User:Antidiskriminator/Drafts of articles/Mitrovica Agreement

The Mitrovica Agreement (Митровачки споразум) was agreement supposedly signed by representatives of Ustaše and Yugoslav Communists in Sremska Mitrovica Prison in June 1935. According to some sources, Pijade and Budak signed a formal agreement to join struggle of communists and Ustaše against "Serbdom and Ortodoxy". At the moment this agreement was signed both Ustaše and Communists were illegal in Yugoslavia.

Most prisoners in the prison in Sremska Mitrovica were communists and many Ustaše who were captured during the Lika uprising.

Ustaše and communists had common objective (destruction of Yugoslavia which both groups referred to as "hateful creature of Versailles") which led them to sign a series of agreements to cement their relations in more than one occasion. The most notable in the series of agreements signed between Ustaše and communists was agreement concluded in Sremska Mitrovica Prison on 9 September 1937 and signed by Tito's plenipotentiary Moše Pijade. Pijade signed this agreement because he was representative of Communist Central Committee in Mitrovica Prison.

Ustaše and Communist agreed to destroy Kingdom of Yugoslavia based on the Treaty of Versailles. Both parties agreed that Serbian Orthodox Church should be destroyed because it was constitutive element of Serbdom. The mass massacres of Serbian Orthodox priests committed by both Ustaše and Communists followed the spirit of the Mitrovica Agreement.

On 28 February 1936 inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs wrote a report titled "Communists and Croatian terrorists in prison in Sremska Mitrovica" about interogation of two prisones who were members of Ustaše. This report contained details about relation of a group of Ustaše and communists.

Historian Redžić published opinion that Ustaše gave necessary documents to Josip Broz Tito to travel from Zagreb to Belgrade in May 1941 which was best proof that the agreement signed in Mitrovica was still valid. According to this opinion, the Ustaše-Communist cooperation based on this agreement continued when Ustaše deliberately retreated from Foča in 1942 and allowed secure shelter for Communist in Foča in period 21 January— 10 May 1942, supplying them with arms and ammunition from their basis in Sarajevo in organization of Sulejman Filipović and Franjo Pirc. Redžić further elaborated this opinion that on 16 February 1942 in Foča came to Josip Broz the Ustaše messenger with letter from Ante Pavelić in which he approved to give arms and equipment for Communist 2nd Proleterian Brigade.

During the WWII this agreement was published as leaflet by headquarter of the Lim-Sandžak Chetnik Detachment.

Historian Kazimirović pointed to opinion of historian Karapandžić that one of the proofs about the validity of Mitrovica Agreement was the April War when both Ustaše and Communists competed who will stick the knife deeper in the backbone of Yugoslavia.

Historian Stefanović emphasized that work of historian Karapandžić which summarized the opinion of his emigrant fellow followers of Dimitrije Ljotić that Kingdom of Yugoslavia was destroyed by joint activities of Ustaše and Communists who agreed about it in Mitrovica Agreement, was incorrect.

On 12 May 2015 professor Oliver Antić quoted this agreement in his closing statement in the process of rehabilitation of Draža Mihajlović.