski Sabor IDS choice local elections percent peninsula residents They voted equally overwhelming numbers autonomy Often accused Z agreb being selfish separatists unwilling carry burden independence IDS campaigns federalization Croatia local autonomy early Croatia month Bosnia particularly infuriated strians unwarranted prolongation They seems unwilling fight scraggy southwest Hercegovina Croatia defense minister called Luttenberger IDS president characterizes Istria As mayor resort Opatija measure every tourist revenue We Croatia westward looking The people dealing Westerners becausewehadtourism shipping And course Italians Although about Croatia Italians Luttenberger honored auctocthonous element Istria identity spice required flavor Perhaps ivilized statement I heard representative Central European country majority about minority Croatian president Franjo Tudjman claims IDS close Italians proves tools irredentists Luttenberger denies The borders state CRR I cannot change But Croatian Istria regions state identity respected Instead Zagreb doing could undermine Croatia historical regions Luttenberger complained The central government administrative districts prevent peninsula enjoying Rijeka where Croatia Italians Under Yugoslavia local government around I00 obcina similar county councils reported directly Zagreb Now I00 subdivided multiplied around these answer layer regional offices Zagreb consciou Istria Rijeka under different regional authori Luttenberger order weaken peninsula political power Zagreb Istria economy slowing corrupting privaization Luttenberger Poemial investors region hotels similar Slovenia banning foreign ownership Worse ruling Croatian Democratic Union HDZI hotel monopoly together party Restitution Italian property seized would complicated manage argued sales foreigners should allowed Bu ruling foreign inves Croatia Luttenberger The HDZ political monopoly survive there foreign investment But perhaps oddest Tudjman approach Istria recent These spate anniversaries Partisan battles useful barometer politician perception Tudjman fought Partisans strangely reluctam their victories His refusal example attend celebrations Istrian cities Pazin badly Croat nationalists After Tito Partisans liberated stria nearly three decades Italian Living It ironic Tudjman leader month Bosnia should paranoid about Italian irredentism It stranger still former Partisan should campaign build Greater Croatia including Bosnia would borders fascist state fought against young And should refuse celebrate Partisan victories Istria victories established Yugoslav later Croatian sovereignty peninsula first place But consistent Italian fascists wanttoseize Istriaagainalsospeakglowinglyofthedictatorwholost Both Italian Croatian irredentists selectively supposedly admire Both ought little Vaclav Havel What about individual failure honestly applies states While serving prison opposing Communist regime Havel wrote series letters which tried terms mistakes Why should torture himself admission denied responsibility errors already years In order wrote become sovereign himself again assuming responsibility today yesterday I achieve continuity identity This possible become something definite limited defined related environment graspable dissipated haplessly caught random processes If individual become stable world around dealing honestly behind nations states There point nostalgically wishing multinational government Habsburg Yugoslav reappear As sociologists Ernest Gellner shown nationalism democracy closely linked impossible comfortable voting election people speak language literally metaphorically But neither Istrian peninsula stable prosperous nation another hinks should complete control lives trade Only nations allow their citizens their courses survive whole Nor states complete sovereignty stria sovereign themselves since historical claims selective memory erodes An honest assessment damage Istria totalitarianisms right secure futures peoples Until peninsula belltowers stand waiting fixed ground overlooking empty ports CRR YOUF Chandler Notes I Taylor A J P The Habsburg Moaa Hamish Hamilton London reprinted Penguin Books London Taylor refers correct Trst Slav writes appendix finds exclusion postwar Yugoslavia crying national injustice Hasek Jaroslav The GoodSoldierSvejk Penguin Books London Malcolm Noel Bosnia aShortHistory Macmillan London Korosec May Declaration calling federated Austria South Slav parliament first solutions accepted Croat leaders keener earlier Bishop Josef Strossmayer example called revivl Illyrian The Napoleonic Illyrian Provinces united Dalmatia Istria largely Slovene Ca rniola under French Duke Strossmayer proposed southern Slavs Croatia Slavonia Dalmatia Bosnia Hercegovina united within empire Hungarian leaders compromised allowed reunion Croatia Slavonia Serb Military Frontier denied Croatia control Rijeka which encouraged Italian immigration Taylor He doesn trust census Rmet Sbrina N oal2m andFederalikm Yugoslaqa I edition Indiana UP FiniarguesquitecrediblythathesaidMussoliniwasthe Italianstatesmanwhohad thegreatestimpacton Italyinthiscentury That sadifferentstatementMtogether Rusino Dennison The xgoslav Experimeat Royl Institute International AffMrs London Again Vaclav Havel shows Shortly after Velvet Revolution Havel officially apologized million Sudentn Carpathian Germans expelled Czechoslovakia after World War Two Although insiste could receive their property acknowledge expulsion collective guilt characterized totMitarian regimes right This contrst A J P Tylor rather flippant remark Germans returned homeland which clamored Not II ofthem Rusinow I0 A smaller joint Italian Slovene project improve roads Trieste Postojnu Postojna Gorizia entangled Italian corruption scandals Adria joint venture hired project accused bribery misuse public funds II Havel Vaclav Letlersto Olga Faber Faber London Received Hanover June