4TH ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH OF CRO'S FORMER DEFENCE MINISTER MARKED

ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina)- The fourth anniversary of the death of Croatia's war defence minister and deputy Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) president Gojko Susak was marked by a special session of the Central Committee of the HDZ's "Gojko Susak" Association of war veterans in the party's central office on Friday.#L# The session was attended by Susak's family, associates and friends. The former war defence minister was one of the closest associates of the first Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman, with whom he lodged an incredible amount of life's energy in creating the Croatian state, HDZ's deputy president Andrija Hebrang said in his speech. Hebrang emphasised that Susak made an immeasurable contribution to creating the victorious Croatian army as well as the war strategies that were implemented during the Homeland War. He noted that the Croatian media today on the anniversary of Susak's death did not report one word about this. The head of the Croatian Statehood Testament Foundation, Ivic Pasalic, said that fundamental values of the Croatian state were being brought into question today and the first Croatian president is often referred to insultingly as is the late Gojko Susak. Pasalic said that we should not remain silent about this. The president of the Gojko Susak war veterans' association, retired general Janko Bobetko, also said that in the past two years, the values and participants of the Homeland War were systematically being insulted and diminished. "We are once again faced with a historical turning point of being or not being. If the HDZ doesn't win the current government will completely devalue the significance of the Homeland War," he said. The commemoration being held today is not a ritual but should be a testament that Croatia must be and will remain upright and its citizens should be given back their self-confidence, general Bobetko said. The former defence minister passed away May 3, 1998, after a serious illness. (hina) sp sb