ZAGREB ZAGREB, Dec 7 (Hina) - Late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman indisputably deserves the most credit for the establishment of the Croatian state, said participants in a seminar held on the third anniversary of the first Croatian
president's death in Zagreb on Saturday. The event was organised by the Association for the Promotion of Croatian Identity and Prosperity (UHIP).
ZAGREB, Dec 7 (Hina) - Late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman
indisputably deserves the most credit for the establishment of the
Croatian state, said participants in a seminar held on the third
anniversary of the first Croatian president's death in Zagreb on
Saturday. The event was organised by the Association for the
Promotion of Croatian Identity and Prosperity (UHIP). #L#
Opening the seminar "Tudjmanism and De-Tudjmanisation", which was
held at the Croatian History Institute, established by Tudjman in
1961, UHIP leader Miroslav Tudjman said the seminar had pooled many
historians and intellectuals, whose speeches would be published in
the form of proceedings.
Institute director Mirko Valentic said that Tudjman had opposed
attempts to impose collective guilt on the Croat people for crimes
committed by the Ustasha in World War II, which included the
exaggeration of the number of victims killed at the Jasenovac
concentration camp. That activity, and the historical analysis of
Croatian anti-fascism in WWII were not received well in Belgrade,
which is why Tudjman was sent into retirement and persecuted in the
former Yugoslavia, Valentic said.
A Social Democratic Party official, Zdravko Tomac, said that his
cooperation with Tudjman in times that were decisive for Croatia
was close and correct, although he was Tudjman's opponent and
critic. Tomac said that he started cooperating with Tudjman in the
late 1980s with the establishment of a multi-party system, the
adoption of the so-called "Christmas Constitution" in 1990, the
establishment of the government of national unity and Croatia's
defence in 1991, until the break-up with Tudjman over his policy
towards Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992.
Commenting on the conflict in Bosnia, Tomac said that considering
the current situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the status of BH
Croats, he feared that Tudjman might have been right at the time,
while he was not.
The seminar was also addressed by Milan Vukovic, Nenad Ivankovic,
Goran Dodig and others.
(hina) rml