previous month J u l y next month

previous day Sunday, July 16 next day

Prince Tomislav Karadjordjevic was buried today in Oplenac, a town in central Serbia. His remains were interred in a crypt in the Church of Saint George. Prince Tomislav's nephew and heir to the throne Aleksandar Karadjordjevic attended the funeral and around 3,000 citizens standing outside the church and chanting, "long live the king", "we want the king" and "stay, stay". Liturgy was served by Bishop Sava of Sumadija, while the last rites were performed by Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle. In his farewell address heir to the throne Aleksander Karadjordjevic said that all the Karadjordjevics had to know that all the Serbs shared in their sorrow and grief over the death of Prince Tomislav.

The last funeral rites of interring the remains of Prince Tomislav into the crypt in the Church of Saint George was attended by close family, while the entrance into the church was also allowed to journalists and public figures. Many opposition leaders attended the funeral -- President of the Democratic Party Zoran Djindjic, senior official of the Serbian Renewal Movement Spasoje Krunic, President of the Democratic Party of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica, President of the Christian Democratic Party of Serbia Vladan Batic, President of the Movement for Democratic Serbia Momcilo Perisic as well as the former President of the Republic of Srpska Biljana Plavsic. The representatives of both the Serbian and federal government were not present to pay their last respects.

Prince Tomislav Karadjordjevic was born on January 19, 1928, in Belgrade, and died on July 12 this year in Topola. her returned to Yugoslavia in 1991 from the UK where he had been in exile with other members of the royal family ever since World War 2 when the Communist regime had imposed a ban on the return of King Petar II Karadjordjevic to the country and confiscated his family's entire property.

King Petar I Karadjordjevic began the construction of the Church of Saint George in the central Serbian town of Oplenac in 1910. His son Aleksandar Karadjordjevic finished it after World War I. 17 members of the royal family were buried in the crypt in the Church of Saint George. In the church's apsides lie the sarcophagi of the founder of the dynasty Karadjordje ("Black George") Petrovic and King Petar I Karadjordjevic.

Predrag Bulatovic, President of the National Socialist Party, announced on Sunday that anyone who wishes Montenegro well must accept the proposal to start a dialogue between the government and the opposition, put forward by Svetozar Marovic, Vice President of the Democratic Party of Socialists.

Filip Vujanovic, Montenegrin Prime Minister and Vice President of the Democratic Party of Socialists says it is very important to have discussions with the most powerful opposition parties in Montenegro, the National Socialist Party and the Liberal Alliance

Montenegrin Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic said that the Yugoslav Army may be used as a destabilising factor in Montenegro. "The Yugoslav Army has been misappropriated by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and it may become a destablising factor, a fact which obliges us to a cautious internal affairs policy", said Vujovic in an interview to Zagreb daily Vjesnik, which was published by Montenegrin state media today. He added that the Yugoslav Army was the only thing keeping Serbia and Montenegro together at the moment.

Head of the Yugoslav Left representative lobby in the Yugoslav Parliament, Zivko Soklovacki, said the decisions announced by Montenegrin authorities and the Serbian opposition regarding non-recognition of Constitutional amendments were composed under foreign patronage and said they have no influence, neither positive nor negative. Soklovacki told Beta agency that the decisions made by the Montenegrin Government and the Serbian opposition were probably composed under the patronage of their mentors, who themselves cannot say the amendments are not democratic, but are rather simply dissatisfied with them.

previous day

Sunday, July 16

next day