Prime Minister Milanovic visits building site of Alka Museum in Sinj

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic visited the building site of the Sinjska Alka Museum in Sinj, southern Croatia on Monday. The project is partly financed by the government and the museum is scheduled to be opened on August 8, a day before the 300th anniversary of the Sinjska Alka lancing tournament

The Sinjska Alka tournament commemorates a victory by 700 Croatian defenders of Sinj, about 30 kilometres inland from the southern coastal city of Split, against 60,000 Ottoman soldiers under Mehmed Pasha Celic on August 14, 1715. The competition features period-clad horsemen riding at full gallop and aiming their lances at an iron ring, called the alka, which is suspended from a rope above the race track. The Sinjska Alka tournament was inscribed on UNESCO's world intangible cultural heritage list in 2010.

Also in Sinj were retired generals Ivan Cermak and Ante Gotovina, and when asked by the press whether this meant that they would support his Social Democratic Party (SDP), Milanovic said that they had come to help the project with donations. "All these people you can see here, including those from Agrokor, Podravka and several banks, will participate. It won't be a vast amount of money, but it will be considerable. The biggest portion will be provided by the town, the Alka Knights Society, the government, and the county will also provide some."

Asked to comment on the statement by Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic that Serbia would consider as hostile any army that comes to attend ceremonies and a parade for the 20th anniversary of Operation Storm in Zagreb, Milanovic said: "We are a NATO member, but first and foremost we are Croatia and we are doing it for own sake. It's our Victory Day and we will mark it and celebrate it in a civilised way. But we will celebrate it and we won't keep our mouths shut." He added that the celebration would not be provocative or aimed against anyone.

Also in Sinj were Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovic, Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Branko Grcic, Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin, Split Mayor Ivo Baldasar and several business people, including generals Ante Gotovina and Ivan Cermak, Atlantic Grupa CEO Emil Tedeschi, Agrokor CEO Ante Todoric and Podravka CEO and Zvonimir Mrsic.

The president of the Alka Knights Society, Stipe Jukic, thanked everyone for supporting the construction of the Alka complex, which will house the museum. He said that 90 million kuna had been invested in the project, of which 50 per cent was financed by the government, and that the museum would be ready for opening in two weeks' time.

Defence Minister Ante Kotromanovic, who had invited the business people to Sinj, thanked them for recognising the importance of the Alka. He said that preparations for Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day celebrations were proceeding well and that an Alka unit would head Croatian historical units in the Victory Day parade.

(Text and Photo: Hina)

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