Croatian President Reignites Row over Ustasa Slogan

War veterans' associations and Croatia's war veterans' minister have condemned President Zoran Milanovic for saying that a controversial plaque with the Ustasa slogan 'Za dom spremni' ('Ready for the Home(land)') should be removed.

The plaque commemorates killed soldiers from a 1990s paramilitary organisation called the Croatian Defence Forces. It used to be on a building in the municipality of Jasenovac in central Croatia, near the location of a WWII Ustasa-run concentration camp, but is now in the nearby town of Novska.

"I strongly condemn the statement made by President Zoran Milanovic… because it undermines the sacrifice of Croatian defenders, members of the Croatian Defence Forces," War Veterans' Minister Tomo Medved said in a press release that the Index.hr website published on Thursday.

Medved said that more than 700 slogan members gave their lives for Croatia and that he, as a war veteranhimself as well as a minister, "will always defend the dignity of those killed in the Homeland [1990s] War, who gave everything to Croatia".

"I underline that the unfounded stigmatisation of Croatian war veterans cannot be the official position of the Republic of Croatia," he added.

The Association of Disabled War Veterans accused Milanovic of having "no respect for the fallen Croatian defenders who gave their lives for the defence of every foot of the country of Croatia".

Extreme right-wing parties the Croatian Party of Rights and Desno (Right) also expressed condemnation.

Milanovic called for the removal of the plaque on Wednesday, after he and other senior Croatian officials, anti-fascists and leaders of Croatia's Serb, Roma and Jewish communities held a joint commemoration of victims of the Jasenovac concentration camp.

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