"We were perhaps the first ones to offer resistance to Italian Fascism in Istria. We have reason to be proud because Croatia aligned itself with the victorious nations," Bebic said.
He recalled that the Croatian Parliament had adopted a declaration on anti-fascism and that the constitution states that Croatia is founded on anti-fascism.
The head of the Croatian Anti-Fascists' Association (SABA), Vesna Culinovic-Konstantinovic, called for the equal treatment of WWII anti-fascist fighters and war veterans from the 1990s Homeland Defence War.
She said that this was not about privileges but about compliance with the Constitution.
In attendance at the reception were also President Ivo Josipovic and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, but they did not make addresses.