LINTA: CROATIAN VETERANS KEY DRIVERS OF USTASHIZATION PROCESS

BELGRADE, MARCH 10 /SRNA/ - Miodrag Linta, president of the Alliance of Serbs from the Region, said that Ustashism, hatred, and intolerance toward Serbs in Croatia are a widespread phenomenon rather than isolated incidents, and that Croatian veterans are among the key drivers of the process of Ustashization.

Linta stressed that out of around 1,500 associations of Croatian veterans, only VIDRA from Split has a clear position that Za dom spremni /For the Homeland Ready/ is a Nazi salute and should be banned, and that it publicly opposes Ustasha iconography, the Alliance of Serbs from the Region said in a statement.

"All the other associations are Ustasha in character because they have not publicly renounced the Nazi salute `For the Homeland Ready,` that is, they have not condemned its public use nor called for it to be banned. The same attitude of approval veterans have toward other Ustasha symbols as well," Linta said.

He stressed that a study conducted in March 2025 among 67 final-year classes in 59 secondary schools across Croatia indicates that more than 70 percent of young Croats believe that the genocidal Independent State of Croatia /NDH/ was not fascist, while 75 percent think that the use of the Ustasha salute "For the Homeland Ready" is justified.

"In Croatia, Ustashism and hatred and intolerance toward Serbs are widespread and common phenomena, not isolated or individual incidents. Because of this, Croatia must undergo a process of denazification," Linta concluded.