CROATIA/ VARIOUS: Italian President Giorgio Napoilitano criticises Croatia in World War Two killings row.

Record ID: 204632

  • Title: CROATIA/ VARIOUS: Italian President Giorgio Napoilitano criticises Croatia in World War Two killings row.
  • Date: 14th February 2007
  • Summary: WOMAN AT NEWSPAPER STAND
  • Embargoed: 1st March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9H2MTD2141ANZ0ZRC1XN54JLR
  • Story Text: Diplomatic fireworks began at the weekend when Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said killings of Italians by Yugolsav partisans during World War Two were tinged with the "sinister outlines of ethnic cleansing". The Croatian president's foreign policy adviser Tomislav Jakic was conciliatory but voiced criticism of Italian leaders comments. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano provoked diplomatic fireworks at the weekend when he said the killings of Italians by Yugolsav partisans during World War Two were tinged with the "sinister outlines of ethnic cleansing" and that "Slavic designs for annexation" prevailed in drawing up a 1947 peace treaty.
    The killings are known in Italy as the "foibe", from the name of deep caves where Yugoslav partisans dumped the bodies of up to 15,000 Italians they killed between 1943 and 1945.
    More 150,000 Italians fled or were expelled and most had their property confiscated in the regions that are now part of Croatia and Slovenia.
    For decades, mention of the killings was banished from history books by Italian communists keen to portray all communist partisans, including Yugoslav partisans, as heroes.
    Following Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's comments on Tuesday (February 13) in which he expressed contempt for remarks made by Croatia's president over the issue, the Croatian presidents foreign policy adviser was conciliatory but said both countries were still learning from the dark pages of their common history.
    "I would say we are both learning, learning as you know is a process and we are in the process of learning and Italy has the fortune or a misfortune to avoid trial like Nuremberg, Italy has never experienced something like the de-nazification process in Germany so they are learning too. But I do hope that we will learn the lesson," Tomislav Jakic told Reuters.
    He also said the Italian President's remarks were meant for internal consumption but had misjudged the negative impact they would have on Croatia.
    "I think it is a combination of the domestic, political scene, Italian, domestic political scene and what this scene demands from the present government, and a miscalculation about possible Croatian reaction," Jakic said.
    Representative of the countrys ethnic Italian minority, Furio Radin, said the three heads of state from Italy, Croatia and Slovenia should meet to put the matter to rest.
    yl/jrc
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