Serbia's President-elect Tomislav Nikolic wants the best possible relations with the neighbouring countries, said an official of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) whose leader Nikolic was until his election as Serbia's head of state.
Marko Djuric of the SNS gave this statement on Sunday after a correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Saturday confirmed the authenticity of an interview Nikolic gave for the German newspaper ahead of the 20 May presidential runoff. In the interview, the then SNS leader declared Vukovar to be a Serb town where Croatians had no reason to return.
Nikolic wants the best possible relations with other countries, along with respect for national interests, solution of problems burdening refugees and property restitution, Djuric was quoted by the Serbian Beta news agency as saying today.
On Friday evening, the SNS denied its former leader Nikolic had said that the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar was a Serb town where Croats had no reason to return.
Beta quoted an SNS press release as saying that Nikolic's office denied in vehement terms that he had given a statement to any newspaper from the day the SNS was established, let alone between the two rounds of the recent presidential election, in which he said that Vukovar was a Serb town and that Croats had no reason to return there.
The press release said this was a "mean and treacherous lie".
On Saturday evening, FAZ Southeastern Europe correspondent Michael Martens told the Croatian national television (HTV) that there was an audio recording of the interview, thus confirming the authenticity of Nikolic's interview.
Nikolic is expected to be inaugurated at the Serbian parliament's session on 30 or 31 May.
