Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Saturday evening that what could be heard at the memorial ceremony in Bleiburg, Austria earlier in the day were not the words of tolerance and reason, and that his impression was that the people there were primarily commemorating the army of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) which had fought alongside Nazi Germany in World War II, stressing that he wanted no part in such events.
Speaking in a Croatian Television prime-time news programme, Milanovic said that there had been no victims in Bleiburg, but that most people had been killed in Tezno near Maribor, Slovenia, where a large number of young people had been killed without a trial. He said that he, President Josipovic and Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem were going to Tezno to pay their tribute to the people killed without a trial.
Milanovic said that some of his relatives had fought "on the other side" in WWII. "But victims are one thing, that's Tezno where young people were killed without a trial and in large numbers. There were no such killings in Bleiburg," he said.
Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem rejected criticisms that the ruling coalition, having revoked the parliamentary sponsorship of the Bleiburg commemoration, were trying to avoid paying tribute to the victims of death marches at the end of WWII.
"We will pay tribute to the victims of death marches at sites where most of them were killed and we will do that in an appropriate and dignified manner," Sprem told reporters at the head office of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP).
When asked for a comment on the statement by former President Stjepan Mesic issued earlier in the day, in which he said that the Bleiburg commemoration was an attack on Croatia's constitutional order, Sprem said he had been listening to speeches at today's commemoration and that Croatia should be renewed not just materially but spiritually too.
"I think we should renew Croatia both spiritually and materially. I will personally work with my colleagues to help in the spiritual renewal of Croatia and to ensure as much unity and togetherness as possible. That is our goal," he said.
When asked if he was pleased now that the Parliament Presidency had revoked the sponsorship of the Bleiburg commemoration, Sprem said he was not pleased, but sorry that such a decision had to be made. He cited the many press reports and television broadcasts over the past years showing Ustasha insignia at commemorations in Bleiburg.
