President Milanović Receives Delegation of “Udruga Roma u Republici Hrvatskoj KALI SARA“

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović received a delegation of the “Savez Roma u Republici Hrvatskoj KALI SARA” (Federation of Roma in the Republic of Croatia), one of the most active Roma associations in the entire territory of the Republic of Croatia, which assembles the largest number of members of the Roma community and cooperates with Councils of Roma national minority at the County, city and municipality levels.

The Federation of Roma representatives expressed their gratitude to the President of the Republic for having the opportunity to present to him their past and present activities, as well as acquaint him with the problems faced by the Roma people in their communities. As one of the main problems they highlighted job discrimination and a frequent lack of support of local authorities for projects of elected representatives of the Roma national minority. They told President Milanović that the situation is nevertheless not the same in all counties, and cited as examples of good cohabitation and fulfillment of their rights Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties.

One of the topics discussed was education. The representatives of the Federation of Roma said that it would be important to find a model, which would enable a larger number of Roma to attend university than is presently the case. It’s only with work, commitment and education that can we do more for ourselves and for Croatia, our only homeland.

At the meeting with the President of the Republic were the president of the “Savez Roma u Republici Hrvatskoj KALI SARA” Suzana Krčmar, member of Parliament representing twelve national minorities in the Croatian Parliament Veljko Kajtazi, presidents of Councils of the Roma national minority Matjaš Oršuš from Međimurje County, Stanoje Nikolić from Sisak-Moslavina County, Branko Petrović from Osijek-Baranja County, Raman Fazlievski from Zagreb, Branko Đurđević from Darda, Eduard Oršoš from Varaždin County, Sadik Krasnič from Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Robert Radić from Brod-Posavina County and presidents of “Udruge Roma” (Association of Roma) Velija Huseini from Istria County and Darko Hudorović from Karlovac. Also attending the meeting were the deputy president of the Council of the Roma national minority of Međimurje County Elvis Kralj, Council members Redžepi Bekteš from Rijeka and Neđatin Kamberovski from Zagreb, as well as employee of the Federation of Roma “KALI SARA“ Dario Bogdan and employee in the editorial board of the magazine “Phraliphen” Maja Grubišić.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas