ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - The path that President Tudjman chose is marked with only one holy ideal, the creation of a Croatian state as an independent, internationally recognised state, Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa said at Saturday's
session of the Croatian Government. Members of the Government commenced the session with a moment of silence in honour of the deceased president of the Republic, Dr. Franjo Tudjman. On the occasion, Premier Matesa recalled the president's last public appearance - on All Saints' Day, November 1 at Medvedgrad. Ill and conscious of the seriousness of his illness, President Tudjman then wrote that he laid a reef in honour of all those who survived, created, suffered, died and were killed so that the Croatian people could survive and finally create a free and independent state, Matesa reminded. "In that last appearance to the Croatian public, we recognise that ideal, guiding though
ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - The path that President Tudjman chose is
marked with only one holy ideal, the creation of a Croatian state as
an independent, internationally recognised state, Prime Minister
Zlatko Matesa said at Saturday's session of the Croatian
Government.
Members of the Government commenced the session with a moment of
silence in honour of the deceased president of the Republic, Dr.
Franjo Tudjman.
On the occasion, Premier Matesa recalled the president's last
public appearance - on All Saints' Day, November 1 at Medvedgrad.
Ill and conscious of the seriousness of his illness, President
Tudjman then wrote that he laid a reef in honour of all those who
survived, created, suffered, died and were killed so that the
Croatian people could survive and finally create a free and
independent state, Matesa reminded.
"In that last appearance to the Croatian public, we recognise that
ideal, guiding thought which marked the entire life of our
president, this ideal was a free Croatia", Matesa said.
The premier recalled the life path of President Tudjman noting that
no one can escape their fate, the influence of their environment,
the times they grew up in.
Matesa then noted some of the president's personal testimonies and
memories - from his first memory when he was only three years old,
that his father had been in jail because of his Croatianism. He also
recalled memories marking his life during the monarchical fascist
dictatorship of the Karadjordjevo regime; the Second World War when
entire families joined the Partisan movement including his father
and where his youngest brother was killed. His memories included
his becoming a member of the "ZAVNOH" (Country Anti-Fascist Council
of the National Liberation of Croatia) and "AVNOJ" (Anti-Fascist
Council of the National Liberation of Yugoslavia); and up until
1972 when he himself was imprisoned because of his nationalism.
"And when in 1972 I was taken to jail because of nationalism, a
youngster, my grandchild, looked on through the eyes of a two year
old, and when he grows up he'll recall or be reminded of his first
confrontation with the authorities, anti-Croatian, of course",
were the president's words which Premier Matesa described.
"This is how our, President Tudjman lived Croatia's history as
today's reality and prepared the way for that which was to come. His
thoughts opened new horizons to the path of freedom but also the
door of the dungeon which the authorities of the time had closed
shut", said Matesa.
It us logical therefore, continued Matesa, that President Tudjman
chose his path which was marked with only one holy ideal, the
creation of the Croatian state as an independent, internationally
recognised state accepted in the society of world order and other
world states.
"And this is why in his consistency, that he abandoned those ideals
which he fought for in World War II, when he realised that they had
fallen away from the fundamental guiding thought prevalent in his
entire life. Consistent in his ideas, he himself said - I am not one
to sell myself and nothing could make me deny my parents, my
children and my homeland", said the premier. Matesa stressed that
they who fight for justice and who are in turmoil because they don't
realise their objectives. "Our President Tudjman lived to realise
his aims, he realised this after a long and hard battle and with the
assistance of all levels of Croatian society, Croatia's' Diaspora,
he experienced the creation of the Croatian state", he said.
Matesa emphasised that this was the start of the president's third
battle for the survival of the Croatian state including the war and
destruction, the creation of the state and state institutions,
establishment of Croatian government for the first time after one
thousand years, to ensuring a safe life for all Croatian citizens.
He then reminded that during the war, President Tudjman was
particularly concerned for the victims of the war, who suffered and
how to enable that their lives could be turned about with the fact
that they had their own country. "When we add that which he often
spoke about, one of the fundamental values of his principles, the
principle of all round Croatian reconciliation - then there is only
one way to realise President Tudjman's significance as a historian
and fighter for Croatian freedom and as a statesman or as a man who
in his person united all those greatest values as a humanist and
that which will make him remain in all our hearts, in the heart of
the Croatian people as the first, most significant and only
president of the Croatian state.
With that thought in mind, I would like you all to be proud, as I am,
to have been members of the Croatian Government which was headed by
President Tudjman", were the words that Premier Matesa remembered
President Tudjman.
(hina) sp