ZAGREB, March 10, 2019 - Istrian Democratic Party vice president Valter Flego said on Sunday that the decision of the Catholic Church in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia to ban the holding of Mass at Loibach, a field near Bleiburg, over political instrumentalisation, was in no way directed against the faith and believers.

"This is not a decision against religious freedoms, on the contrary. The Church in Asutria wants to protect the believers from the abuse by which the Church wants to spread nationalistic messages and promote Ustasha symbols," Flego said adding that everyone should be aware that by doing so our neighbours were trying to protect us from ourselves.

"Instead of drawing a lesson, we learnt nothing. Unfortunately, our state leadership is condemning the decision of Austria which only did what we should have done a long time ago, and that is to ban Ustashaism in our country," Flego said.

MP Emil Daus of the IDS said the Croatian Democratic Union-led government had lost a feeling for any political, moral or human responsibility, adding that the accident involving HDZ Minister Gabrijala Žalac was proof of that.

"A traffic accident can happen to anyone, in a hundred different circumstances and I am truly sorry that the minister had to go through that. However, the fact that the minister got behind the wheel without a valid driver's licence, aware that she is breaking the law, is a reason for immediate resignation," Daus said.

More news on the Bleiburg mass ban can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 9, 2019 - The president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Davor Bernardić, in Požega on Saturday commented on the decision by the Roman Catholic Church in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia to withhold permission for this year's memorial mass at Loibach, a field near Bleiburg, saying that the time had come for Croatia to ban fascist symbols, recalling that Austria, regardless of the right-wing and conservative government, had banned the display of fascist symbols and the use of Holy Mass for political purposes.

"The time has come for those who lead the Croatian government to raise awareness about that issue and ban those symbols and for Croatia to finally turn to the future. But to do so, it first must cut all ties with ghosts of the past once and for all and ban the use of fascist symbols," Bernardić said.

The commemoration in Bleiburg is being exploited for political purposes and you can see there uniforms for failed fascists, Nazi and Ustasha regimes under whose insignia millions of people were killed.

The Roman Catholic Church in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia has turned down a request by the Croatian Bishops Conference (HBK) to hold a mass at Loibach, a field near Bleiburg because the event is used for political purposes, the local church said on Friday.

The Bleiburg commemorations are held in tribute to tens of thousands of Croatian civilians and soldiers of the defeated Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia who surrendered to allied forces there in May 1945, but were handed over by British troops to Yugoslav forces. Many were executed on the spot, while many perished during so-called death marches back to Yugoslavia.

More news on SDP can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 9, 2019 - Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković has told reporters he fully supported a statement by the Croatian Bishops Conference (HBK) which expressed its deep disagreement with the decision by the Roman Catholic Church in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia to withhold permission for this year's memorial mass at Loibach, a field near Bleiburg.

The Croatian Bishops Conference believes that "not allowing the possibility to pray for the victims of that great tragedy of the Croat people means disrespect for the victims and lack of sensitivity for the suffering of the innocent," dismissing the reasons for the decision in their entirety.

I fully support the HBK statement, Jandroković told reporters on Friday evening in the central Croatian town of Gospić where the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) held an election rally for the Lika-Senj County Assembly.

Vladimir Šeks of the HDZ also addressed reporters in Gospić on Friday evening, saying that the Organisation Committee of the Honorary Bleiburg Platoon, the Croatian parliament under whose auspices the event is held, and the Austrian regional government had already taken all steps to prevent any display of Ustasha insignia at the commemoration in Bleiburg.

The Bleiburg commemorations are held in tribute to tens of thousands of Croatian civilians and soldiers of the defeated Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia who surrendered to allied forces there in May 1945, but were handed over by British troops to Yugoslav forces. Many were executed on the spot, while many perished during so-called death marches back to Yugoslavia.

The secretary of the Klagenfurt Diocese, Msgr. Guggenberger, said that the mass held in the field near Bleiburg "has become part of an event that is used for political purposes and is part of a political and national ritual that serves for the selective perception and interpretation of history."

In a statement that explains the decision not to grant permission for the religious service, planned for May 18 this year, the Catholic Church in Carinthia says that the decision was made after a thorough analysis of the 2018 gathering at Bleiburg as well as numerous conversations between representatives of the Austrian and Croatian bishops conferences, which also included believers of the Croat community in Carinthia and representatives of Austrian security authorities.

Even though the Bleiburg gathering is held on a private property, holding a religious service there requires permission from the local church.

Since last year Austria has been treating the Bleiburg commemoration more critically, at the initiative of several Austrian members of the European Parliament. Recently, a law went into force banning the display of Ustasha symbols, dating back to the time of the NDH.

More news on the Bleiburg commemorations can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 9, 2019 - The Croatian Bishops Conference (HBK) on Friday expressed its deep disagreement with the decision by the Roman Catholic Church in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia to withhold permission for this year's memorial mass at Loibach, a field near Bleiburg, dismissing the reasons for the decision in their entirety.

"The secretary of the Gurk Klagenfurt Diocese, Msgr Engelbert Guggenberger, has decided not to allow this year's memorial mass in the Bleiburg field. The Croatian Bishops Conference regrets that decision and expresses its deep disagreement with the reasons he stated and dismisses them in their entirety," the HBK Press Office said in a statement.

It believes that "not allowing the possibility to pray for the victims of that great tragedy of the Croat people means disrespect for the victims and lack of sensitivity for the suffering of the innocent."

The HBK recalls that its representatives and representatives of the Austrian Bishops Conference conducted talks on the commemoration of the Bleiburg tragedy on several occasions. The HBK also says that it joined activities to hold masses in Bleiburg in 2003. "In all previous years, notably in 2018, the Eucharist was celebrated in dignity as befits the Church's most dignified prayer," the HBK says in its statement.

Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković has been informed of the news that the Roman Catholic Church in Carinthia has rejected the HBK's request to hold a religious service at Bleiburg, and since the Bleiburg commemoration is held under the parliament's auspices, he plans first to hold talks with the organisers of the event and then decide how to proceed and coordinate future actions.

According to sources close to Jandroković, talks will first be held with the Honorary Bleiburg Platoon and the HBK, which are the organisers of the commemoration, after which a decision will be made as to what to do next.

According to unofficial reports, the Honorary Bleiburg Platoon met on Friday to discuss the matter.

Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić would not comment today on the decision of the Catholic Church in Austria either, saying only that a mass was the most appropriate way to commemorate victims of World War II.

The Bleiburg commemorations are held in tribute to tens of thousands of Croatian civilians and soldiers of the defeated Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia who surrendered to allied forces there in May 1945, but were handed over by British troops to Yugoslav forces. Many were executed on the spot, while many perished during so-called death marches back to Yugoslavia.

"One should not comment on other countries' actions... for us Bleiburg is a place of remembrance and commemoration of the victims," Pejčinović Burić told reporters.

The secretary of the Klagenfurt Diocese, Msgr. Guggenberger, said that the mass held in the field near Bleiburg "has become part of an event that is used for political purposes and is part of a political and national ritual that serves for the selective perception and interpretation of history."

In a statement that explains the decision not to grant permission for the religious service, planned for May 18 this year, the Catholic Church in Carinthia says that the decision was made after a thorough analysis of the 2018 gathering at Bleiburg as well as numerous conversations between representatives of the Austrian and Croatian bishops conferences, which also included believers of the Croat community in Carinthia and representatives of Austrian security authorities.

Even though the Bleiburg gathering is held on a private property, holding a religious service there requires permission from the local church.

Since last year Austria has been treating the Bleiburg commemoration more critically, at the initiative of several Austrian members of the European Parliament. Recently, a law went into force banning the display of Ustasha symbols, dating back to the time of the NDH.

More news on the Bleiburg commemorations can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, March 8, 2019 - Robert Williams, the Deputy Director of International Affairs at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, said that his impressions during his visit to Croatia were positive and that significant progress had been made in addressing issues concerning the Holocaust, the Culture Ministry said in a press release on Friday after Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek met the US official.

Williams was quoted as saying that the aim of his visit to Croatia, as a representative of an independent organisation of the U.S. Administration which deals with the Holocaust and education about that period of history, was to offer assistance to the Croatian government and the civil sector in dealing with issues concerning the Holocaust and its victims, reads the press release.

In the context of education about the Holocaust, the minister pointed out the efforts of the government and relevant departments to ensure that visits to the Jasenovac Memorial Centre were part of the obligatory curriculum. Visits to Vukovar and Jasenovac would provide a very strong message to young people that crime and suffering can happen to anyone at any time.

The minister said that the Jasenovac Memorial Museum exhibition should be updated with emphasis on historical evidence, victims and their suffering, and perpetrators of crimes.

She said it would be valuable to set up cooperation with international experts for the purpose of exchanging good practice and optimal research methodologies.

Williams, who also represents the US at the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA), supported such approach.

In this context he advocated research including international experts who would have access to all necessary archival materials, including those taken away from Croatia and not returned during the process of succession to the former Yugoslavia.

Williams invited Croatian experts to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, saying that the focus of this museum was being expanded to include all groups of victims of the Nazi and totalitarian regimes.

Concerning the issue of raising awareness of the consequences of the Holocaust, the minister recalled that in a bid to encourage the development of a culture of remembrance, the Croatian government has established a council to deal with the consequences of undemocratic regimes.

She said that the council had adopted a document with a set of guidelines and that this paper was the first Croatian official document to include the internationally adopted definition of anti-Semitism, which Williams welcomed.

Obuljen Koržinek briefed Williams about a series of activities her ministry was undertaking to protect the Jewish heritage in Croatia, which represents a valuable element of the entire Croatian national heritage.

She informed him about the new law on archives, and he reassured her that the organisations he represents will help Croatia to gain free access to the archival material seized from Croatia.

More news on the historical issues stemming from the Second World War can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 23, 2019 - Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Friday that the salute "For the Homeland Ready" was the official and discredited salute of the 1941-1945 Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and that it should be distinguished from the salute "For the Homeland Ready" used by some members of military units that fought in the 1991-1995 Homeland War.

Speaking in an interview with national radio, the president further explained her recent statement that she had been wrong to say that the salute "For the Homeland Ready", used by the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime in Croatia during World War II, was a Croatian historical greeting, and that her point was that the salute as such was "compromised and unacceptable".

Her admission has met with criticism from the far-right end of the political spectrum.

Asked if it was a mistake to make this admission, she answered in the negative and reiterated that the salute used during the NDH regime was compromised, whereas the situation was different during the 1991-1995 war of independence when some of the units used that salute and it became part of their insignia.

She quoted the first Croatian President Franjo Tuđman as saying that the Ustasha-led NDH was a quisling and Fascist state as well as an expression of the Croatian people's desire for independence from the Yugoslav state. President Tuđman and we agree that the fact that the NDH was in a coalition with the Axis powers and all that happened during WWII compromised the salute "For the Homeland Ready", she said pointing out the different context of the Homeland War.

During the 1991-1995 war, there were specific conditions when Croatia was exposed to a war waged against it by forces that used "a five-point red star which was compromised during the attacks against Vukovar and other parts of Croatia", the president said underscoring that soldiers wearing the five-point red star were allied with Serb units with Chetnik insignia in the Homeland War.

In those specific conditions people who used this salute defended Croatia. They wanted a free, independent Croatia, the president said.

She underscored that no government in Croatia had questioned this fact and added that it was now up to lawmakers and the government to propose a law on the matter.

Grabar-Kitarović warned of attempts being made from abroad to belittle the Homeland War and the actions of the forces that defended Croatia during the 1991-1995 war.

More news about the Ustasha regime can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 21, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday the government was determined to embark as of the next school year on a "frontal application" of the education reform and new curricula in every subject, adding that the goal was to have new generations know the values of the Homeland War, take clear positions on the Holocaust, and condemn the Ustasha regime.

Speaking at a government meeting, he said 37 curricula had been agreed, adopted and published, and that the two remaining would be agreed too.

Speaking of the history curriculum, Plenković said the government's goal was to have the education system aligned to the market's real needs. At the same time, the standard of the knowledge and the information people get through education must very clearly instil in children the key identity issues, the key value system, based on historical facts, and explain Croatian history, language and culture, he added.

"That's our political goal - that new generations know what the values of the Homeland War are, and also that they take clear positions on matters such as the Holocaust, condemn those regimes that were the worst during World War Two. We have no dilemmas about the Ustasha regime."

Speaking of a draft history curriculum that underwent public consultation and was fine-tuned, the prime minister said it did not downplay the Holocaust.

He said that after Education Minister Blaženka Divjak put the curriculum back into public consultation, the government would like "two or three more authorities from the academic community to be consulted so that a draft can be agreed on which we can reach a broad expert and social consensus."

Speaking to the press before the cabinet meeting, Divjak reiterated that she decided to put the history curriculum back into public consultation because the draft she received from the expert working group downplayed the Holocaust.

She called on everyone to participate in the consultation without ideological disputes so that the most important historical events could be presented appropriately and students could understand them and take a position, for example by condemning the Holocaust.

More news on the curriculum reform can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 20, 2019 - A delegation of the City of Zagreb, led by Mayor Milan Bandić, and Israeli Ambassador Ilan Mor, on Wednesday visited Jasenovac to commemorate victims of the WW2 Ustasha-run concentration camp.

During the visit, Mayor Bandić said that the Nazi-style Ustasha regime "was neither independent nor democratic or Croatian" and that it was "a dark stain in Croatia's history".

Bandić underscored that during the Second World War, most Croatians sided with the anti-Fascist coalition, explaining that a majority of anti-Fascist units in the area of former Yugoslavia were actually set up in Croatia.

The newly-appointed Israeli ambassador said that this was his first visit to the Jasenovac Memorial Site.

The diplomat added that Jasenovac should be a place of education of young generations so that evil was not repeated.

From August 1941 to 22 April 1945, Jasenovac operated as a death camp where men, women and children were killed because of their religion, ethnicity or ideology. The list of victims contains the names and other information on 83,145 people - 39,570 men, 23,474 women and 20,101 children under the age of 14. The most numerous victims of the camp were Serbs, Roma, Jews and Croats.

More news about Jasenovac can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 19, 2019 - US Ambassador to Croatia Robert Kohorst on Tuesday welcomed Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's admission that she was wrong to say that the salute "For the Homeland Ready", used by the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime in Croatia during World War II, was a Croatian historical greeting, noting that notwithstanding respect for freedom of speech, "there are some phrases which have no place in modern society."

"While all countries must protect free speech and political expression, there are some phrases which have no place in modern society," the ambassador wrote on his Twitter account.

"We applaud recent statements by President Grabar-Kitarović regarding the use of divisive speech in Croatia," the ambassador said in his message, including a link to Grabar-Kitarović's statement of Saturday, when she admitted to having made a mistake by describing the salute "For the Homeland Ready" as a historical greeting.

"I accept what historians have said, that it is not a historical Croatian greeting. But the point of my statement was not that part of the sentence, but that it (salute) is compromised and unacceptable," the president said this past Saturday, noting that she was wrong to have trusted her advisors on the issue.

More news on the dark era of Croatia’s history can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, February 16, 2019 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović admitted on Saturday that she was wrong to say that the salute "For the Homeland Ready", used by the pro-Nazi Ustasha regime in Croatia during World War II, was a Croatian historical greeting, adding that her point was that the salute as such was "compromised and unacceptable".

Grabar-Kitarović made the statement while responding to questions from the press after recapitulating the four years of her term in office so far. She said she was wrong about the controversial salute because her advisers had told her that it was a historical greeting. "I accept what historians have said, that it is not a historical Croatian greeting. But the point of my statement was not that part of the sentence, but that it is compromised and unacceptable," the president said.

Asked to comment on the fact that some people in Croatia have been sentenced to prison for what they said, as is the case with Zoran Erceg who called the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman a war criminal, Grabar-Kitarović said that freedom of speech must be absolutely guaranteed and that no one should be punished for what they say.

"Freedom of speech must be absolutely guaranteed, and it must stop where hate speech begins. I respect President Tuđman immensely, but I allow that there are people in Croatia who do not share my opinion and they should have the right to speak and think freely and should not be penalised for that," the president said.

She said she was ready to attend the annual memorial ceremony in Jasenovac, the site of an Ustasha-run WWII concentration camp. "If a consensus is reached for all of us to go there, the government, parliament and everyone else, so that there won't be several ceremonies, I am ready to go to the official ceremony and make a speech if necessary, even though I think no speeches are necessary at places like that because victims speak for themselves. But for the sake of achieving unity and resolving problems of the past that still burden our reality, I am ready to take that step so that we can better dedicate ourselves to the future."

Grabar-Kitarović did not confirm that she would run for a second term as president, saying that she would announce her decision "when the time comes." She said that regardless of whether she would run or not, she hoped that the citizens would acknowledge what she had done during her term and that she would "not join any camps in that regard."

"I have my own specific ethic and convictions, but I am undoubtedly the president of all Croatian citizens and have acted like one in these past four years," she said after reporters asked her if the right would punish her for not being critical of the government any more.

Grabar-Kitarović said that during her term she had treated all three governments equally. "I praised them when praise was due, and whenever I thought I should draw attention to a certain problem, I would do so. That's my duty and I will continue to abide by it."

"Of course, I was the HDZ candidate, but I did not make any concessions to the HDZ and its governments because of that, nor do I think they expected me to," she added.

Reporters reminded the president of the promise she had made on the night of her election victory that Croatia would be among the most advanced countries of the world and asked her whether she would deliver on her promise.

The president said she still believed in what she had said then, but noted that she never said when that would happen. "I never said when because that is impossible to predict, but I did say that we have all the potential for it."

She said that economic indicators now were much better than four years ago, citing economic growth, lower public debt, a balanced government budget, and a better credit rating.

"All these are excellent indicators. However, what I want is for this to be reflected in the accounts of Croatian citizens and their standard of living. I want people to live better and to be able to plan more in advance," the president said.

Until progress has been made in shedding light on the fate of missing persons from the 1991-1995 war, there will be no reciprocal visit to Serbia, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said at a press conference in Zagreb on Saturday, emphasising that she did not think that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić's visit to Croatia last year was a mistake.

"I don't think it's a mistake to talk to anyone, even if at that time that was not productive," Grabar-Kitarović said of Vučić's visit to Croatia in February 2018. She added that after that visit a lot of things had been done that had improved the living conditions of the Croatian community in Serbia.

Grabar-Kitarović said that the issue of missing persons from the war was very important to her and that she had believed before Vučić's visit that more would be done about it, but that in the end no results were achieved. "Until progress has been made in resolving the issue of missing Croatian soldiers and civilians, there will be no reciprocal visit to Serbia," the Croatian president said.

More news on President Grabar-Kitarović can be found in the Politics section.