ISTRIA DEFIES ZAGREB

AIM, ZAGREB, July 4, 1995 Istria is the only Croat region where both at the first multiparty elections in 1990 and the second in 1992/93 Tudjman's Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) was put to rout. Both times, or perhaps one should say all three times since the elections for the Assembly Chamber of Districts were held in spring 1993 immediately after the action Maslenica, despite enormous invested efforts and a lot of invested money, the HDZ won only a little over fifteen per cent of the votes.

At the first elections, Racan's reformed communists were the winners, and at the others, the newly founded Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) which won support of about 72 per cent of the citizens at the last elections. The IDS, therefore, won three seats in the Chamber of Representatives, and a fourth one in coalition with the Dalmatian Action and Rijeka Democratic Alliance, as well as three seats in the Chamber of Districts in the Assembly.

In the meantime, the IDS, similarly to almost all the other parties in Croatia, was struck by faction conflicts, considerably instigated by the ruling HDZ. Severe conflicts within the party led to excommunication of two Assembly deputies - Ivan Herak who in the meantime joined Budisa's Liberals, and Eli Martincic who has for the time being remained among Croat Independent Democrats. According to the opinion of many, this was a natural process because the IDS, similar to the HDZ itself on the level of the whole country, is actually a specific movement, and has sovereign power in the entire region, even if it may be only formally, because the HDZ in fact appointed its men at all the key posts in the economy, police, health service and education.

Through its IDS, the Istrians have, actually, advocated decentralization of Croatia and recognition of historic and natural regions, and most of the differences within the party were caused by the level of autonomy, and the idea of Istria as a transfrontier region. Discords betweeb the hard-core and the more moderate faction resulted in recent transfer of another IDS deputy, Denis Jelenkovic, neither more nor less than into the HDZ, causing almost equal surprise as the transfer of the Serb Mirko Tankosic into Tudjman's party. When the fact is added to this that an open conflict exists between the President of the party, Ivan Jakovcic, and his Assembly colleague and one of the founders of the IDS, Dino Debeljuh, as well as that it is openly claimed that the Istrian District Prefect, Luciano Delbianco, is in fact a "mole" working for the HDZ, many started to believe that this party has nothing good in line for it. Some even quite self-confidently claimed that the IDS would experience the destiny of the Croat National Party which almost disappeared from the political scene.

These were the reasons why it was exceptionally attentively looked out for what would happen towards the end of June in Buje, at the Ninth Convention of the IDS. And all that happened was that the IDS consolidated its ranks and, besides, addressed perhaps the greatest challenge ever to Zagreb. Mr Jakovcic, who was reelected Presedent (his rival was Debeljuh), asserted that after the attacks from without, the party managed to prevent being destroyed from within because of ambitions and inconsistence of some individuals. The head of the IDS also sent the following message: "Obviously, there were political chameleons in our ranks, and should by any chance still be any, they'd better leave of their own accord before we chase them away". Commenting on the loss of three deputies, Jakovcic said that they were people who changed their ideas and stances every time they changed party colours, so it was obvious that the IDS had lost nothing, "because it preserved its program, its transparency and principles expected from us by those who have placed their confidence in us". As the greatest achievements of the party, he listed Istria's joining the Assembly of European Regions, which meant that the slogan "Istria - a region in Europe of Regions" was effectuated, adoption of the Statute of the District of Istria, regardless of the fact that the Constitutional Court had proclaimed 18 of its articles invalid. But, these parts of the Statute - Jakovcic said - would soon be reintegrated into the document. As the third great success, he listed recent convening of a Council of Europe seminar on regional self-administration and transfrontier regions held in Brtoniglia, which the Croat media, with some exceptions, almost entirely passed over in silence.

District Prefect Delbianco assessed that "never in the past five years was it more difficult to belong to the IDS, one of the rare opposition parties in Croatia. Never like today has the ruling party with the aid of opposition satellites pursued such openly hostile policy in relation to the IDS, not shrinking even from manipulations and lies with which it wishes to destroy another 'enemy of the state', after it had recognized them among numerous independent and free-thinking people in Croatia". As one of the lies he cited the rumours about his being a man of the HDZ and demanded that the District Assembly vote on it. Subsequently, Delbianco won a hundred per cent vote of confidence.

This was not the only glove thrown at the HDZ and Tudjman. Jakovcic demanded dismissal of the Council for Istria established by Tudjman as his consulting body aimed in fact to be a parallel, octroyed authority. He went a step further: If Greater Croatia was being formed, by model of Greater Serbia, the IDS would decide what policy it would choose to support. He clarified it by saying that the IDS did not agree to division of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and should Croatia enter a confederation with a part of B&H, Istria would demand a different position from the one it held now. He repeated all this in front of TV cameras in a popular program called "Picture upon Picture", and to a question of the announcer: what he considered the greatest success of Croat policy, he answered resolutely that he could not talk about successes of a country in which majority of the population was hungry.

The Convention in Buje showed that the IDS certainly was one of the rare truly opposition parties and that it had courage to directly oppose HDZ and Tudjman. But, many still tend to wonder whether this is a sign of strength or such radical stances of its President Jakovcic will bring unrest to the party, regardless of his having superiorly won the elections for President of the party. Dino Debeljuh made the assessment that the IDS might not be so strong as three years ago, but that at this moment it could certainly count on at least 60 per cent of votes in Istria, which would still make a victory at the elections possible.

Such provocative blows struck at Zagreb did not remain unanswered. The IDS was immediately proclaimed by the HDZ to be traitor party which destabilizes Croatia. Zlatko Canjuga, Secretary of the HDZ, declared that by being against the Boshniak-Croat Federation and consequently against its Confederation with Croatia, Jakovcic was in fact opposing the policy of the most powerful countries of the world. Ivan Milas, President of the Club of HDZ deputies in the Assembly, stated that he was surprised that there were parties in the Assembly which would gladly see another state in this space, implying Italy of course. It is interesting that all this was uttered at the press conference of the HDZ when Mirko Tankosic was introduced for the first time in his "new colours". He also felt the urge to add that one of the reasons for internal conflicts in his former HNS was the intention of its leadership to form a coalition with the IDS.

For the time being, Tudjman is silent about this issue, but as far as we know him, his response will not be in the least gentle, because if he sees only outsiders and enemies in the entire opposition, what will he have to say about IDS's irascible provocations?

GOJKO MARINKOVIC