The President called on everyone to turn towards the future.
President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović addressed the public due to escalation of intolerance, hate speech and divisions in Croatian society. She condemned both the Ustasha and the Yugoslav Communist regimes and emphasized that the modern Croatian state was based on the reconciliation between children of the Ustasha and partisans, reports Večernji List on May 10, 2016.
The President asked the government and all state institutions, political parties, civil society organisations and others whether they were aware that every day busloads of young people were leaving the country. She called on them to wake up, stop quarrelling and get to work.
The President reiterated that the Ustasha regime, with its policies of allying with fascism and Nazism, giving away parts of the national territory, and with criminal mass expulsions and killings, in the worst possible way abused and severely tarnished the legitimate desire of Croatian people to have their own state. “Also, we must strictly separate antifascism, as a value of modern Europe and modern Croatia which is written in our Constitution, and the criminal Yugoslav Communist regime, under which tens of thousands of people of various nationalities and ideas were brutally executed as enemies of the people, without trial or any human rights,” she said.
Finally, the President called on everyone to turn towards the future.
Later in the evening, the government issued its statement. In it, the government strongly condemned any glorification of the Ustasha regime and justification of its crimes. “Continuous false statements about the Ustasha-ization of society and unacceptable statements by individuals are part of a broader campaign aimed at creating new divisions in the society and preventing the implementation of the reform programme of the current government,” said the government.
“The government will do its utmost for Croatia to continue to develop in the spirit of tolerance, as an equal member of the European family with whom we share the same values,” concluded the government.
Representatives of political parties reacted to the President’s speech. HDZ has not issued an official statement, but unofficial party sources said that “they are the wrong address for commenting because they condemn all radicalisms and are not interested in ideological issues. HDZ’ political orientation is centre-right and the party wants to focus on the economy and investments.”
HNS agrees with the condemnation of rising nationalism, fascism and extremisms of all kinds. The party believes that ideological divisions are destroying Croatian society and that they should stop. The message from the President to the government “to wake up and start doing its job” is something that HNS agrees with.
Krešo Beljak (HSS) said that he did not see any great divisions, but a handful of revisionists who could potentially be dangerous. “The President said she was aware she would be blamed by both the left and the right. But, I do not see any extreme left, I do not see partisan hordes on the streets, but I do see flirting with the Ustasha movement”, said Beljak.
Gordana Sobol (SDP) said that the President herself had contributed to the divisions with her silence on events during the last year and a half. “I am talking first and foremost about the glorification of the Ustasha movement and the Independent State of Croatia. The President cannot perform her duties from one speech to the next, she has to react to events. The President remained silent on the chants ‘For Homeland Ready’ at a football match and during a protest in Zagreb. Also, the President cannot allow herself to ignore Jasenovac”, said Sobol.
Ranko Ostojić (SDP) said that the President’s address was not in line with what she said during her inauguration. “She should look herself in a mirror. The greatest disgrace is that people who think that our coat of arms must begin with a red square, which means that they reject the Ustasha movement, are being persecuted and have to protect their children”, said Ostojić, referring presumably to the case of verbal attacks on actor Rene Bitorajac. Ostojić also pointed out that the President, the government and the HDZ president had not issued congratulatory statements on the occasion of the Europe Day and the Victory over Fascism Day.
