Currently it is very difficult to organize a large parcel of land in Croatia for a golf resort as the country is divided into numerous small plots, many of which are owned by numerous owners, who may also be dead or living overseas. The newly passed law is a heavy-handed attempt to break this impasse.

The new law allows the government to use ‘eminent domain’ to confiscate land from its owners if a golf course resort is proposed nearby and the land is required for the development, even if the owners don’t wish to sell. There is no right of appeal.

…The situation smacks of overt corruption - several golf developers have given sizable donations to HDZ [the majority party of Croatia] and a local Istrian law firm, who has a number of large golf developers as clients, had a hand in drafting the legislation.
It seems that there is now no way to prevent Jupiter Adria from building its resort below Motovun.

The town in question that this immediately affects is Motovun, an otherwise idyllic hilltop town similar to others that dot the landscape of the Istrian Peninsula in the far western region of Croatia.

The approach to Motovun, from Hudin

As this process started, a local to the area named Ranko Bon began writing about what was happening on his site, Residua:

In major developments, such as golf in Motovun, the state land is leased for a period of many years, while the private land adjoining it is sold outright to foreign investors. The spatial or physical planning process preceding individual development projects is widely used in the region to ensure that leasing and sale go hand in hand. In accordance with the Croatian law, agricultural and urban land use can be switched in the planning process without informing the owners.

Motovun is a very small place and this article did not go without notice. Just a few weeks after publishing the article, Ranko was summoned to court for slander as he wrote in a later article:

…this morning I got a hefty piece of registered mail summoning me to the County Court in Pazin on December 1. Vugrinec is suing me for slander on account of a piece of mine published on my website (”Croatia Spells Conflict of Interest,” October 3, 2008)…

…the mayor demanded my apology for slander, which I refused to give. I told him that we should discuss such matters in the presence of our lawyers, and that the public discussion should concern only the study itself.

Ranko's situation to date remains unresolved and is still in legal proceedings.

Valley fields at the base of Motovun. Land such as this is being eyed for federal seizure and development. From Hudin

This issue has become a national concern as well, due to the fact that in addition to not being in line with the EU acquis, there are large environmental concerns as well with the group Zelena Akcija (Green Action) taking up the issue and creating the Facebook Cause, Zahtijevamo ukidanje Zakona o igralištima za golf! (We demand the abolition of the Golf Course Law!) (HRV) which was started by organization member, Jagoda Munić. In the Cause, they outline a good number of the issues and elaborate on how the law came about:

The law was secretly pushed through and threatens the right of ownership and entrepreneurial freedom.

…The law was without a public hearing and deferred through the urgent parliamentary procedure, although it does not relate to the harmonization of Croatian legislation with EU acquis.

They also talk about how large the scope of definitions for golf courses have now become:

Thus the law sets the minimum surface of the golf course to be 85 hectares [210 acres], a building can occupy up to 25% of the total surface area, which makes the possibility of building luxury accommodations and villas, as has already been done by law in the case of Golf & Country Club in Zagreb.

This means that an extremely large resort can be constructed right next to a town that claims fewer than 1,000 inhabitants during the warm months of the year. But, beyond relaying the facts, there is a call to action by multiple groups. On Barkun prozor u istra (A Window into Istria) they write (HRV):

NGOs have called on the citizens to speak up if they are directly affected by this law, and tell others to become a member of the ‘facebook group' under ‘Zahtijevamo ukidanje Zakona o igralištima za golf!' which currently has more than 1200 members.

Citizens are also invited to an Internet page where Green Action can send automated mails to all MPs in the Croatian Parliament, Government, and the Ministry of Tourism with the request to revoke this law.

While the Facebook Cause now has 2,700 members, Croatia is a small country and the people fighting this law need all the help they can get. For anyone who wishes to support (or challenge) their cause, join the Facebook Cause or go to Zelena Akcija and send the email. Also, stay up to date with the predicament of Ranko Bon, which he writes updates on (as well as a great many other topics) at his site, including this one three weeks ago:

Concerned with the legal pickle in which I found myself, Vjeran Pirsic, a friend and a Croatian ecological activist of note, recently wrote to Zarko Puhovski, a professor of political science and a Croatian human-rights activist of note. “Concerning Bon,” responded Puhovski tersely, “only two things can help–a good lawyer and a good deal of public noise.” And I have followed his advice to the letter. Having already hired the best lawyer I could find in Istria, yesterday I agreed to appear this Monday at a press conference in Pula organized by some of the Istrian greens, and then I wrote a one-page statement that I will distribute to the journalists who appear at the event […] And now I am sitting with a glass of wine in my hand and waiting for that noise to begin. I can almost hear it already.

Another Serbian gay web site - the Gay Straight Alliance - published an article (SRP) about the European Commission's assessment of the situation with gay population in the ex-Yugoslav republics.

SERBIA:

The report about Serbia's development says that violent attacks, hate speech and sexual discrimination are common. It also says that the government hasn't stopped discrimination. The report stresses that the anti-discrimination laws have not been adopted yet, while the protection against job discrimination and protection on occasion of unemployment is very weak. However, in the report there are no explicit examples about violent attacks, hate speech and threats affecting gay-related events in Serbia, such as [Eurovision] and a gay festival that took place in September. [ILGA-EUROPE] (the International Lesbian and Gay Association) called to the European Commission to continue the monitoring, especially of the rights of free gathering of gay population in Serbia.

MONTENEGRO:

[…] According to the report, there is homophobia in Montenegro. At the same time, there is no law protecting these people. The report says that Montenegro needs anti-discrimination measures that would cover sexual orientation and gender identity. Although there is freedom of association in Montenegro, fear of discrimination and stigmatization are the main obstacles that keep Montenegrin gays from getting organized. The fear is also the reason why this population is not active in fighting for its rights. […]

KOSOVO:

Although there are laws against discrimination based on sexual orientation, the report stresses very bad application of these laws. There is homophobia in the media and public opinion and many gays are not aware of the protection that these anti-discrimination laws could give them. As in Montenegro, the level of organizing of the gay population is very low. There is also the fear of discrimination and stigmatization and many don't dare take part in actions carried out by gay organizations. Because of fear, many cases of violence are not reported. Also, a lot of cases of violence were committed by state authorities.

CROATIA:

According to the Commission, Croatia is the only country in the region in which there has been development in regards to the European integration and protection of human rights. Croatia adopted an all-inclusive anti-discrimination law in July 2008. It will have a positive influence on gay rights. The law is in keeping with European standards, but the report underlines that its practical application is not sufficient. The degree of protection against discrimination is lower than in Europe. […]

MACEDONIA:

The report says that anti-discrimination law hasn't gone into effect yet and the current legislation is not in keeping with European standards. There are explicit examples of discrimination against queer population in the report as well as a recommendation that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity be included in the national strategy against discrimination.

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA:

The report says that Bosnia & Herzegovina put an effort in order to improve the human rights situation. It also says that there is no all-inclusive anti-descrimination law and that the government formally and informally supports discrimination and violence against gay population. Also, there is job and employment discrimination, as well as disregard for the right of free association, and violence against some people because of their sexual orientation. Unfortunately, the report doesn't mention the brutal attack and violence during the [gay festival in Sarajevo]. ILGA-EUROPE asked that the Commission included this information in its report for 2009 since there was violence against participants during the festival, the offices of gay movements were attacked, death threats were made against activists and organizers of the festival and the police did not react.

Almost all Croatian media have recently published the news about signing of the petition against homosexuality.

According to the daily news section of Croatian website of Dnevnik.hr, on occasion of France's initiative in the United Nations (Croatia supported it) about global decriminalizion of homosexuality, representatives of a civil initiative “Sign the Declaration” organized signing of a petition against homosexual marriages and abortion, among other things. The petition could be signed in Catholic churches around Croatia on Dec. 7. The Serbian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox Church as well as the Islamic religious community supported this petition.

Reacting to this action, members of Croatian gay rights movements distributed leaflets with the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in front of Zagreb's Cathedral.

Sanja Juras, coordinator of the Lesbian group Kontra said:

The Church has distorted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the media and abused it in order to challenge the homosexuals' right to have a family as well as women's right for an abortion.

Here are several comments by Croatian readers:

Tinta10 says:

All who support gays and besmirch the Church are miserable.

Starimladi:

It is no argument that the initiative is supported by all religious communities. Religious organizations think dogmatically. They exclude any logical thinking and researching. Professionals - psychologists, sociologists, doctors - should answer about health, illness and conception. Not dogmatists. They think that they are God's deputies and they believe only what they say is true. On behalf of God they made a lot of evils so that they don't have credibility.

Angell says:

[…] It shouldn't be bad toward homosexuals but it shouldn't support them. Homosexuality is illness which has to be treated. If people live according to the New Testament or the Ten Commandments, it will be the way it should be. […]

A screenshot of the Facebook group.

The creator of the group, Niksa Klečak recently got in to trouble as relayed by Svetlana Gladkova on Profy:

…the main problem with it was that the guy was not just some regular citizen unhappy with his Prime minister and the financial ideas of the government - he is actually the president of one of the local branches of the youth of SDP (social democratic party) which is in opposition to the government in Croatia…But the result of this situation is simply outrageous as yesterday the guy was arrested by the police that claimed he kept some Nazi symbols and propaganda at home. When they could not find any evidence, they claimed he had links to child porn somewhere and that could be another reason for the arrest. Eventually Niksa Klecak was let go by the police for lack of evidence but the social networks and the local media outlets are all abuzz about these actions of the police.

A very prominent voice to speak out on the absurdity of this arrest was Vesna Škare Ožbolt who was a former member of Sanader's cabinet. She wrote on her blog, Funky Politika (HRV):

In France you may sell voodoo dolls with Sarkozy.
In Croatia, virtual gatherings on Facebook are prohibited.
I can not imagine what would happen to those who would be in the middle of Zagreb selling voodoo dolls with a figure of he whose name we may not speak.
…After the incident on Facebook it has sent all a message. The message is that those who fight for the freedom of words in this country must be stronger.

On Reci.hr (Words), T-Zombix writes (HRV):

Now it is becoming clear that the main tasks of our police are: the clearance of the Mafia, who are the Mafia, and where are the Mafia. So, the Mafia is on the Internet and very active on Facebook where they are inflicting incalculable harm to this country.

Prime Minister Sanader has officially been taking the high road, as the BBC reported that he claims this was not his doing, “…no-one should be detained or arrested in Croatia for expressing different views.” Of course this is contrary to what Klečak believes as written by Marko Biočina on Tyche (HRV):

Klečak, who is not affiliated with the organization of protest initiative 5th December, in his first statements, he argued that his arrest was ordered directly from Zagreb.

The “protest initiative” is part of a movement over the past few days, that has led a great many to called for action as written on Opurba (HRV):

It is smart to choose the virtual world in which we all so brave, I do not know fear, we have our opinions and we want the Internet to a new revolution.
One of these should now leave the virtual world and overflow into the streets of major Croatian cities.

The calls were answered as Marko Biočina wrote (HRV):

…if everything is according to plan, [protests] will be held on the 5th of December at the city's central squares, eight Croatian cities, Zagreb, Split, Osijek, Rijeka, Zadar, Sibenik, Pula and Požega.

Croatian newspaper, Jutarnji (HRV) reports that the largest crowd was of 2,000 in Zagreb. It will be interesting to see the end result of these actions as Croatia is standing at a delicate point in its modern history with EU membership just within reach. Vesna Škare Ožbolt is very much aware of this as she closes (HRV) her post by stating:

Thus the continuation of repression and convulsions for the armchair power struggle could stay with us and eventually lead to a mass-produced voodoo doll, of course … only when join the EU, which is near is not it?

Arhangel summed it up (HRV) in detail:

…tonight around 18:20 pm in Palmotić street in Zagreb in the courtyard of “Nacional” an explosive device killed Ivo Pukanić, chief executive NCL, and Niko Franjić, his colleague. As I was first informed of the news, a remote control detonated the explosive device under Pukanić's Lexus. Croatia is in shock.

Price iz Becke sume concurs (HRV) the current sentiment:

I can not believe, still one mafioso murder in the middle of town, in the middle of the day! Ivo Pukanic killed and a journalist colleague from Nacional. Horror!

And Funky Business wrote (HRV) about the situation on the ground in the center of Zagreb, a city of 1 million people:

…central Zagreb was blocked. On the streets of the capital of the government there is fear, disbelief and panic among citizens. It is recommended to restrict movement for all citizens of the city center due to blockade of police who are trying to blockade a large circle around the town to close a crime that evidence would not be destroyed.

As the head of Croatian newspaper, Nacional, many saw Pukanić as a marked man. Ivo himself believed that there was an assassination plot against him, but others doubted it. Sadly, they were wrong, as noted (HRV) by Denis Avdagić on his blog:

…clearly, and to all who doubted that the previous assassination attempt on Pukanić - were completely wrong!

The Upper Town of Zagreb, Croatia. From, Hudin

Zagreb, which has been steadily building itself to be a proper European capital in recent years, has suddenly felt the confidence of its citizens erode with this and other recent events of brutal violence. ViN writes (HRV) more:

Is it time for the mass but little severe protests? Can the police stop all this? Can I help a recent shift in the ministries of Interior and Justice? I doubt it. Can the people change it? Because I believe that today is not easy to be a resident of Zagreb. This will not only stop so easily.

Needless to say, this event will evolve over the coming days as more details become available. Only then will it be possible to place blame and understand what this recent attack truly means to security and free media in Croatia as it gets ready to begin EU accession talks next year.

Ustaša Flag image from Wikipedia

Such an example was the creation of the Jasenovac Concentration Camp which the Croatian regime used to imprison, torture, and kill Jews, Serbs, Roma, Partisans (Croatians fighting against the Ustaša regime), and just about anyone else that they found to be an enemy. It is difficult to ascertain the exact number of prisoners killed at this Croatian version of Auschwitz, but the official and generally accepted figure is approximately 70,000-85,000 people with other estimates in the past putting the number as high as 500,000 (higher figures have been discredited as being inflated). The commander of the camp was a man named Dinko Šakić, who managed to flee Europe to hide in Argentina once the Ustaša regime fell in 1945.

Marko of the blog Greater Surbiton summed up the legacy of the Ustaša:

The history of the Ustasha movement, in other words, was utterly shameful - not only from the moral, but from the patriotic Croatian perspective. Nevertheless, ever since the Communist regime in Croatia fell in 1990, there have been those Croats who have sought to perpetuate the disgrace by their loud statements upholding the legacy of the former Ustasha regime.

Dinko Šakić in uniform at Jasenovac (Photo from Wikipedia)

In 1998, Šakić was found in Argentina and shortly after extradited to Croatia to stand trial for his term as commander of the Jasenovac prison. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail, which it turns out he would only serve half of as he just recently died on July 20, 2008. His death was a minor event given that he was 86, but his funeral has caused a great deal of controversy in Croatia and with Jewish people at large whom he directed the extermination of at Jasenovac.
His funeral called for him to be buried in his Ustaša uniform. When taken out of this Croatian context and transposed on another setting, many people would find this ludicrous as was pointed out by Matthew on the Serbian news portal B92:

Could you imagine such a funeral for the commander of Auschwitz?

As if that wasn't enough, as stated by Marko of Greater Surbiton:

…at his funeral the presiding clergyman, Vjekoslav Lasic, said that the ‘court that convicted Dinko Sakic convicted Croatia and the Croatian nation'; that the ‘NDH is the foundation of the modern Croatian homeland', and that ‘every honourable Croat should be proud of Sakic’s name'.

Bear in mind that this is not an opinion shared by every Croatian, but these words carried far with their meaning. On both a national and international scope, those who were effected by the killings of Šakić's command of Jasenovac were outraged by these events as was relayed by LimbicNutrition Weblog:

Vice-President of the Jewish Community Jasminka Domas claimed “the disgraceful events that occurred at the funeral of Dinko Šakić in Zagreb insult the memory of all the victims of the Ustasha regime, and besmirch the Republic of Croatia's good name.”
Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem Efraim Zuroff has written to Croatian President Stjepan Mesić to express his anger at the way Šakić’s funeral was organized and at the priest’s speech.

Ari Rusila of BalkanPerspective also commented on the issue by quoting what Shmuel Meirom, the Israeli ambassador to Croatia said of the funeral:

“I'm convinced that the majority of the Croatian people are shocked by the way the funeral of the Jasenovac commander and murderer, dressed in an Ustasha uniform, was conducted,” ambassador Meirom said in a written statement to the state news agency Hina. “At the same time, I strongly condemn the inappropriate words of the priest who served at the funeral and said that Sakic was a model for all Croats” Meirom said.

And indeed Zoran Oštrić of Zelena Lista (The Green List) [Croatian] is one of those Croatians who is against the honoring of such a man as Šakić and laments how the popular culture of Croatia is holding him to be a Croat worthy of respect:

It is unfortunate, that when Croatia convicted him ten years ago that whether from the urging of their grandfathers or on their own that his name [Šakić] was chanted at soccer matches by many of the youth.

Why do these people become cultural icons despite the hard facts that they have murdered countless people? The simple answer to this is that it is much easier to forget about such figures in history as opposed to actually coming to terms with the actions that they did at the bequest of the government at the time. One sentence on Ljevica (the Left Hand) [Croatian], an otherwise very left blog states:

They convicted him because he was a person with the pistol who killed forty detainees and ordered the hanging of 22 prisoners of war, but now this is not important.

While an admission of the crimes that he committed, it has been seen that those who were directly affected by the killings ordered by Šakić do not agree that just because he is now dead that what he did no longer matters.

While not having suffered as severely as the Bosniaks at the hands of Radovan Karadžić, opinions amongst Croatians were varied, although most were pleased with his arrest and looked forward to the day when he will face trial. Here are some opinions from the Croatian blogosphere:

Tinolovka writes (HRV):

Sacrificed victims cannot return to life and it is difficult to bring a fair and appropriate judgment that would finally find satisfaction of all the evil that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is hard to find consolation for Srebrenica, but this is a good start, only now they should not stop until all ultimately responsible stand before justice.

Tonique DeWeen writes (HRV) about his disbelief of Karadžić living in plain sight in Belgrade, yet not being found:

Such a scenario would not have even come up in Hollywood: a wanted war criminal hiding in the capital city under the false identity of an alternative medicine doctor who published papers in journals and appeared on TV, and nobody alive recognizes him?

Angel&Wolf takes steps (HRV) beyond cautious optimism to take a more pessimistic stance:

…I have an uncomfortable feeling that this is no longer important. The arrest of Radovan is a matter that will pass after a week and once again we shall all continue to enjoy what was the legacy of Radovan…

Žuta Minuta (”Yellow Minute”) recalls (HRV) life in Sarajevo during the war and her feelings the day Karadžić's capture was announced:

…the memory of my first true fear of war. It was a 1992. With my mother, brother and I we dwelt in the Sarajevo settlement of Dobrinja. […] So Radovan Karadzic did not celebrate Vidovdan [St. Vitus Day] in Dobrinja. In fact, perhaps he did, sometime later, but no one recognized him. I do not know in which moment I slept, but today the whole day I feel good and rested. Honestly, I lost faith that they would ever catch Radovan Karadzic, so I was delighted.

Unknown to most are more transparent issues that involve the borders of Croatia. When looking at a map, it's understandable why such issues would arise, given the twisting layout of the country. The building of a bridge to the Pelješac Peninsula to bypass Bosnia and Herzegovina where it bisects Croatia in Dalmatia is one issue. Another is disputed ownership of islands in the Danube River where Croatia and Serbia meet. While these items are still very much in need of resolution, it's Croatia's border with Slovenia that is posing one of its largest problems due to EU enlargement considerations.

At the forefront have been the maritime issues involving Slovenia's access to the Adriatic Sea. Currently, Slovenia is seeking a corridor in the Adriatic through Croatian waters (by way of waters claimed outside their current borders), to give them access to International Waters:

Image from Wikipedia

The issue is contentious, to say the least, with each side in the dispute citing historical foundation for why they're right, as was written (SLV) in the Slovenija RTV forums:

- We should organize an international conference on the division of the Adriatic Sea, which has never belonged to Croatia.
- Croatia did not exist until after World War II.
- Istria has always been Slovenian.

Another border issue that is slightly less pressing in Istria concerns the demarcation set by the Dragonija river, which was rerouted in Yugoslavian times. This change poses a problem as the borders of the former Yugoslavian countries were set by the Badinter Arbitration Committee to be as they were while each current-day country was a state in Yugoslavia. This naturally causes strife when historical borders were placed along rivers that no longer run where they used to.

The issue of river-based borders rises again when moving to the northernmost area of Croatia. Specifically, the border formed by the Mura River creates an issue near Sveti Martin na Muri. The debate surrounding this reached a troublesome point in 2006, when Slovenian journalists were captured for supposedly trespassing into Croatia due to the area being contested. Again, the issue revolves around historical borders not corresponding with geographical borders and the borders as they were set at the demise of Yugoslavia. Dragutin Lesar, a member of the Croatian Parliament, writes (HRV) on Nebu Išlo (”It will not go”) in more detail about the situation:

…Slovenes believe that the borders must go through the middle of the river beds Mura. […] the borders between Slovenia and Croatia (formerly part of the Republic of Yugoslavia) were identified by the old mapped boundaries of municipalities. This was the existing situation on the day of June 25, 1991, when Slovenia declared independence.

The Badinter Committee confirmed these borders as the borders newly formed States.

In addition to this, Lesar points out:

From the statement of Pogačnika Rudolf and after that meeting, it could be clearly known that Slovenia remains with about 22 disputed points on the common border between Croatia and believes that only 8 of them are controversial.

The 14 “non-controversial” points of contention with Slovenia (which include the nuclear power plant, Krško, that suffered a small leak last month) show that there will be continuing negotiations as Croatia gets closer to its current target date of 2010 to join the EU. Of course, frustrations rise for the Croatians as they see this date get closer, but see very few resolutions, as Hyeronimus writes (HRV) on Pollitika in regards to the situation of the Mura River border:

…the Croatian public, the Croatian politics, Croatian diplomacy, the Croatian police and the government are simply silent.

Photo of the Slovenia Border Crossing in Istria from Hudin

While these issues have been around for years, they had light shed on them again with Slovenia becoming part of the Schengen Agreement in 2007 and the border becoming not just the border to Slovenia, but also to the EU. New issues arose out of agreements left over from both countries' independence declarations that had to be addressed. Of course, the Slovenes and Croats are not without a sense of humor in this, as Balkan Insight reported last year:

…customers in a pub which lies across the Slovene-Croat border at Obrezje, have joked that they will need their identity documents before they are allowed to go the toilet on the other side of the official border.