Milos Aligrudic of the Democratic Party of Serbia told Beta news agency that Mesic's statement was intended for the Croatian political scene and should, therefore, not be interpreted negatively. He said the thesis in Croatia was that the Chetniks and the Ustasha were one and the same.
Dusan Petrovic of the Democratic Party said history should be left to historians, and that Serbia and Croatia should work towards accelerating their paths to the European Union, which he added could be achieved only if the two governments had good communication and relations.
Milorad Mircic of the Serbian Radical Party said the Serbian government should have reacted more harshly to Mesic's statement. He said it was unacceptable for the "president of a state born out of genocide to condition his arrival" and that the Chetnik gathering represented the celebration of "a historical event that was completely positive".
Miloljub Albijanic of G 17 Plus said Croatia and Serbia must have good relations, but added that each could do certain things the way they wanted.
Zarko Obradovic of the Socialist Party of Serbia said that Mesic's statement was just the continuation "of what he said when he assessed the events of World War Two, slapping politicians in Serbia".
Mesic "was speaking the way things really had been. That's certainly a message and not only internal, because for 60 years nobody dared to revise history the way it was done in Serbia," said Obradovic.
Ljiljana Nestorovic of the Social Democratic Party said the cancellation of Mesic's visit was very bad for Serbia because Serbia needed the support of its neighbours on the path to the EU. She added Croatia was ahead of Serbia in the European integration process and had expressed readiness to support Serbia on that path.
Zarko Korac of the Social Democratic Union said Mesic's had voiced the dominant position in Croatia, which disapproved of the fact that the Chetnik meeting at Ravna Gora hills on Sunday was held under the state's auspices.
"It remains unclear whether it was or wasn't, but given that the government hasn't distanced itself from it, it must be considered that it was held under state patronage, which means that the state stood behind the notion that during World War Two had two antifascist movements, which is historically inaccurate," Korac said, adding that Mesic's cancellation of his visit was a step back in the establishment of good neighbourly relations.