[ALBSA-Info] Yugoslav royal family rights restored

[Iris Pilika]

"The ideology of brotherhood and unity with Croats and Slovenes, which was 
started by the Karadjordjevic, was the biggest evil inflicted on the Serbs," 
said Ivica Dacic, a close Milosevic aide.





Yugoslav royal family rights restored

February 27, 2001
Web posted at: 2205 GMT


BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- The citizenship of Yugoslavia's exiled royal family 
has been restored in a further break from the country's communist past.

The Yugoslav Parliament on Tuesday voted out a 1947 bill that stripped the 
royal Karadjordjevic family of both its Yugoslav citizenship and the 
property it owned before World War II.

The move means the Karadjordjevics could return to the country and, once 
their property rights are restored, could claim assets, including the White 
Palace in Belgrade.

The Karadjordjevics fled Yugoslavia for England in April 1941 ahead of the 
Nazi invasion.

Several members of the family are still alive, including Crown Prince 
Aleksandar, his aunt Princess Jelisaveta and his uncle, also named Prince 
Aleksandar.

The royals were banned from visiting the country during the reign of 
communist dictator Josip Broz Tito but the crown prince has already 
announced his family plans to return for good.

There have been no legal moves to restore Yugoslavia as a kingdom, but some 
of the nation's new leaders have said the issue should be tested in a 
referendum.

Former President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party deputies were against 
the restoration of royal rights because of how the former King Aleksandar 
Karadjordjevic formed Yugoslavia in 1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and 
Slovenes.

"The ideology of brotherhood and unity with Croats and Slovenes, which was 
started by the Karadjordjevic, was the biggest evil inflicted on the Serbs," 
said Ivica Dacic, a close Milosevic aide.

Parliament also voted to allow dual citizenship for former Yugoslav 
citizens, who lost the status after their republics broke away from the 
country, starting in 1991.

It means that tens of thousands of Serbs who moved to Serbia to flee wars in 
neighbouring Croatia or Bosnia will be allowed to take Yugoslav citizenship 
while retaining Croatian or Bosnian citizenship.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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