The president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Tomislav Karamarko, on Wednesday opposed announcements from the government about the publication of the veterans' register, saying that the country had mechanisms to discover fake veterans without publishing the register.
"I believe that this will once again create an atmosphere of media entertainment, which is not good. The state has mechanisms to detect fake veterans and I believe those lists should be published and not this. What is the purpose of this?" Karamarko wondered.
Asked to comment on the media analysis of the explanation of yesterday' verdict against former prime minister and ex-HDZ chief Ivo Sanader, which indicates a possible responsibility of the HDZ leadership, Karamarko said he did not accept collective responsibility.
He also dismissed claims by Science and Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic that the verdict against Sanader and all proceedings against the HDZ were proof that the HDZ leadership had carried out a criminal policy, stressing that he "rejects such primitive speech."
Commenting on the announcement of Serbian war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic about opening six new cases relating to war crimes committed in Operation Storm in Croatia in the summer of 1995 and asking the ICTY to give Serbia the evidence that was used in the case of Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, Karamarko said Serbia needed to finally face the truth and the facts.
"Serbia is the aggressor, the greater Serbian policy is the aggressor policy, they attacked Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and equating quilt will not lead to reconciliation. Not all of us are equally responsible. The aggressor is responsible and those who were exposed to aggression cannot be responsible," Karamarko said.
Serbia is finally facing this fact and this is obviously a painful process for them, he added.
They can do whatever they want, Croatia got its generals back home, free and innocent, Karamarko said.
