Two weeks ahead of the main commemoration of the 1991 fall of the eastern city of Vukovar one of the main questions is whether any of the Croatian Serb politicians and their leader Milorad Pupovac will attend the event.

“I want to and I am ready to go,” Pupovac told the Vecernji List daily. “But, of course, if I feel my presence is bothering anyone and that this might be a problem, I will wait for some other opportunity,” he said.

Vukovar’s mayor Ivan Penava said that this year no special invitations will be sent and that anyone who sincerely wants to pay respect to the victims at the memorial cemetery is welcome.

“To be in Vukovar on December 18 is a matter of respect toward the state and the Homeland war that led to its creation,” Penava said, adding that all citizens who perceive Croatia as their homeland are obliged to be in Vukovar that day.

He said he has nothing against Pupovac attending but would like to see leaders of Pupovac’s party and other Serb parties be part of the memorial procession.

Representatives of Vukovar veterans also said they do not object Pupovac’s presence as long as he is not attending just to score political points. They said they believe leaders of Serb parties should attend the commemoration.

But not everybody agrees.

“The Serb Democratic Alliance (DSS) and myself are not going to be part of the Remembrance procession because we don’t see any changes and we don’t see why representatives of Serbs should take part in it,” said the head of the DSS and deputy mayor Srdjan Milakovic.

He explained that a disputed plaque that hails Croatian war criminals at the WWII concentration camp in Jasenovac has still not been removed and that during the Vukovar commemoration Serb victims are not even mentioned.

“The mayor is exclusive,” he said. “The commemoration has kept its old character and presents the Serbs as criminals and the Croats as Victims.”

The Vukovar branch of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) still has not announced what it will do on December 18.

“I don’t care who will go as that day I will be remembering lost friends,” said Daniel Rehak, the head of the Croatian association of inmates of Serb concentration camps.

“As far as I’m concerned, it would be appropriate for Pupovac and others to pay respect to the victims if they want to,” he said.