Serb National Council

World War II Yugoslav Partisans casualties on a municipal level.

Contemporary Serb National Council postulate its cultural tradition in historical precedence of non-segregationist and non-territorial bodies of Serb cultural autonomy in the territory of modern day Croatia. Section Four (4) of the Article One (1) of the Statute[6] of the Serb National Council explicitly enumerate following historical foundations of Serb cultural autonomy based on which the body function:

• A) Historical documents issued by Emperors of the House of Habsburg in 1690, 1691, 1695, 1706, 1713, 1715, 1732 and 1743 and explicitly naming the 1779 Declaratory Rescript of the Illyrian Nation.
• B) Austrian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire legal articles of 1790, 1848 and 1868.
• C) Franz Joseph I of Austria Rescript issued to the Patriarch of Karlovci Samuilo Maširević on 10 October 1868.
• D) The Law of the 14 May 1887 and other acts related to Serb rights enacted by the Sabor (Parliament) of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia.
• E) 1918 document of the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.
• F) Documents of the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia affirming Serbs from Croatia, together with Croats, as equal constituents of the Council and its work which represent foundation of the post-World War II Croatian constitutional organization.

The first multi-party elections in the Socialist Republic of Croatia in 1990 took place during the political crisis within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the disintegration of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and growing ethnic tensions between Croats and Serbs. Majority of Croatian Serbs voted for the reformed League of Communists of Croatia yet it surprisingly ended up only second in the elections. Significant part of the numerous Serb community in Croatia feared that the new government led by then nationalist Croatian Democratic Union may permit or initiate some of the oppressive policies experienced during the World War II Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia. Those fears were instrumentalized to the advantage of nationalist Serb Democratic Party which established control over most of the Serb majority communities in an effort to complete ethnic separation. Nationalist Serb leadership goals was facilitated by the involvement of the Yugoslav People's Army, particularly in multicultural eastern parts of Slavonia (Podunavlje) which will form SAO Eastern Slavonia, region where Serbs were not majority and the Serb Democratic Party did not even exist at the time of 1990 elections.[7]

On 8 December 1991 Serb Democratic Forum was established in Lipik (only two days after the government forces took control of the town) in an effort to prevent the further escalation of the Croatian War of Independence and to seek peaceful resolution of the conflict. At that time initial phase of the war was already finished which led to effective separation of Serbs and Croats. Serbs in areas controlled by the Croatian Government and Croats in Republic of Serbian Krajina were exposed to persecution and expulsion. In 1992 Serbs in the areas controlled by Croatian Government started their first initiatives to establish cultural coordination body.[8] The group intended to establish the Serb National Sabor on the model of historical bodies existing in Austrian Empire from the 17th to the 19th century.[8] The initiative was condemned by the members of Croatian Parliament and Croatian Government as an effort to create parallel Parliament of Croatia and the following negative media campaign accused the initiative of being more dangerous and perfidious than the separatist actions of Serbs in self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina.[8] This led to the failure of the initiative and absence of any new initiative until the late 1995 and early 1996.[8]

The Serb National Council constituent assembly was held in 1997 in Zagreb at the incentive of the Alliance of Serbian Organizations and its members Prosvjeta, Serb Democratic Forum, Serb Community of Rijeka and Istria and the Joint Council of Municipalities of eastern Slavonia, Baranja and western Syrmia.[5] In addition, founding members were also Independent Democratic Serb Party, Baranja Democratic Forum, Association of Serb Refugees and Expellees from Croatia, representatives of some church parishes of the Serbian Orthodox Church, members of Parliament of Serb ethnicity and respectable individuals.[5]