SINJ, Aug 5 (Hina) - The traditional tournament "Alka" ended in the town of Sinj on Sunday evening with the victory of 31-year-old Denis Gugic.
SINJ, Aug 5 (Hina) - The traditional tournament "Alka" ended in the
town of Sinj on Sunday evening with the victory of 31-year-old Denis
Gugic. #L#
During the central event of this three-day tournament, there were
no state officials in the state box, but only leaders of the
opposition parties and Carl von Habsburg.
Prior to the start of the race, Alka Duke Ante Kotromanovic
addressed the gathered and competitors.
Kotromanovic admitted that "some acts at last year's Alka were
perhaps bad, some perhaps unjustifiable towards some individuals"
but he described them as "a scream of the pain and feelings of people
in the area."
Kotromanovic maintained that his obligation was to speak this year
as well about "what distresses the people".
He asserted that never before had been "so much hatred and disunity,
so much envy and malice and the division between politically
acceptable and politically unacceptable, the left and the right."
With the creation of the Croatian state, we expected peace, harmony
and prosperity of all its citizens, but, as Kotromanovic said, we
experienced the reverse of it.
He criticised "members of the military, cultural and economic
elite" for promoting their own interests and neglecting the common
good. This is "the main cause of deep divisions in the society," he
said.
"These evils began to appear while the former authorities were in
power," Kotromanovic said adding that if somebody had commenced
with the job of political acceptability, bad privatisation and the
awarding of ranks and medals with no criteria, "it should not have
been continued."
Commenting on the future of this local tournament, which has for
centuries been held in memory of the local residents' victory over
Ottoman invaders, Kotromanovic said he saw Alka as an independent
historical, cultural and military event freed of any policy.
This year, Alka was held without the sponsorship of the President of
the Republic. In the past it was the practice that the tournament
was held under the auspices of the head of state.
Last year, Kotromanovic's heated speech and the audience shouting
insults at Croatian President Stjepan Mesic marked the event.
Everything came to a head, when the Alka administrative board
prevented the then winner to receive gifts which President Mesic's
special envoy should have handed to him. This summer, President
Mesic advised the Alka administrative board to consider
possibilities of other sponsors. Later the board decided that the
"populace of Sinj and the Cetina Valley will be the sponsor."
At this year's 287th Alka, the winner Denis Gugic was awarded some
traditional gifts, and received 35,000 kuna. The financial part of
the prize will be given to the fund for the defence of General Mirko
Norac, born in this town.
Norac is currently in custody in Rijeka where he and a few other war
veterans are being tried for war crimes they allegedly committed in
the central town of Gospic in 1991.
(hina) ms