DAY OF ANTI-FASCIST STRUGGLE IN CROATIA MARKED AROUND THE COUNTRY

( Editorial: --> 2910 ) SISAK, June 22 (Hina) - The main event in the marking of June 22, the Day of Anti-Fascist Struggle in Croatia, took place Monday in front of a monument to the First Partisan Unit from Sisak in Brezovica Forest near Sisak. A Croatian state delegation laid wreaths and lit candles to pay their respects to the original Croatian anti-fascists. The delegation included Croatian National Parliament deputy speaker Vladimir Seks, the chairman of the parliament's War Veterans Committee retired army general Janko Bobetko, the Croatian President's advisor and MP Drago Krpina, Education and Sports Minister Bozidar Pugelnik, and Upper House representative Martin Katicic. Wreaths were also laid by representatives of local authorities, political parties, associations of anti-fascist fighters and the Jewish community. Also attending the event were ambassadors of Egypt, China, Yugoslavia, Poland, the Ukraine, Macedonia and Romania, and representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retired army general Bobetko spoke about the First Partisan Unit from Sisak which was established by anti-fascists and Croats from Sisak in Brezovica Forest on June 22, 1941. "The Sisak unit was the first organised armed unit in the then enslaved, occupied Europe, which started an armed struggle against fascism", Bobetko said, emphasising it is something the Croatian people can be proud of. In World War Two the Croatian people made a large-scale commitment to the anti-fascist struggle, the retired general said, pointing out to the fact that Croatia ended WW2 with five corpses and several minor units. Speaking about the world's attitude towards Croatian participation in the victorious anti-fascist coalition, Bobetko said that representatives of other countries in Europe and the world must respect historical arguments and use these to draw conclusions. "Those who constantly condemn the Croatian people and want to present it to the world as genocidal do so consciously, (in order) to diminish the defeat of the real collaborators in German fascism", Bobetko said and drew a parallel with the anti-fascist struggle in Serbia. The anti-fascist movement in Serbia failed at the beginning of WW2, Chetniks and fascists were in power and collaborated with Hitler's Germany all the time, Bobetko said, adding that Serbia ended WW2 with only two brigades. The retired army general said it was not a coincidence that the day the First Partisan Unit from Sisak was established had been suppressed, unrecognised and politically assessed as a local issue until the establishment of the new Croatian state and authority. With the establishment of the Croatian state and its President's decision, that day "has become a national holiday which we celebrate today with pride and dignity, with due respect to all who (gave their lives) for present-day Croatia", said Bobetko. He concluded by saying that Croatian participation in the anti- fascist coalition paved the way for "the creation of the present- day independent, sovereign, free, democratic and internationally recognised Croatian state, (as well as for the) the victory against the Serbian aggressor in the Homeland War." The Day of Anti-Fascist Struggle in Croatia was marked with wreath- laying all over the country, including at the monuments' crypt at the Jasenovac memorial grounds, the site of a WW2 concentration camp. (hina) ha jn 221819 MET jun 98