President Milanović Attends Croatian Heritage Foundation 70th Anniversary Celebration
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended the formal event on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the key national institution for the preservation and development of relations with Croats abroad.
Congratulating the Croatian Heritage Foundation on its 70 years of successful activity, institution that links the Croatian homeland and the Croatian diaspora, maintains relations with Croatian communities abroad and Croatian minorities in European states as well as Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, President Milanović stated: “This is a dream. The Croatian nation is a dream that was dreamed, and like so many dreams it was possible for it not to come true”.
In this sense he referred to the grand curtain of the Croatian National Theatre in which the formal event was held, and said that’s the Croatian dream, namely Gundulić’s dream, and on that curtain the smallest area is occupied by Gundulić himself. “All the others are those who made that dream come true. Slowly and painstainkingly, and like every great story, every great effort, such as the Homeland War, it depended first of all or ultimately on a small number of people, a small number of right people. They always make the difference. Had these people later and many others at a certain moment in European history not gathered around an idea or an action, it is questionable whether a Croatian nation in today’s modern sense of the word would exist today”, President Milanović said.
“Our idea was realized thanks to those who had the intelligence and organizational skills, those who defended the state we have today, our state, which is good, and we won’t have a better one than this”, the President underlined.
President Milanović said that, what remains is for him to do, is to call for unity on key issues emphasizing that today this includes to a certain extent the status of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “I am glad that Mr. Čović said that your homeland is Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as it is. As it was designed and written twenty-six years ago by an international agreement, which was co-signed by Croatia and which it will honour in good faith, in the letter and spirit of the agreement. We’re playing fair, at least we believe we’re playing fair. We believe that our national interests and our ethical position are balanced. This is very important for every nation and every idea”, the President of the Republic noted.
“There’s a big chance ahead to definitively position Croatia where it belongs among the most advanced states in Europe, where it never was but where its place is. I feel this and believe this, and without faith there’s no sense setting out on a journey”, President Milanović concluded.
Also speaking at the formal event besides President Milanović was Croatian Heritage Foundation Director Mijo Marić, the State Secretary of the Central State Office for Croats Abroad and envoy of the Prime Minister Zvonko MIlas, Member of Parliament and envoy of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Zdravka Bušić, and the First Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Čović.
Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicarić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek