The leader of the Serb National Council (SNC) and parliamentary representative of the Serb national minority, Milorad Pupovac, was a guest on N1 Studio Live with Ilija Jandric to comment on the SNC’s traditional Christmas reception on Monday.

The Serbian ambassador to Croatia, Jelena Milic, demonstratively left the SNC reception on Orthodox Christmas Eve, citing the lack of reaction from SNC representatives to the remarks in the letter from the first prize winners.

Milic left the reception after the winners’ acceptance speech

The first prize was awarded to Jasminka Petrovic, a Serbian author of books for children and young people, and Radivoje Rasa Andric, a film director and screenwriter. The two are connected through the book and film “How I Learned to Fly”, which explores “the consequences of war in the lives of a once large and vibrant Croatian-Serbian family.”

Milic was reportedly angered by the final sentence of the award winners’ acceptance speech, in which they thanked “the youth in Serbia who are teaching us how to fly and shine these days.” This prompted her to leave the SNC reception.

On Tuesday, Milic further explained to Croatian media that she left because some SNC officials applauded part of the letter.

Pupovac: “This goes beyond the usual understanding of the situation”

Pupovac commented on Milic’s behaviour by saying that it was regrettable that Ms Jelena Milic had left the Christmas reception. “I have to admit that this is quite unusual, but as today is Christmas, I don’t want to get too deep into the discussion,” he added.

Asked about the reasons given by Milic, Pupovac said:

“I’m afraid this is an after-the-fact justification for what happened. All the winners were applauded. Whoever was presented and however they were leaving, they received applause, as did those who were absent and chose to express their gratitude in writing through a beautiful message, they were applauded. What has been singled out is a small segment that has no such weight or specificity in the context of the whole message, especially in the way it is interpreted – as if we were insulting the state or accusing someone of criminal acts. This goes beyond the usual understanding of the situation. Why this is happening, I would not like to interpret, nor would I speculate on why this is being done, especially on this day.”