ZAGREB, March 11, 2020 – The deputy president of the ruling HDZ party, Milijan Brkić, said on Wednesday that by removing the busts of Croatian greats from his office, President Zoran Milanović had minimised and rejected the history of Croats.
In a Facebook post, Brkić said those busts were also “symbols of the love, sacrifice and fight for Croatia” and that all those who kept quiet about Milanovic removing them also minimised and rejected the history of Croats.
We must resolutely and publicly condemn those who show with their acts that they don’t respect Croatian history, Brkić said.
He especially took issue with Milanović for removing the bust of Croatia’s first president, Franjo Tuđman.
Without Tuđman, there would be no modern Croatia and Milanović has shown that he is not the president of all citizens, Brkić said.
In today’s sovereign and democratic state, which we have thanks to Tuđman and Croatian defenders, we should take a clear stand on our fundamental values and historical great men, he added.
Croatian Sovereigntists MP Hrvoje Zekanović condemned Milanović’s decision to remove the busts of Croatian greats from his office, saying they were thereby equated with Josip Broz Tito, whom he called a criminal.
Speaking in parliament, Zekanović said the main question after Milanović was elected president was whether he would return Tito’s bust to the president’s office.
Milanović did what we expected, he forgot that Croatia has a glorious history and that the busts of King Tomislav, Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Stjepan Radić and Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac deserve to be in the President’s Office, Zekanović said, adding that “Milanović’s policy has no place either in the public sphere or in a museum.”
More news about President Zoran Milanović can be found in the Politics section.
