By observing August 23 as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes, as designated by the European Parliament's 2009 resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism, EU citizens symbolically repay the victims as well as those who fought against totalitarian and undemocratic regimes, Leko said.
The Croatian parliament's decision to observe that day in Croatia was additionally prompted by Croatian citizens' continued, unambiguous and clear expression of respect for the victims of Nazism, fascism and communism, he added.
The crimes and the horrible consequences those three totalitarian ideologies left behind throughout Europe call for treating their victims in a responsible, dignified and unbiased way by establishing and consistently clearing up all historical facts to eliminate the possibility of manipulating them, Leko said.
Observing this day of remembrance must be free of any ideology or daily politics, focusing instead on the victims and their suffering, which inspired millions of their contemporaries to rise against oppressive regimes and fight for a life in freedom, he added.
By uniting in the commemoration of all those victims who, nameless and reduced to mere numbers, were executed in concentration camps and elsewhere, we right the historical injustices by condemning all crimes against humanity and promote the democratic values of equality, mutual respect and understanding as well as the respect for human rights, said Leko.
That is an important pledge to peace, freedom and the democratic values on which we wish to continue to build our joint European future, he added.
Croatia observes the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes as of 2011.
The Croatian parliament in June 2006 passed a declaration condemning the crimes committed during the totalitarian communist order in Croatia between 1945 and 1990. It says that people's knowledge and awareness of historical events is one of the prerequisites for averting similar crimes in the future, and that the moral evaluation and condemnation of the crimes play an important role in the education of young generations.