Veterans claim they did not record their meeting with Milanović.
“I have no information about secret recordings of the conversation between Zoran Milanović and veterans”, said Josip Klemm, one of the veterans who were present at the meeting. Recordings of the meeting were published by the media today, reports Index.hr on August 25, 2016.
Franko Vidović, SDP’s Member of Parliament who was one of the organizers of the meeting, said that “people who are willing to use secret recordings” are “not honourable people”, alluding obviously that it was the other side which recorded the meeting and gave the recordings to reporters. In an interview on Wednesday evening, Milanović said he saw that the veterans were recording the meeting and that it made him laugh.
“These are just their internal party conflicts. I do not want to discuss it”, said Klemm, adding that the meeting with Milanović was important. He added that their side did not want the meeting to be public.
Klemm confirmed that he held similar meeting with HDZ representatives headed by party president Andrej Plenković, but did not want to say how did that meeting compare with the one with Milanović. “That is not important. We call for dialogue; we should all talk with each other. Enough with the tensions”, said Klemm.
Dražimir Jukić, another veteran who was present at the meeting, also said that he knew nothing about the secret recordings. “I see no reason why we would have recorded it. These are their internal party conflicts”, said Jukić, adding that it was strange to listen to statements coming from SDP claiming first that they did know about the meeting being recorded, and then that they did not know it. He claims they had agreed to a meeting with SDP to prove they are for dialogue. “We are tired of inflammatory policies. We are for dialogue”, said Jukić.
While SDP was in power from 2011 to 2015, veterans’ organization organized numerous protests against the government, accusing it of not defending Croatia’s national interests and not respecting veterans’ rights. They put up a protest tent in front of the Veterans’ Affairs Ministry which remained there for a year and a half, demanding the resignation of then Veteran Affairs Minister.
It is not clear at the moment who made the recordings, how they will affect the election campaign, and whether they will help or hurt Milanović and his party.
