Ambassador of State of Israel Summoned to Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia

The Ambassador of the State of Israel to the Republic of Croatia, Gary Koren, was summoned for talks to the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia. The Adviser to the President of the Republic for Foreign and European Policy, Ambassador Neven Pelicarić, cautioned Ambassador Koren about his unacceptable remarks that are harmful for bilateral relations when he called on the Republic of Croatia to “cut diplomatic relations with Iran” and to “carry out security checks of the staff at the Iranian embassy”, because “there are members of the Revolutionary Guard tasked with intelligence gathering and support for terrorism”.

Croatia is a safe country, and public claims by the Ambassador of Israel have not been substantiated at all and only unjustifiably and unnecessarily upset Croatian citizens and cause political damage to the international standing of the Republic of Croatia. The Croatian national interest is to preserve the status of a safe and peaceful country as the Croatian economy, primarily tourism, largely depends on it. Therefore, we call on the Ambassador of Israel to refrain in the future from making any statement whatsoever that could harm Croatia.

The Republic of Croatia does not allow its ambassadors to interfere in the political processes in the states where they are accredited therefore it will not allow foreign ambassadors and diplomats to do so in the Republic of Croatia, as it will not allow them to interfere in the affairs of the Republic of Croatia with third states. As a sovereign state, Croatia will make all decisions related to cooperation with other states independently, taking into account primarily its own national interests and those of the Croatian people. We expect diplomatic representatives in Zagreb to respect his as Croatia will not allow itself to be drawn into others’ conflicts or wars.