Interview with Mr Krešo Glavač, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to the Republic of Croatia
Mr Glavač, let me start actually with a very simple direct question: What is the best thing about being a representative of Croatian diplomacy? And how are you in these strange times?
Thank you for your kind question how I feel in 2020. Definitely, these are strange times we are living in. 2020 will definitely be a year to remember...even though we might rather forget it. Still, I think that each person is responsible for her or his own actions, and we should judge based on our interactions with one another...nothing else.
According to your first question, I have to highlight that is a great honor and privilege to represent my country overseas. As a diplomat, I represented Croatian people, the Croatian President and government in several countries: Turkey, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia etc. This involves, among other things, helping Croatian companies invest and trade, ensuring the embassy provides an excellent consular service to Croatian tourists and residents, celebrating Croatian culture, sports, education.
International affairs is a fascinating area to work in. You get to work with people from all over the world, coming across different mind-sets and ideas - and your colleagues tend to be very interesting people, too. Plus, it's always varied.
What brought you to the MFA of the Republic of Croatia? Was that a choice?
As a graduated Turkologist who is specializing in the languages, history and cultures of Turkic peoples, including, for example Turkish, Kazakh, Uzbek, Azeri, Kyrgyz, Uyghur, Tuvan, Altai, Shor, Karakalpak and all other Turkic peoples, my first job was managing Croatia’s relationship with Turkey at the Croatian Consulate General in Istanbul.
Then I was posted to Sarajevo as a press attaché, where I was in charge of explaining Croatia's policies, on everything from trade, art, media, Bosnian and international NGOs, science to cultural and religious pluralism, to Bosnian wider society journalists and the university community, etc. After two years there, I came back to Zagreb in 2013 to work in the capacity of the Director for the Coordination of Foreign and European Policy of the Government, in charge of harmonization and supervision of the work of the Office during the period when Croatia joined the EU as the 28th member state (1 July 2013).
I served as the Head of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms Vesna Pusic for two years.
Finally in 2016, I was posted as an Ambassador of Croatia to Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and the Sultanate of Brunei: representing the interests of Croatia in ASEAN Region, one of the largest economic partners of the European Union, pursuing the official Croatian policies in all areas. As you see, we move between jobs quite frequently, so you might be working on arms control, then switch to economic relations with Vietnam.
Is there a particular memory of days of your service as an ambassador to Malaysia?
Presenting my Letters of Credence to His Majesty the King, 14th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdul Halim Shah of Malaysia, in an audience at the Royal Palace in Kuala Lumpur was significant for a number of reasons. First, of course, as a confirmation of my formal diplomatic accreditation as the Croatian Ambassador to Malaysia.
I was delighted to witness it myself when our carriage arrived at the palace gates just as the ceremony was taking place. I particularly enjoyed the music played by the Guards band.
I am delighted to have made formal my diplomatic status as Croatian Ambassador to Malaysia with this most traditional of Malaysian experiences, steeped in history, decorum and style. After presenting my letters to The King, it was with enormous pleasure and pride that I listened whilst he spoke of how important the links between our two countries are.
Last year I received one of the biggest accolades in my 44. The Malaysian Technology EXPO Special Award was named after me and from the bottom of my heart I would like to take this opportunity and express my gratitude to the Malaysian Government and MTE for such a great honor. Finally, I was very happy that a Croatian company Infobip was given this special Kreso Glavac award.
You have graduated with a degree in Turkology and Anthropology. How does that knowledge improve your work in diplomacy?
As I mentioned before, degree in Turkology and Anthropology science helped me a lot in many aspects in life as well as in diplomacy. Knowledge of Turkish, Arabic and Farsi was my big advantage in joining the diplomacy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Language plays a huge role in diplomacy, social identity, group membership, and establishing cultural beliefs and ideologies.
Different languages can build your brain in different ways. So if getting along really depends on being able to put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes, being able to speak their language helps us to understand more deeply how others see the world.
If we are talking about anthropology, anthropology today is more commonly thought of as the study of human cultures and societies, and language is of course a cultural and social phenomenon. You can't have religion without language, Durkheim makes ritual the origin of both language and religion, which implies many other features of human culture (excluding e.g. song, dance, and visual art, which I believe had a much earlier origin and are even preconditions for ritual). Thus language is a fundamental part of the study of culture.
Finally, language education is critical for the workforce of the future and being bilingual can broaden career options.
As Goethe said, “Those who know nothing of foreign langua