Speaker of the Croatia’s Parliament Gordan Jandrokovic said at the Jasenovac memorial site on Sunday that the next year will hopefully be the year when everyone will pay respects to victims together.
“I hope this is the last year that we have several convoys, and that we will have more wisdom, sobriety and courage, mutual respect, to come here the next year together in a dignified manner and pay respects to the victims,” Jandrokovic said.
The annual Jasenovac remembrance ceremony has become a politically charged affair in recent years, with groups representing antifascists and the Jewish and Serb ethnic minorities eschewing the annual state-sponsored event to mark the anniversary of the 1945 escape of some 54 prisoners from the camp run by the Croatian World War II fascist regime.
We are here to condemn the Ustasha regime, which brought nothing good to anyone, Jandrokovic added.
Asked if the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was supposed to be at the Sunday’s commemoration, he replied this was a question for the president herself.
VEZANE VIJESTI
Speaking about the most recent statements by Serbia’s Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin, who announced his presence in Jasenovac on Sunday, Jandrokovic said that Vulin’s message was unacceptable and it showed real intentions.
“They use such day of commemoration for victims, to send such sort of messages. The only possible option was disabling Vulin’s arrival in Croatia,” he added.
Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said Saturday evening that Vulin was not welcome in Croatia for the time being.
The ministry forwarded a note to the Serbian Embassy to Croatia, condemning Vulin’s words that “it is only the Serbian Army’s supreme commander, Aleksandar Vucic, who can decide on his travel to Croatia and that this cannot be decided by Croatian minister.”