Decisions adopted at the third ZAVNOH session were crucial for the constitutional and legal foundations of the present-day Croatia and without them Croatia's independence and defence in the early 1990s would not have been possible, President Mesic said at the event.
He recalled that the ZAVNOH meeting, held in Topusko, had proclaimed Croatia a federal state and part of the democratic federative Yugoslavia, laying foundations for a modern Croatian state within the then Yugoslav federation.
The Independent State of Croatia (NDH, 1941-1945) cannot be considered a state marking the continuity of the Croatian statehood because its Ustasha government could not be considered a people's, legitimate government since it was formed as an instrument of undemocratic fascist forces, Mesic said.
This lack of continuity of the Croatian statehood was ended by the Communist Party and opposition to the terror of the Ustasha authorities, from which a freedom-loving, anti-fascist Croatia sprang, whose tradition is continued by the Republic of Croatia, he added.
Mesic recalled that the ZAVNOH, founded in June 1943, had made a decision on the unification of all Croatian regions that had been annexed by the occupying forces during the Ustasha rule.
By marking the anniversary of the ZAVNOH session, we are reaffirming our commitment to anti-fascism and our gratitude to all who contributed to Croatia's independence, both during the anti-fascist struggle and in the Homeland War, Mesic said.
Sabor Speaker Vladimir Seks said that the ZAVNOH had been the highest legislative and executive body gathering leading Croatian anti-fascists and patriots who made Croatian anti-fascism an integral part of the international anti-fascist coalition.
The decisions of the third ZAVNOH session made it possible to make the centuries-long wish of the Croatian people to have its own state a reality, Seks said.
Croatia sees its future in the community of European democracies whose foundations were laid with the victory of the anti-fascist coalition over fascism, Seks said among other things.
The meeting in Topusko was also addressed by PM Ivo Sanader's envoy, Minister of the Interior Ivica Kirin, the leader of the Association of Anti-fascist Fighters of Croatia, Vesna Culinovic Konstantinovic, the president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, Milorad Pupovac, and others.
Wreaths were laid and candles lit in front of the Monument to the struggle for national liberation in Topusko.
Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Sabor Speaker Seks said that the debt to anti-fascist fighters had still not been settled and that it was a lasting obligation of all state institutions, the parliament and the government.
The Croatian parliament in 2005 adopted a declaration obliging all state bodies to promote the values of the struggle for national liberation and anti-fascism. "I believe that this will be done in a reasonable period of time," Seks said when asked if there were any concrete measures to value the deeds of participants in the struggle for national liberation.