Zagreb International Airport Terminal
Franjo Tudjman
Photo: Josip Skof/MZLZ
What a fantastic day Monday 30 January in Zagreb. The new Zagreb International Airport has in the lead up to its official opening in the second half of March 2017 finally received its new name in big proud writing: AIRPORT FRANJO TUDJMAN!
This is the place where the world greets Croatia and Croatia greets the world. As far as I’m concerned there could not be a better and a more fitting public place in Croatia to be named after the man whose courage, determination and superior political prowess saw him lead the way to the creation of modern independent Croatia, away from the darkness and oppression of communist Yugoslavia. While the repugnant communist die-hard Stjepan Mesic, in his attempts to blacken Croatian efforts towards independence and democracy, began his persistent, underhanded, dishonest, depraved attack against Tudjman as early as 1993 on a worldwide scale that would see Tudjman’s name and his vision for a free Croatia vilified in most painful of ways, this week is a blessing of a proud moment for all who fought for Croatian freedom alongside Tudjman because of that bright writing above the entry to Zagreb’s airport. It was in June 2015 when Tomislav Karamarko as Leader of HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) put forward to the then Social Democrat led government the proposal that the new airport with its new terminal in Zagreb be named Franjo Tudjman, and now here we are: the “nametag” is firmly up above the entrance!
New Airport Franjo Tudjman
in Zagreb Croatia
Photo: Screenshot
“The design of the new airport terminal by Branko Kincl, Velimir Neidhardt and Jure Radic was awarded a first prize following an international competition organised by the City of Zagreb in 2008. The airport design comprises a multidimensional approach integrating construction, form, urbanism, ecology and functionality. An important part of the terminal’s architectural design is the fluid form of its roof and the tubular passenger piers sprouting out on each side. This recognisable form will define the new terminal’s identity and its surrounding area. In achieving this form, a new innovative solution was used for the roof structure, comprising a triangular steel grid space truss for the main building and truss arch vault for the piers. The concrete construction of the interior comprises three dilatations of mixed precast TT beam floor slabs, reinforced concrete beams and monolithic floor slabs. Horizontal forces are supported by 4 concrete cores and shear walls. With a gross building area of 65.800 m2 and a starting capacity for 5 million passengers per year, Zagreb airport is to become a major air traffic regional centre.”
Franjo Tudjman among people
Photo: http://www.tudjman.hr
What a great thing for Croatia and its Homeland War, its independence. To appreciate the even greater than obvious enormity of the importance in the new name of the Zagreb airport we need to remind ourselves of the grave injustice and vilification that have been deliberately caused to the late Franjo Tudjman, the first president of Croatia and the memory of him.
Airport Franjo TUdjman
Zagreb Croatia
A depraved path to “de-Tudjmanise” Croatia led by Stjepan Mesic had terrible effects and consequences for Croatia as a nation. Tudjman was maliciously branded a radical ultra nationalist who was in the business of reviving Croatia’s WWII Ustashe (called by some as Fascist) nationalist regime. Yugoslavia (whose last president was Stjepan Mesic) consistently portrayed Tudjman as a dangerous nationalist when he emerged with his ideas for an independent Croatia and Mesic later, even as a highly-positioned politician within the independent Croatia itself- persisted in such a portrayal, using lies and political manipulation in order to blacken Tudjman, criminalise Croatia’s defensive Homeland War and strip Croatia of all pride in its bloody battles for freedom and independence. As a result of Mesic’s filthy work even Tudjman’s magnum opus was generally ridiculed or condemned in the West and this is felt still today, despite the many truths about him that command respect and awe towards Croatian history matters he prolifically wrote about.
Franjo Tudjman kisses the Croatian flag
in liberated Knin
August 6, 1995
Often dismissed by Western and some politically left-leaning domestic academics as a loquacious amateur historian and depicted by the Western mainstream as well as pro-Mesic (pro-communist) domestic media as a nationalist and neo-fascist, Tudjman’s past as a dissident was too readily forgotten and his utter and utmost respect for formal, procedural democracy ignored. His almost prescriptive speeches in the Croatian Parliament and everywhere during the early 1990’s, when Croatia was transitioning out of the communist regime and when such speeches were needed, contained a detailed recipe as to how to bring in democracy into the Croatian society. He enumerated things and processes that needed to be done and how they are to be done if democracy was to succeed and communist processes be left to history. But all that increasingly fell on deaf ears as Mesic intensified his attacks against Tudjman, even providing questionable testimonies to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague in the pursuits to criminalise Tudjman and Croatia’s Homeland War even if that war was defensive.
Franjo TUdjman Airport
Zagreb Croatia
Propaganda was a staple of the media in all and about all former Yugoslav states, and Mesic seemed to find more “friends” to believe his lies than what Tudjman managed with the truth. After Tudjman’s death in 1999 and Mesic becoming Croatia’s president – there was no stopping Mesic in his continued ugly campaign against Tudjman and the Croatian Homeland War or war of Independence. The combination of malicious and false information and faulty but disastrously biased analyses did their work across the world. World’s noted journalists picked up on the efforts to de-Tudjmanise Croatia from within and led the external pursuits of doing harm to Tudjman’s name (and therefore to the name of Croatia). The effort to discredit Tudjman was indeed part of a larger campaign to maliciously portray Croatia as a neo-fascist state and its Croatian citizens as chauvinists who posed a threat to minorities within Croatia. And all they wanted was freedom from communism and independence and for that desire paid in rivers of blood in defending their own lives and country.
Croatia is liberated from Serb occupation August 1995, dr Franjo Tudjman congratulates the forces
It will take almost forever to clear the mud off Tudjman’s name, of Croatia’s name, plastered so cruelly against them but I feel, and I know, that the name of Zagreb’s new airport will create miracles of justice and recovery from darkness and suffering imposed by others. Croatia may, after all, live to see Stjepan Mesic fall into the disgrace and shame he deserves to fall into – and finally free itself completely of its greatest enemy in its pursuits to rid itself of the Yugoslav communist mindset and habits that stifle its progress in democracy and in growing into a thoroughly modern nation. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A. Ps.(Syd)
RSS - Posts
From Facebook: Čast iznimkama ali u svim medijima dominiraju novinari koji su studirali na Fakultetu političkih nauka – moćnoj obrazovnoj instituciji koja je (samo) promijenila ime u Fakultet političkih znanosti. Svaka čast iznimkama ali veliki postotak ljudi s tog fakulteta izravno je sudjelovao u veleizdaji koja se je zvala DETUĐMANIZACIJA. Zračna luka Franjo Tuđman čin je velike pobjede hrvatske većine nad vrlo glasnom manjinom koja, nažalost, još uvijek dominira u medijima. Ovakvi tekstovi na engleskom su od neizmjerne važnosti u kontekstu širenja cijele istine o Hrvatima i ocu suvremene Hrvatske.
Translation of comment by Vladimir Lusic:All due respect to exceptions but journalists who studied at the faculty of political sciences – powerful educational institution that has changed in name only – dominate in all the media. All due respect to exceptions but a large percentage of people from that faculty directly participated in the treason called de-Tudjmanisation. Airport Franjo Tudjman is an act of big victory by the Croatian majority over the very loud minority, which still, sadly, dominates in the media. Texts such as this one in the English language are of immeasurable importance in the context of spreading the whole truth about Croatians and the father of modern Croatia.
REPLY: Thank you Vladimir, much appreciate your feedback
Such a fitting tribute to a man so dedicated to his country..
And it looks to be a stunning airport Ina.. 🙂
And what an exceptional feed back too from Vladimir Lušić and quite rightly so Ina.. You do so much for Croatia in telling the rest of us the Truth..
Love and Blessings my friend.. from another ‘admirer’ of your work..
hugs my friend
Sue xxx
Aw thank you Sue, needless to say I feel the pride of that name above the entry to the airport terminal 🙂
And quite rightly so.
Postoji knjiga pod naslovom “Svi zločini Franje Tuđmana i HDZ-a, a autor se potpisao “By Tina Ist”, jer se boji objaviti ime i prezime. Otac domovine FT je udario temelje za opću propast.
Zbog privatizacijske pljačke (potpisao zakon), zbog mafije koja ima državu, općenito zbog užasne transparentne korupcije…i da nije umro završi o bi u Haagu. Stvarno je zračna luka Zagreb zaslužila to časno ime i prezime.
Translation of comment by Radovan Smokvina: There’s a book named “All the crimes of Franjo Tudjman and HDZ”, the author signed it “By Tina Ist” because he/she fears publishing his/her name and surname. The father of the homeland FT laid the foundations for general ruination. Because of theft in the privatisation (he signed the law), because of the mafia that owns the state, generally because of the terrible transparent corruption…if he wasn’t dead he would end up in the Hague. The new airport in Zagreb really deserves an honourable name and surname.
REPLY: Well Radovan, firstly I detest people who write books under a pseudonym accusing people and political organisations of crimes without giving the accused the right and dignity to answer to the accusations for the same book or similar. These are books in efforts to make money exploiting a ripe opportunity or political climate and the author of that book is exactly one of those who made it their task to insult both Tudjman and Croatia, hiding his/her identity like a coward. Croatia inherited corruption from Yugoslavia and the job of getting rid of it completely will probably never be done but true much more can be dome about it and that is nor has it ever been an operational job of a president, instead the government would be the place where you should send your grievances on that. And if Tudjman was alive and ended up in the Hague like the Croatian Generals Gotovina and Markac, he would walk out of there acquitted and free.
About time! The man Franjo Tudjman deserves so much more! Good for Croatia for doing this despite all the blind hatred around. God bless Croatia!
Cheers, Victor
Bravo Croatia! This could not have happened to a better man and all his villifiers, all the antifascist fascists and communist garbage can go jump in the lake. Move forward Croatia – Homeland War and its veterans are your shining stars!
Hear Hear Wilkinson
Stipe Mesic – Eat your heart out!
😀
James J. Sadkovich is a WWICS Public Policy Scholar. He spoke at an EES noon discussion on October 13, 2004. This is a summary of his presentation. Meeting Report 304.
Whether or not Franjo Tudjman was the father of his country, there can be no denying that he played a pivotal role in the creation of contemporary Croatia. While it can be argued that someone else may have been better able to lead the Croatian people through the wastelands of war, occupation and diplomacy during the early 1990s, it was Tudjman who actually did so. If his Croatia was not the peasant republic envisioned by Stjepan Radic or the Croatian state imagined by Ante Starcevic, it was a viable democratic state with a powerful military, a skilled diplomatic corps and citizens who both fought for its survival and criticized its policies…
Franjo Tudjman was the leader Croatia needed at the time and thanks be to God he was there in the war and brutal occupation years to usher Croatia independent in all its lands…
Nationalism = Patriotism! I am one and the same. Long live Croatia and the memory of Franjo Tudjman
Good for you, Violets in March
When I visited the Serb areas in Bosnia as a French women and a tourist. The Serbs I talked with were bitter and saddened that Bosnian Muslims had “betrayed ” them in their eyes when they declared their independence in 1992. They said Bosnian Muslims had their fair share of government posts and belonged to a middle class while the Serbs where poverty stricken in the countryside. But what saddened them most was when the Yugoslav federal army mobilized all men to grab their gun and attack the rebels in Croatia in the summer 1991 the Bosnian Muslim reserve troops refused to mobilize, their army officers ran away with their weapons and began to organize their own rebel government in Sarajevo. It started with Slovenia and Croatia but the death of Yugoslavia came when Alija izetbegovic declared he will rather die than stay in a Serb dominated Yugoslavia.
I think you need to learn a few more facts regarding the break up of Yugoslavia Alicia Dubois, it was Serbia ans Serbs living in other states that did not want the break up, it was the Serbs who started the aggression and the rest had to defend their own lives and land from it
Ina Vukic I knew the Serbs were telling lies in their own sick fantasy world. After all the Serb ” victims ” were living in looted homes where the owners were gang raped and buried in the garden. As early as 1985 they had made plans to exterminate non serbs in the balkans. ,
While generalising is not a good thing, Alicia, what you say applies to many too many Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
A fitting dedication to Tudjman. So happy the airport was named after him. We need a few more high profile dedications to the valiant leaders of Croatia’s liberation. There’s even a place to honour Mesic, a special place of dedication at the Zagreb Zoo – The Majmun Exhibit.
😀
In the face of such oppression, it is an ideal way for you to know what the truth was. They are really difficult times for you but there is always hope for achieving the goals.
Yes macalder02
Love it! Go, go Croatia! 😀
<3 <3 <3
Ina and all good friends ,
It’s great to see recognition given when recognition is due .
All respects to Franjo , our first leader . That man had great vision and love for all Hrvate . His leadership was a giant factor in our peoples survival and independence . Our nation was not easily recognised and to this day suffers from the envious opposition lurking in the shadows and corridors of national and international beurocrasies . His selfless example should give us all inspiration to do likewise . By this honour , of naming the international airport after him , visitors first impressions will be on that man with a giant heart who led his people in times of great danger for the existence of all Hrvate . To him and all the people
that defended our beautiful nation thank you i Bogu hvala .
Thanks be to God, Anto
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
Hooray! A good man receives his due! 🙂
Indeed!