During the event marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Croatia's first President Franjo Tudjman, Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenkovic said in Split on Saturday that Tudjman was a visionary whose courage in the struggle for the Croatian cause obliges the Croatians even today.

“He was a visionary statesman and a man who found strength in the most complicated historical circumstances to recognise a crucial time on the European continent and implement his idea of a free and sovereign Croatian state,” Plenkovic said during a wreath-laying ceremony in front of the monument erected to Tudjman in the biggest Croatian Adriatic city.

The dream of a free Croatia came true thanks to Tudjman’s political skills and his skills as a historian, thanks to the huge support from the Croatian people for his idea, which was proven at the referendum on independence, and thanks to the great sacrifice made by the soldiers who defended Croatia’s freedom, he said.

Now, 30 years later, all this makes us indebted to Tudjman and we are obliged to build a Croatia as a part of Europe, as a safe country and a prosperous economy and as a socially inclusive state, he added.

Franjo Tudjman, born in Veliko Trgovisce on 14 May 1922, served as the first Croatian president from 30 May 1990 until his death on 10 December 1999.