The former Socialist Republic of Croatia, that seceded from Yugoslavia by a violent, anti-constitutional and secessionist act on June 25, 1991, covers an area of 56,538 sq. km. In 1991, it had 4,784,000 inhabitants. By the size of the population, it held the second place in the former Yugoslavia, after the Socialist Republic of Serbia.
On the territory of the former SR of Croatia are situated two republics: the Republic of Croatia (capital Zagreb) and the Republic of Serb Krajina (here below RSK, capital Knin). The Republic of Serb Krajina is constituted of: the Serbian region of Krajina (north-western Dalmatia, eastern Lika, Kordun, Banija, which are the western and southern sections of RSK), the Serbian region of Western Slavonija (middle and northern sections of RSK), and the Serbian region of Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem (the eastern section of RSK). RSK covers the territory of about 14,000 sq. km. (about 25% of the total area of the former SR of Croatia) and has about 400,000 inhabitants. The Serbs comprise 92% of the population, the Croats and others 8%.
The greatest portion of the Republic of Serb Krajina borders on the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croatian Federation and Serbia. Hence, the RSK and the Serb Republic are in fact one and the same physical entity with Banja Luka, the largest and most important town in the west Serbian lands which extend from Ravni Kotari to Bilogora and Krndija and from the Kupa river to the Bosna river and Mount Ozren. Most of the RSK territory is protected by the United Nations Forces (UNPROFOR).
Most of the eastern Adriatic littoral belongs to Croatia. It is used as a transport route, for tourism, exploitation of resources (salt, fish) and for other purposes. This means that Croatia, together with Slovenia, emerges on the Adriatic sea which ought to benefit greatly the countries in the hinterland: Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and even Germany. Among them, Germany is economically the most important European country and the principal political protector of the secessionist republics in the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia and Croatia).
Several important international transport routes intersect the territory of the former Croatia. The first one extends along the Sava river in the west-east direction and is part of the route which connects Western and Central Europe with Southeast Europe and the Middle East. The second communication line connects the Pannonian plain (and Budapest) with the Bay of Rijeka on the Adriatic Sea. The third continental line of communication extends along the Adriatic littoral. It is insufficiently modern at present. However, when improved, it will be of great importance for the development of tourism as it will connect Western and Central Europe with southern Balkans and the Middle East. It will rival the Sava-Morava river valley line of communication. Two more international lines of communication of minor importance also run through the former SR of Croatia. One runs from Vienna to Split via Maribor, Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes, and Knin, and the other runs from Budapest (and the Baltic) to Plo?e (Middle Adriatic) via Osijek, Sarajevo, and Mostar. The main centres of communication are Zagreb and Rijeka. Knin is also an important crossroad, as important roads and railway lines connecting the Pannonian and the Middle Adriatic parts of Croatia converge and cross in it. All these five lines of communication pass through the Serb Krajinas.
Considering the physical, cultural, civilisation and ethnic structures of Europe, the former SR of Croatia, inhabited predominantly by Roman Catholics, is the border area towards the Orthodox and Muslim cultural circles. Unfortunately, this contact position of Croatia and of its Catholic population was more often used for provoking conflicts, intolerance, and even genocide over the Orthodox population than for establishing an atmosphere of tolerance, imbuing, and co-operation. The Croatian Catholicism has thus been the major cause of social and political tensions and crisis on the territory of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By its shape, the former SR of Croatia belongs to the category of the so-called split-in-half countries. Its territory consists of the Pannonian plain, rectangular in shape, and of the markedly elongated Adriatic littoral. The former extends between the rivers of Drava and Sava except Baranja, which lies north of the Drava river. It extends in the NW-SE direction and its air distance Ilok-Sutla is about 315 km. It is between 75 and 90 km wide. It is constituted of the regions of Hrvatsko Zagorje, Medjumurje, Moslavina, Slavonija and Western Srem. The latter, the Littoral with the regions of Gorski Kotar, Lika, Dalmatinska Zagora, and the islands also extends in the NW-SE direction. It is about 530 km long and from 5 km (surroundings of Dubrovnik) to 100 km wide.
The narrowed portion of Croatia, situated in the area where Bosnia and Slovenia draw nearest to each other (Velika Kladu�a - Duga Resa - Croatian-Slovenian frontier) is about 47 km wide (air distance). That is the so-called corridor of Kordun and Karlovac. Two thirds of the corridor are situated in the Republic of Serb Krajina. All of the lines of communication run through it, connecting the Pannonian area with the Littoral.
SERBIAN TERRITORIES WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FORMER SR OF CROATIA
When one observes and analyses adequate historical and other sources, ethnic maps and statistics before World War I, between the two World Wars and the post-war period, one notices that the Serbs live on a continuous territory within the boundaries of the former SR Croatia, precisely from the close environs of Zadar, Biograd, and Sibenik across the regions of Ravni Koran, Bukovica, the Knin region, the greater part of Lika, Kordun and Banija to the Sava river in the region of Pounje. The Krajina covers most of this territory. This is the vastest Serbian area in the former Croatia.
In this area there are eleven municipalities in which the Serbs constitute absolute majority (Benkovac, Obrovac, Knin, Gra?ac, Donji Lapac, Korenica, Vojni?, Vrginmost, Glina, Dvor, and Kostajnica) and seven municipalities in which they constitute a considerable portion of the population (Gospi?, Ogulin, Oto?ac, Vrbovsko, Slunj, Karlovac and Petrinja). By the 1981 census, there were 101 Serbian settlements in six Dalmatian municipalities (plus those of Zadar, �ibenik and Drni�). In the same year, there were 224 Serbian settlements in the seven municipalities in Lika and Gorski Kotar, and 283 in the nine municipalities in Kordun and Banija.
The second Serbian region is situated in Western Slavonija, Moslavina, and Bilogora. This compact territory in which the Serbs are ethnically predominant is around Oku?ani and Pakrac, on the slopes of Psunj and Papuk mountains. Pakrac is the spiritual and political centre of the region. By the 1981 and 1991 censuses the Serbs had relative majority in the municipality of Pakrac and in 1981 in the municipality of Daruvar, too. Together with the Yugoslavs they had relative majority in the municipality of Grubi�no Polje in 1981. There were 283 Serbian settlements in this part of the RSK and Croatia in 1981. Unfortunately, many of these settlements were destroyed by the Croatian pro-Ustashi army in the anti-Serbian war which started in 1991.
The third region in the former Croatia with a very high concentration of the Serbian population is the region of Eastern Slavonija, Baranja, and Western Srem. In 1981, there were 71 Serbian settlements, thirty-one of them in the municipalities of Osijek, Vukovar, and Vinkovci. In fact, most of the rural area between Vukovar, Vinkovci, and Osijek is inhabited by Serbs. Still, the Serbian population did not comprise absolute majority in any of these municipalities in 1981 or in 1991 either. The compact Serbian territory was deliberately fragmented among several municipalities in order to avoid creating any territorial unit with the Serbian absolute majority.
Therefore, in 1981 and 1991, there were 11 municipalities (Group I) in which the Serbs constituted absolute majority and 13 municipalities (Group II with Gospi?, Ogulin, Oto?ac, Vrbovsko, Petrinja, Karlovac, Slunj, Grubi�no Polje, Pakrac, Daruvar, Podravska Slatina, Vukovar and Beli Manastir) in which they had considerable shares. The area occupied by Group I covers 6977 sq. km. or 12.4% of the area of Croatia. The area occupied by Group II covers 10,123 sq. km. or 17.9% of the area of Croatia. The total area of both groups of municipalities amounts to 17,120 sq. km which is 30.3% of the total area of Croatia. However, the whole area of these municipalities is not included in the ethnic area of the Serbs as there is a considerable number of settlements with the Croatian absolute majority.
The westernmost highly compact Serbian territory is situated in the municipalities of Ogulin and Vrbovsko. A few Serbian settlements still exist in the neighbourhood of these municipalities, in Bela Krajina, Slovenia. The Serbs reached these borders in the 15th-18th centuries during the great movements of the Serbian people, which were primarily caused by historical-political (Turkish war campaigns and conquests) and economic reasons.
In 1981, in the whole of the former SR of Croatia, there were 1019 settlements with the Serbian majority out of the total of 6650 settlements (15.3%). The area was 12,459 sq. km. or 22% of the area of the former SR of Croatia; the area was by 5462 sq. km. larger than the area of the eleven Serbian municipalities. This means that the physical distribution of the Serbs (and other nationalities) in the former SR Croatia is much more precisely and correctly determined on the grounds of settlements, than on the grounds of municipalities. In 1981, 260,166 inhabitants or 49% of all the Serbs in the former SR of Croatia lived in these 1019 settlements.
It is interesting to note that in 1981 the majority of the Serbian settlements 434 (42.6%) belonged to the category of settlements with very high ethnic homogeneity, 343 (33.7%) settlements belonged to the category of high ethnic homogeneity, and 242 (23.7%) to the category of moderate ethnic homogeneity.
The Serbian settlements are most numerous in the eleven municipalities in which the Serbs comprise absolute majority. In each of these, except in the municipality of Glina, there are over 50% of such settlements (municipalities of Vojni? 98%, and of Donji Lapac 100%). Their number is large in 13 municipalities in which the Serbs comprise a major share of the population, particularly in Pakrac (63%), Ogulin (60%), Slunj (48%), Petrinja, Oto?ac, Vrbovsko, Daruvar, Grubi�no Polje, Podravska Slatina and Vukovar. Their number is significant in the municipalities of Karlovac (46.5%), Osijek (37%), Orahovica, Nova Gradi�ka, Novska, Vinkovci, Slavonska Po�ega, Virovitica and Sisak.
In 1981, in Croatia, there were 123 settlements in which the Serbs and Yugoslavs together constituted absolute majority. The area of these settlements added to the area of 1019 Serbian settlements amounted to about 24.7% of the coral area of Croatia. There were also 34 settlements in Croatia in which the Serbs and Yugoslavs constituted relative majority. In both of these groups the Serbs had relative majority in 105 settlements, most of these settlements being in Slavonija and Baranja.
There is also a large number of settlements in the former SR of Croatia in which the Serbs have considerable shares, but not relative majority (25.1-50.0%); small shares (10.1-25.0%); and very small shares (less than 10%). Big towns and industrial centres (Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Zadar, Pula, Osijek, etc.) belong to this group. The attached map shows that the Serbs, if small and very small shares are also taken into consideration, are distributed almost all over the territory of Croatia.
We have specified three areas that are significant for the Serbian people in the former SR of Croatia: Group I, eleven municipalities, 6997 sq. km. (12..4% of the area of Croatia); Group II, thirteen municipalities, 10,123 sq. km. (17.9%), and 1019 Serbian settlements 12,459 sq. km. (22%). It is important to note that in 1981 (population census) the Serbs owned 323,162 ha or 18.4% of the total privately owned land in the former SR of Croatia. In the same year the share of the Serbs in the population of Croatia was 11.6%, which means that their share in land ownership was higher by 1.6 times their share in the population.
In the zone of contact between the Serbs and the Croats in the former SR of Croatia as well as in the zones of contact with other peoples, sharply marked ethnic boundaries never really existed, but only narrow or wide ethnically heterogeneous zones. In the western part of Lika the population is considerably mixed. The close surroundings of Slunj near the Bosnian frontier are mostly populated by Croats, while westwards from Slunj, towards Ogulin, the area is inhabited by Serbs. There are similar examples in the region of Bilogora, in Slavonija and in Western Srem. This shows that drawing the ethnic-based dividing lines between the Serbs and Croats in the former Croatia is rather difficult. This principle, though highly justified for the Serbs in the former Croatia, cannot be observed unless other principles of delineation are observed. Economic factors of delineation should also be considered.
As regards the area, and legal and political aspects, the Serbs in the former SR of Croatia are divided in two groups. In one group are the Serbs living in the Republic of Serb Krajina, i.e. the Serbs living on the territories under the control of the United Nations Forces (UNPROFOR). The other, physically highly dispersed group is comprised of the Serbs living in the Republic of Croatia. They are called "Urban Serbs" or "Serbs in Diaspora". These two groups of Serbs now live in different political and legal circumstances. In fact, after 1991 when Croatia forcibly seceded from Yugoslavia and the Serbs living there were proclaimed a national minority and subdued to acts of terror (sacks from work, expelling from their homes, threats, property destruction, murders even) they started to flee from Croatia en masse. They fled to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (F.R.Y.) and other countries.
The above description shows that the ethnic area of the Serbs is not physically integral. It is concave in shape. It borders on the convex-in-shape region of the Bosnian Krajina which is mostly populated by the Serbs. These two Krajinas are complementary from the cartographic, ethnic, legal, political, economic, military, and strategic aspects; they constitute a functional entity of the total area of about 25,660 sq. km. Banja Luka is the biggest and most important urban centre in the area (the Muslim enclave in north-western Bosnia and the municipality of Slunj were also taken into account). The area of the Krajinas is equal to the area of the Republic of Macedonia. Eastern Slavonija, Baranja, and Western Srem border on Vojvodina, Serbia. It is, however, difficult to organise social-economic, legal-political and other forms of life in the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Serb Krajina when there are no economy liaisons and co-operation in other aspects of life. Transport connections, interdependence and links between the regions gravitating towards urban centres are a major problem. Physical and functional requirements of the RSK and of the region of Bosnian Krajina are identical The links ought to be more substantive and comprehensive since one and the same people, the Serbian, live on either side of the border dividing the Bosnian and Serb Krajinas.
This means that immediately after the political and territorial delineation in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, congruous economic financial, communication, and other systems should be established and linked though situated in different political and territorial units. In other words, the separation should be carried out as soon as possible in a democratic way, and economic and other forms of co-operation should be incited immediately after.
The ethnic area of the Serbs on the territory of the former SR of Croatia has no exit on the Adriatic sea, which happens to be a serious economic problem. The reasons are of historical nature: the eastern coast of the Adriatic was in the possession of the Catholic States of Croatia, Hungary, Venice, am Dubrovnik. That is why the Orthodox settlers arriving from hinterland to the coast (15th-19th centuries) were forcibly Catholicized and Croaticized (19th-20th centuries).
The regions in the former SR of Croatia populated for the most part by Serbs are mainly highland and karst, particularly southward from the Sava river.[6] The flysch zones of Ravni Koran and the small karst polyes in Dalmatia and Lika (Kninsko Kosovo, Petrovo, Krbavsko, Lapa?ko, and Gra?a?ko) are somewhat better for agriculture. The region of Kordun is a rolling terrace built predominantly of limestone and dolomite locks Parapodzol and vri�tinsko soil prevail allowing only modest-scale agriculture. Banija is more gentle and fertile than Kordun. It is richer in forests. In Western Slavonija and Moslavina, the Serbian settlements are predominantly located on the lolling hills and slopes of die Slavonian mountains There are good conditions for intense farm production, while hills and gentle mountain slopes are suitable for fruit and vine growing. Almost half of the hilly area is overgrown with rich forests (oak, beech, hornbeam, linden) The region of Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem is the plain and flat terrain except for the western, gentle and low spurs of Fru�ka Gora. This is the most fertile and the best soil for agriculture in the whole of RSK. The region is well known for extensive production of corn, wheat, sugar beet and sunflower. The Danube river connects this pair of the RSK with the countries between the North Sea and the Black Sea.
Arable soil and forests are the main resources in RSK. In normal natural (climate) and social and political circumstances this region can produce enough food for all the citizens of this Serbian country About 1.2 million cubic meters of wood can be extracted from the woods in the RSK by planned annual felling, which means adequate preservation of forest resources. There are good ecological conditions for health food production (wheat, fruit, meat, milk, eggs) and collection of medicinal herbs.
There are diverse but modest ore deposits in the RSK. In the Dalmatian part of the RSK, there are deposits of blown coal, bauxite, mail, kaolin, gypsum. In Lika, there are smaller deposits of bauxite, barite, gypsum, and larger deposits of budding stone. Wood resources are weighty. The water power of the Krka river in Dalmatia and the Lika river in Lika is important, while Plitvice lakes represent a major natural-tourist complex. In Kordun, there are deposits of ferrous minerals, manganese, fire clay, and in Banija, the deposits of magnesite, barite, and kaolin. Topusko is a spa and tourist centre. In Western Slavonija, there die large deposits of brick clay, building stone, quartz sand and smaller deposits of lignite, graphite, petroleum, natural gas In Lipik and near Daruvar there are large thermo-mineral springs.
Therefor, in the Republic of Serb Krajina there is a variety of raw materials for industrial development (agricultural law materials, wood, ores). there was also enough labour. Even so, industry was under developed in the RSK. After World War II when industrialisation boomed in the Yugoslav area, little was invested in the Serbian regions in Croatia The existing industrial structure shows that the enterprises dealing in food, wood, metal and textile are most numerous. The main industrial centres in the RSK are Vukovar, Bell Manastir, Petrinja and Knin.
The entire ethnic area of the Serbs in Croatia was below average level of social and economic development in the Republic. The share of the eleven municipalities (Group I) was 12.4% in the area, 4.1% in the population (1991), and 2.1% (1989) in the national income of the former SR of Croatia. The corresponding values for the thirteen municipalities (Group II) were 17.9%, 9.6%, and 7.5%.
In Group I, the number of the employed was 24,247 in 1971, and 45,679 in 1971; that was 2.5% and 3.2% of the total number of the employed in the former SR of Croatia. In Group II, there were 91,908 and 134,415 employed persons, i.e. 9.3% and 9.4%. In 1990, there were 41,562 employees in Group I and 135,113 in Group II. This accounted for 2.7% and 9.0% of all of the employed persons in the former SR of Croatia.[8] It should be noted that in the years 1971 and 1981, there were proportionally more persons from these two groups of municipalities who were employed abroad than from the whole former SR of Croatia. In Group I, the persons employed abroad counted 33.4% of the total number of the employed (locally and abroad) in 1971. In Group II, this category amounted to 22.1%, while the corresponding number for Croatia as a whole was 18.7%. In the following decade (1981), the share of the employed abroad dropped down to 13.4% in Group I, to 10.1% in Group II, and to 8.6% for Croatia as a whole.
As the quoted indices show these groups of municipalities are below the average for the former SR of Croatia, that is, below their population shares in the total population of Cicada. This especially applies to the majority of the municipalities in. the RSK. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, in the RSK, southwards from the Sava river extend large karst expanses with very little fertile soil, water or ore deposits. However, the main reason for the economic underdevelopment of the ethnic area of the Serbs within the boundaries of the former SR of Croatia lies in unfavourable economic, social and political circumstances and in the conditions of development in the past and after World War II. The Serbian regions longer than any other were left out of a more extensive industrial development. They were far from important industrial centres. In the 19th and 20th centimes, investments in economic, social and cultural development were scanty. The situation has remained the same until the present day The 1989 data give evidence of the shares which are below average for eleven municipalities (Group I) when compared to the former SR of Croatia: 2.6% share in the value of fixed assets, 2.8% share in the volume of investments, 1.4% share in the budget for social sectors, 2.0% share in. retail , 9 trade turnover.