DVOR: ETHNIC DISPUTES ON OCCASION OF MUNICIPAL DAY

DVOR, Sept 18 (Hina) - The Dvor Municipal Council on Wednesday held a ceremonious session in honour of September 18, which the council last year proclaimed as Municipality Day. Councillors in attendance at the session were from the Serb Democratic Independent Party (SDSS), two independent councillors and one from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), while councillors from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) refused to attend. #L# The laying of wreaths at the monument to killed Croatian soldiers of the Homeland War in the centre of Dvor and at the monument in honour of victims of World War II was postponed following a decision by Dvor Mayor Nikola Caric. He said that this would be conducted the day after when all parties making up the council agree to the manner the wreath should be laid and how to pay honours to all those killed in the Homeland War and World War II. Mayor Caric reminded that the Dvor Municipal Council last year changed the decision on the date of Municipality Day and chose September 18 as the new date which, as he said, was International Peace Day. He mentioned that this bothered some parties because Municipality Day will no longer be on August 9, marking that day in 1995 when territory in the municipality was integrated into the Croatian constitutional and legal order. He emphasised that a stately nation, that is Croats, should not be bothered by International Peace Day as a municipal holiday. Referring to objections by local Croats that Municipality Day is being celebrated on the 7th anniversary of the "Una" military action when twenty Croatian soldiers had been killed or gone missing, Caric stressed that he personally did not have any objections to today's day being marked as an anniversary of that action and that he would personally be involved in any celebration of that day that is organised by the relevant government bodies or the defence or interior ministries. Reflecting on today's gathering of the heads of the Croatian Party of Rights in Dvor, who held a press conference and laid a wreath at the monument dedicated to the victims of the Homeland War, Caric said that he wished peace and comfort for all those who had walked through Dvor in black shirts on August 9, 1995, when Dvor was liberated in the "Storm" action and were doing the same today. He said that laying a wreath at the monument to the Homeland War and World War II was postponed because of "a threat". He said that journalists should ask his deputy HDZ councillor, Franjo Juranovic, about these threats. In a statement to the press, Juranovic pointed out that there had been no threats and the security of the councillors was not put into question, while Caric had personally decided to postpone the wreath-laying ceremony. The president of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), Anto Djapic, said at a press conference in Dvor that Serb political representatives in the municipality were not respecting the Constitution or the parliamentary declaration on the Homeland War. Djapic described the change in the date of municipality day as pure provocation. Instead of Municipality Day being held on August 9, when Dvor was liberated and returned to the Croatian constitutional and legal order, representatives of the Serb minority who have a majority in the municipal council, proclaimed September 18 as Municipality Day claiming this to be International Peace Day, while in fact on that day in 1995, the Serb police occupied Dvor and in its action "Una '95" Croatian defenders fell victim, Djapic said. According to Djapic, the idea that today is International Peace Day not correct because the date of that day changes each year. At the same time, they are trying to spread the theory of a civil war that occurred in these regions when we all know this was Serb aggression. The HSP will demand that the Constitution be protected and respected legally as well as the Declaration on the Homeland War, that is, that any escapades by certain representatives of the Serb minority, be punished. Djapic believes that the current state of peace is unjust and activities by political representatives of the Serb minority remind us of those in 1989 and 1990 which preceded the armed rebellion against Croatia. "The mentality of representatives of the Serb minority has not changed because their anti-Croatian activities were never punished," Djapic said. After the press conference the HSP delegation laid a wreath and paid honours to Croatian defenders killed in the "Una 95" action. Associations from the Homeland War organised a promotional film in Dvor entitled "Amarcord 1991-2002" directed by Pavao Vranjican which speaks about the Homeland War and Serb atrocities in that region and which was put together based on amateur video shots of the Serb paramilitary army. (hina) sp sb lml