PRESIDENT TUDJMAN'S DELEGATION PLACES WREATH AT ALTAR OF HOMELAND

ZAGREB, June 22 (Hina) - On Sunday morning, a delegation of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman laid a wreath at the Altar of Homeland on Medvednica marking the Day of Antifascist Struggle, celebrated in Croatia on June 22. The delegation consisted of President's chief-of-staff, Hrvoje Sarinic, the parliamentary war veterans committee's head, Janko Bobetko, members of the Parliament, Zvonimir Cervenko and Milivoj Kujundzic, the President's military cabinet's head, Lieutenant General Miljenko Crnac, and an advisor to the President, Franjo Kajfez. On this occasion Sarinic signed the book of comments writing that the struggle of the Croatian people that on this day was the first in Europe to rebel, in an organised manner, against the Fascist occupation, and that struggle in which the incumbent Croatian President actively took part is incorporated and remains in the grounds of the Croatian Constitution and sovereign Croatian State. Sarinic said to reporters that on June 22, 1941, the first antifascist unit, led by Vlado Janjic Capo, was founded in the Croatian town of Sisak. "That antifascist struggle soon turned into a national movement and gave a great contribution to the European and world antifascist and anti-Hitler coalition. On the ground of the victory that was result of the antifascist struggle, Croatia being a federal unit, was among victors, and thus it acquired the right to its own state like we have today - the independent, democratic, and sovereign Croatian State," he added. The Croatian State is founded on the antifascist principles included into the Croatian Constitution, and President Franjo Tudjman is the only living head of state to have participated actively in the antifascist war. On this day, our thoughts have to be with all people who have struggled, during our long and chequered history, for such independent Croatian state as we have today, and with all who have died under Croatian flags, Sarinic said. (hina) mš 221100 MET jun 97