KARLOVAC, March 30 (Hina) - Vesna Terselic, president of a committee which initiated the removal of a monument erected in the central town of Slunj in honour of an Ustasha soldier, said last Thursday President Stjepan Mesic supported
the initiative, however, parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan would not meet committee members to discuss the issue.
KARLOVAC, March 30 (Hina) - Vesna Terselic, president of a
committee which initiated the removal of a monument erected in the
central town of Slunj in honour of an Ustasha soldier, said last
Thursday President Stjepan Mesic supported the initiative,
however, parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic and Prime Minister
Ivica Racan would not meet committee members to discuss the issue.
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Terselic said at a news conference in Karlovac the executive
authorities should take a stand with regard to whether Croatia
needed a law banning the propagation of Ustasha ideology and
regulating the marking of the place of death of people who supported
different ideologies.
Terselic, who also presides over the Zagreb Centre for Peace
Studies, criticised the system of education of young generations
saying that "crimes committed in World War II and the Homeland War
are treated in an unacceptable way". She also warned about the lack
of a systematic educational approach to tolerance, human rights and
peace.
The human rights activist said that she had received a number of
death threats since December 10 last year, when committee members
tried to hold a peaceful protest in front of the Slunj monument and
urge its dismantling, but were prevented by a group of some 200
local residents.
The committee includes representatives of the Centre for Peace
Studies, the Karlovac Human Rights Committee, the Croatian
Helsinki Committee, and the Alliance of Anti-fascist Fighters.
(hina) rml