After all known political and other deviations in the former single-party system, the Croatian Spring, although a part of that system, was a true democratic movement, President Mesic said in his address to participants in the seminar at Zagreb University.
That period of time was unjustly neglected and insufficiently studied by Croatian historians, Mesic said, voicing confidence that the seminar would help find answers to many questions about that time.
The movement undoubtedly led to redefining the political and economic relations in the then Croatia and Yugoslavia. It was about giving Yugoslav republics, including Croatia, the right to manage their own resources and income and about democratising and decentralising the Communist Party, Mesic said.
The late politician Miko Tripalo recognised that need and promoted it at political forums and on the public scene together with Savka Dabcevic-Kucar and many other Croatian politicians of that time, Mesic said.
Unfortunately, the movement suffered a defeat due to the lack of readiness on the part of the former Yugoslav political and military leadership to accept changes, as well as due to the political immaturity of some participants in the movement, Mesic said.
Nevertheless, the movement left a positive mark and had an impact on the adoption of constitutional changes in 1974, which partly included the changes advocated by participants in the Croatian Spring and which eventually created conditions for the disassociation of the Yugoslav republics and Croatia's independence in 1991, the President said.
After the breakdown of the movement, many of its participants ended up in prison and those who avoided such a destiny were forced to keep silent until democratic developments in the late 1980s and democratic changes in 1990, Mesic said.
Most of them shared the consistent advocacy of the development of Croatia as a democratic society, the President added.
The "Miko Tripalo" award for contribution to democratisation went to Radio 101, which the citation read had demonstrated courage, objectivity and creativity in withstanding attempts to put it under control.