The vice-president of the ruling Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ), Andrija Hebrang, on Monday commented on an interview given by Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) president Vojislav Stanimirovic to the Belgrade newspaper Politika of Sunday, in which the SDSS leader said that the 1991-1995 war in Croatia had not been initiated by Serbs.
"Stanimirovic obviously regressed to his initial political phase when he served as a senior official in (the Serb rebel government) and when he was doing his utmost to intensify the war against Croatia as much as possible," Hebrang told reporters in the Croatian Parliament building.
Hebrang quoted Stanimirovic as writing after the fall of Vukovar on November 18, 1991 that "a hospital that served as the last haven of the Ustashas has fallen."
"I can't believe that someone can manipulate the historical truth in that way and belittle the sacrifices made by Vukovar, and not just Vukovar, without actually being unanimously condemned by everyone in Croatia, because rewriting history doesn't mean a better future," Hebrang said.
"If we want to heal all the wounds, we must first write a historical truth, and what he said is not a historical truth," he added.
When asked if the HDZ would send a note of protest to the SDSS as a junior partner in the governing coalition, Hebrang said that would be decided at talks with the coalition partners.
