ZAGREB, Oct 15 (Hina) - "Finally, it has scientifically been proved that Croatians are of proto-Iranian (Persian) origin," exclaimed triumphantly representatives of a scholarly society for the study of Croatians' descent (ZDPPH) last
week.
ZAGREB, Oct 15 (Hina) - "Finally, it has scientifically been proved
that Croatians are of proto-Iranian (Persian) origin," exclaimed
triumphantly representatives of a scholarly society for the study
of Croatians' descent (ZDPPH) last week.#L#
Nedjeljko Kujundzic, the head of the society established in 1992
for just this purpose to help endeavours aimed at "the promotion of
the truth about the Iranian descent of Croats," held a news
conference last Wednesday when he presented 'final' evidence on
this matter. Last Friday, a book entitled "Indo-Iranian Origin of
Croats" by a writer and historian Mate Marcinko was presented as
well.
Two society members, Ivan Biondic and Andrija-Zeljko Lovric, last
July toured Iran. There they saw a plaque called "Tablet from
Tanais", and heard, as they say, a dialect which resembles the
Kaikavian dialect of the Croatian language.
Biondic explained that in the end of the 19th century two stone
tablets were discovered with Greek inscriptions of ancient Croat
names from the Ancient port of Tanais at the Sea of Azov. The
tablets, which date back to 2nd and 3rd century B.C., have early
Croatian ethnonyms - Horoathos, Horauathos and Horvathon.
The society's president Kujundzic said that 'tamburitza' - a
Croatian folk instrument - was also preserved in its original form
by some Iranian tribes.
According to him, Swedish geneticists, while studying bones, have
confirmed, in 72 percent of cases, the theory that Croats are of
Iranian origin.
Biondic added that this theory had also been confirmed by American
and Canadian Slavists.
In this context he resolutely and completely rejected a thesis of
some historians and the belief of a vast majority of Croats that
they were of the Slav descent.
By this all surprises for visitors at the news conference were not
exhausted. Namely, Biondic, informed them of the presumption that
Mihovil Lovric, Andrija-Zeljko Lovric's father, was killed in 1976
because of his thesis on the proto-Iranian origin of Croats.
Two days after the news conference, "Indo-Iranian Origin of Croats"
was presented, in which Mate Marcinko collected a score of his texts
which he had published in various magazines and papers for 30 years
under various pseudonyms. One of them is Horoathos Harahuvat.
(hina) jn ms