PM: Tudjman's role in creating Croatia has lasting value

Croatian Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday, on the occasion of the 98th birth anniversary of Croatia's first president and HDZ party founder, Franjo Tudjman, that his role in creating an independent Croatia remains a lasting value.

"Once again we have come here to pay our respects to Dr Franjo Tudjman, Croatia's first president and the founder of the HDZ, a politician, historian and statesman who led Croatia on its journey to independence," Plenkovic said, having laid a wreath and lit a candle in front of Tudjman's birth house in the town of Veliko Trgovisce.

Plenkovic underscored the importance of Croatia's first president in developing democracy and realising the centuries-long dream of the Croatian people of a free and independent Croatia.

"In that respect, as time goes by, this remains a lasting value among the general public. We will always remember those turning points - the 1990s - as a generation that had the privilege to experience a free and independent Croatia," he said.

M. Tudjman: There have been many deviations from Tudjman's political doctrine

when asked if his father would be satisfied with Croatia today Miroslav Tudjman, who was in the HDZ delegation, said that Franjo Tudjman as a statesman had built his philosophy and political doctrine on his historical knowledge that the world is constantly integrating, and that what is national becomes individual. "On that basis Croatia also achieved its independence and autonomy with the other 15 or so states that emerged in 1991 and 1992 in Europe," he said.

He says that this is what should be attributed to Croatia's first president as one the key people in that period when it comes to creating Croatia as a state. However, Tudjman said, what happened after 1999 was a result of various political ideas which were for the most part different from Tudjman's basic politics and political doctrine.

"There were many deviations and wanderings. Some of the political consequences, together with the 2008 economic crisis, had a negative trend which we can hardly be satisfied with," Tudjman underscored.

Text: Hina

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