The Croatian Journalists Association (HND) on Friday requested the Electronic Media Council to withdraw its decision asking the RTL commercial broadcaster to subtitle Serbian movies for Croatian audiences, describing the decision as absurd.
"Even if the decision were based on a law - which is not easy to prove - it is contrary to culture and is provincial and primitive," the HND said in a statement signed by its president Zdenko Duka.
"If 20, 15 or 13 years ago attempts were made for political reasons to artificially increase differences between the Croatian and Serbian languages, between Croatian and Montenegrin, or Croatian and Bosnian, the time of Croatian linguistic self-awareness has existed for quite some time now and there is no longer any need to prove the national linguistic identity by overstating linguistic differences," Duka said in the statement, adding the fact that "people in several countries of this part of Europe understand one another is a major cultural advantage for the media, education, economy, politics and society in general."
