City authorities have the right to decide what kind of content they will allow in public spaces, said Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen-Korzinek on Friday, who assessed the decisions by the mayors of Pula and Osijek to ban turbo-folk music concerts in city halls as normal, natural, and expected.

“The owners of venues, in this case, the City of Osijek and the City of Pula, have every right and responsibility to decide what kind of content they want to allow in public spaces. I think that is a normal, natural and, for me, expected decision by those two mayors,” said Obuljen-Korzinek during a tour of cultural institutions that are under reconstruction in Zagreb’s Upper Town.

Pula Mayor Filip Zoricic (independent) refused to give consent to a concert of folk and turbo folk music singers to take place in the Pula Sports Centre, despite a signed contract between the venue’s management and the event organisers, while Osijek Mayor Ivan Radic (HDZ party) refused to have the same concert held in Osijek’s city premises.

Obuljen-Korzinek said that these cities are investing a lot in branding themselves as capitals of culture and in upgrading the cultural life.

“Pula has a whole series of successful guest concerts in the Arena, while the largest single investment in cultural infrastructure from national funds this year is precisely in Osijek for the completion of the concert hall,” she underscored.

In addition, the Ministry of Culture is also investing heavily in restarting the concert industry after the coronavirus pandemic.

“When you compare Croatia with other countries, our venues began to fill up much faster and we place great emphasis on helping that segment of music that we like to call commercial, but which is Croatian and of high quality,” said Obuljen-Korzinek.

However, Croatia is not a country where cultural content is censored, the relevant minister noted.

“Everyone is free to organise whatever kind of concerts they want in any commercial venue and concerts like that are conducted in different Croatian cities every day,” said Obuljen-Korzinek.

President: Turbo-folk music should be suppressed with every legal means, but…

President Zoran Milanovic on Friday commented on a ban on turbo-folk concerts in Pula and Osijek in the cities’ premises, saying he does not like that music but would not ban anyone from listening to it.

Venue owners are free in operating them if they don’t jeopardise public interest or fundamental freedoms, he added.

“I wouldn’t ban most things,” Milanovic said, adding that he does not like the culture of exclusion and violence on social media.

He said turbo-folk music “should be suppressed with every legal means, but I would let them sing there. They have an audience. Half the HDZ (ruling party) listens to that.”