ZAGREB, 14 May 2022 - An event was held in Vukovar on Saturday to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Croatia's first president Franjo Tuđman, with speakers at the event saying that the current state leadership and Zagreb city authorities disregard the role of the late president.

Vukovar Mayor and Homeland Movement leader Ivan Penava, historian Josip Jurčević, the late Croatian president's advisor, former justice minister and member of parliament, Bosiljko Mišetić, and academician Josip Pečarić spoke about Tuđman at the event.

Jurčević said that the more "Tuđman is de-Tuđmanised, the greater symbolic importance he has."

Pečarić believes that the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU) treats Tuđman the same way the state does, with his membership of HAZU being regularly passed over.

Penava said that if the Homeland Movement had been consulted on how Tuđman's 100th birth anniversary should be commemorated, celebrations would be taking place across the country.

"Institutions, kindergartens, schools, research and other institutions would be discussing Tuđman's 100th birth anniversary the whole day. Military aircraft would be flying over Zagreb in his honour, instead of Macron's, as seen a few weeks ago," said Penava.

Commenting on Tuđman's younger son Stjepan's failure to attend the Vukovar event, Penava said that due to disappointment with events surrounding the 100th anniversary of his father's birth, Stjepan Tuđman decided to stay in Zagreb and visit with his family Veliko Trgovišće, where his father was born, as well as attend Mass in Zagreb.

Penava said that the state leadership and the Zagreb city authorities' treatment of the Tuđman family was the best proof of the authorities' attitude toward Tuđmanism, sovereignism and to Croatia as created by Tuđman and defenders in 1991.

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ZAGREB, 14 May 2022 - A delegation of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković laid a wreath and lit candles outside the house in Veliko Trgovišće, 40km north of Zagreb, where the first President of Croatia and founder of the HDZ, Franjo Tuđman, was born 100 years ago.

"I think that President Tuđman achieved all the goals he set out in his speech in the Croatian Parliament on 30 May 1990 after the first democratic election. It is up to us to improve them in new international circumstances and new economic circumstances in the face of global challenges. We should do all we can for the benefit of Croatian society and Croatian citizens," Plenković said, describing Tuđman as "a Croatian great and the biggest Croatian statesman in history."

Plenković said that Tuđman's political legacy is the obligation of all those who have won the trust of the Croatian people.  Thanking all Croatian defenders and citizens for supporting Tuđman in crucial times, he said that the situation in the 1990s was indeed difficult, given the military aggression by Serbia's Milošević regime, and required the courage and boldness of Croatian defenders as well as statesmanship and the wise leadership of the state.

The prime minister said that Croatia has been internationally recognised for 30 years now and has achieved all its strategic goals.

"It is a member of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. We have a democracy and developed institutions and are making continued progress on what was his goal and that is that we fight and work together to ensure a better life for every Croatian," Plenković said.

He also highlighted Croatia's care for the Croats abroad, saying that the great value of Tuđman's policy was to maintain ties between the Croats at home and abroad.

Presidential special adviser Mate Granić said that Tuđman had made historical moves that led to the creation of the modern Croatian state and pursued a policy that helped bring an end to the war in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina and achieve the peaceful reintegration of Serb-occupied territories in Croatia.

Asked if Tuđman would have been pleased with present-day Croatia, Granić said: "From a strategic point of view, absolutely yes. This government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković runs a modern, sovereignist policy. This government was also among the first to recognise what would happen in Ukraine and supported Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their defence against the brutal and unprovoked Russian aggression. This government cares for the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Unfortunately, after Tuđman's death, 15 years had to pass before a government came into power than put focus on the status of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina."

The HDZ delegation included Minister for Veterans' Affairs Tomo Medved, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, Health Minister Vili Beroš, Transport Minister Oleg Butković, Defence Minister Mario Banožić, Economy Minister Davor Filipović, Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek and former HDZ Secretary-General Ivan Jarnjak.

The HDZ delegation also laid a wreath at Tuđman's grave at Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb.

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ZAGREB, 13 May 2022 - Saturday, 14 May would have been the 100th birthday of Croatia's first president, Franjo Tuđman, under whose leadership the sovereign, independent and internationally recognised Croatian state was created.

Born in Veliko Trgovišće on 14 May 1922, Tuđman participated in the Partisan movement and early in 1945, holding the major's rank, he went to Belgrade as one of the Croatian representatives in the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia Supreme Headquarters.

Tuđman also worked in the Yugoslav People's Army Chiefs of the General Staff and on the Military Encyclopedia's editorial board. In 1960, he was promoted to the rank of general, after which he left active military service.

Upon returning to Zagreb, he worker as a researcher and in 1961 founded the Institute for the History of the Workers' Movement of Croatia, becoming its director. Since 1963, he taught at the Zagreb Faculty of Political Sciences.

Due to his views on some historical issues, he came into conflict with the authorities and was ousted from the Communist Party, removed from the University of Zagreb, replaced as director of the Institute, and forced to retire.

In January 1972, after the Croatian Spring national movement was crushed, he was arrested and, in a rigged trial, sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Thanks to an intervention by author Miroslav Krleža, the sentence was reduced to nine months.

Due to an interview with Western media in which he advocated pluralist democracy, he was arrested in 1981 and sentenced to three years.

When pluralism was allowed in Yugoslavia in 1989, at a panel of the Croatian Writers Society, Tuđman outlined the platform of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) party, of which he was elected president at a 17 June founding assembly.

After the party's victory in the first democratic election in 1990, parliament proclaimed him chairman of the Presidency of the Social Republic of Croatia.

After Croatia became independent, he won two presidential elections, in 1992 and 1997. His terms were marked by the military aggression on Croatia, its international recognition in January 1992, the 1991-95 Homeland War, the peaceful reintegration of the Danube region which ended in 1998, and the reinforcement of Croatia's international position.

In 1995, Tuđman co-signed the Dayton agreement, which restored peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He died in Zagreb on 10 December 1999.

Two separate events to mark Tuđman's 100 birthday

On Saturday, the HDZ will mark Tuđman's 100 birthday with a special programme. A symposium entitled "Always and everything for Croatia" will be held at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, with speeches by HDZ president and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Tuđman's closest associates, HDZ founders, dignitaries and party officials.

Some of Tuđman's former associates will mark his birthday in Vukovar, including his younger son Stjepan.

For more, check out our politics section.

I noticed him last year, when walking through the little streets in Stari Grad. He was sitting outside of his home, smoking a cigarette and repairing his fishing net. A wonderful sight of the old city. I didn´t know how old, however..