KOSTOV UNVEILS BULGARIA'S MEMORIAL PLAQUE FOR STJEPAN RADIC

ZAGREB, July 12 (Hina) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov on Wednesday unveiled a memorial plaque to Stjepan Radic, a former leader of the Croatian people and the founder of the Croatian Peasants' Party, on Radic's house in Zagreb. The memorial plaque was put on the house by Bulgaria's Embassy in Croatia. The message on the plaque reads "In memory of Croatian people leader Stjepan Radic, great champion of Bulgarian-Croatian friendship, author of the historical book 'Reconstructed Bulgaria' (1913) - From the eternally grateful people of Bulgaria". "Stjepan Radic was a great admirer and friend of the Bulgarian people, and this plaque is the Bulgarian people's expression of gratitude for Stjepan Radic's work," Bulgarian Prime Minister Kostov said at the unveiling. Radic, born on 11 June 1871, was a prominent Croatian political figure who advocated democracy and the equality of the Croatian people, first in Austria-Hungary and later in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In June 1928, he was shot at by an emissary of the Serb Radical Party. He succumbed to the wound on August 8. Radic's big friendship with Bulgaria's political leadership of the 1920s began after he wrote "Reconstructed Bulgaria" in 1913. The book was reprinted at Bulgaria's initiative in the wake of democratic changes in both Bulgaria and Croatia in the early 1990s. At the same time Bulgaria launched an initiative to put up a memorial plaque to mark Radic's birth anniversary. (hina) ha jn