Čija Je Ona Livada, Čija Ona Trava

In the words of the Herzegovinan folk song Moj Ivane (My Ivan), re-arranged by Marko Perković Thompson in 2000: 'Whose is that lawn, whose is that grass?'

If it's been talked about in the last couple of days, it's probably been Franjo Tudjman's.

Jutarnji list goes into much more detail today about architect Nenad Fabijanić's planned redevelopment of the square into 'a big park with paths, a long pool, a glass pavilion and underground parking.'

The new Tudjmanov trg could eventually host the type of cultural events currently held on Zrinjevac, Jelačićev trg and Cvjetni trg, and even replace the Manduševac fountain as school-leavers' preferred location of watery chaos during their end of year Norijada celebrations.

In fact, the plan seems to have been kicking around Zagreb Town Hall for several years, but according to Fabijanić 'has the greatest urban and social potential in the area of the broader centre of Zagreb', whatever its name:

'When I was working on the project, just like today, I thought that that space could become a city park which could contain various urban functions, from the utilitarian to the symbolic, and become an important social area in the western part of the city where there isn't a single square between Britanski trg and Črnomerec. [...] Whatever name it has received, I see that space as a starting point for the reurbanisation process of the western part of central Zagreb and a place where its urban identity in the 21st century can be confirmed, in which I expect participation by the artistic elite of Zagreb and Croatia.'

All very social and, well, democratic. In fact, art historian Krešimir Galović even recommends that 'monumental monuments' (such as those already erected to Tudjman in towns such as Slavonski Brod) won't suit the space at all, although 'a giant screen' might do the job nicely.

The Gazette doesn't like to be one for predictions, but it's safe to say Ankica Tudjman, Ivo Sanader, Jadranka Kosor and the rest aren't likely to be satisfied with a big screen. Or even the 'single square between Britanski trg and Črnomerec.'

There's not much chance of landing Zagreb with two Tudjman Squares, but it's worth wondering whether the pressure will continue until another prime zagrebački location is named after the late president.

Somewhere like... Zagreb airport, perhaps?

Sing-A-Long-A-Sanader

The Tudjmanov trg decision aside, yesterday had an even more direct connection to the late president - it being the seventh anniversary of his death in 1999. With which a government delegation laying wreaths at his grave in Mirogoj cemetery, led by prime minister Ivo Sanader, broke into commemorative song.

Their 20-minute set list, according to Jutarnji list:

• Djani Maršan's Bože, čuvaj Hrvatsku (God save Croatia)


• Fala (Thank you)


• Tereza Kesovija's Moja Dalmacija (My Dalmacija)


• Miroslav Škoro/Zlatni dukati's Ne dirajte mi ravnicu (Hands off my plains)


• Zovi, samo zovi (Call, just call)


• Zdravo Djevo, kraljice Hrvata (Hail the Virgin, Queen of the Croats)


• Lijepa naša domovina (Our beautiful homeland)

HDZ deputy Andrija Hebrang tells JL that they decided to sing 'several appropriate, patriotic songs' as background to the 45-minute ceremony, and that one or two of the numbers would have been particularly special to Tudjman - particularly Bože, čuvaj Hrvatsku, which he adopted as HDZ's anthem in the early 1990s.

Tudjman Square: Consensus (Or Not)

Jutarnji list is now reporting that the Zagreb City Council's committee on such matters has decided the public space to be renamed in honour of Franjo Tudjman will be - 'the currently unnamed space' between Trg Francuske Republike, Ilica and Ulica Republike Austrije. (So much for Rooseveltov trg and all the other proposals.)

So nobody/nowhere needs to be displaced from public memory after all (except Rudolf von Habsburg, that is: the space is sometimes called Rudolfove vojarne or Rudolf's barracks) and the naming will usefully commemorate 'the space [where] the first president Tudjman held his legendary speech and mass rallies during Croatia's independence.'

Needless to say, not everyone's happy with it. Deputy prime minister Jadranka Kosor has attacked the decision as 'completely unacceptable to [her party] HDZ' and a politicised message from the city's social-democrat mayor Milan Bandić over 'who decides everything in Zagreb'.

Meanwhile, Tudjman's wife Ankica (who's been lobbying for Rooseveltov trg) has complained that Tudjman only held one election rally on the square at a time when he was president of HDZ rather than president of the Croatian state, and moreover that 'it isn't a square at all, but a "named space".'

It's not all bad news for the državotvorni lobby, though: check out the chequerboard-heavy mockups for the square's redesign.

...A Vrati Nam Franju

Neretva River also relays the suggestion from Večernji list that the circus over which Zagreb square should be renamed after late president Franjo Tudjman may finally have pulled into... Britanski trg. Britain out of zagrebački municipal memory, and Tudjman in? It's probably a fair exchange for most, although it's a wonder nobody's yet proposed renaming Britanac after that well-known friend of Croatia, Paul Robinson.

(So far, the inexhaustive list of potential Tudjmanovih trgova (etc.) has included Rooseveltov trg, Trg Francuske Republike, Ulica Hrvatske bratske zajednice, and Zagreb's Pleso airport - all unsuitable in the eyes of one or other Tudjman relative and/or municipal politician.)

Hail To The Chief?

Civil service incompetence stories are flavour of the month here at the moment (when we aren't being distracted by mechanical elephants), but even the ex-Home Secretary might be relieved not to be in charge of the Croatian Ministry of Defence, which has been compiling a register of Homeland War veterans for welfare purposes.

As Jutarnji list revealed yesterday, the register contains the names of 489,407 Croatian branitelji, ranging from front-line soldiers to 'numerous [female[ secretaries, cleaners and officials who worked in the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Defence during the war'. The position of Franjo Tudjman, President and Commander in Chief throughout the war, at the top of the list would obviously go without saying.

Indeed, it went so far without saying that nobody at the Ministry of Defence thought to say it, and the register was drawn up without Tudjman's name, providing tabloid gold dust and the chance to blame the Ministry of Defence, Jadranka Kosor's Ministry of Branitelji, or both.

Under pressure from branitelji and members of her own (and Tudjman's) party, such as Andrija Hebrang from the party presidency, Kosor stated that the omission was 'absurd', since 'President Tudjman ran the army in the most difficult times' and it had 'never crossed her mind that the Commander in Chief would not have the status of a branitelj'.

The defence minister, Berislav Rončević, is sticking to the letter of the law, arguing that Tudjman's C-in-C status derived from the Croatian constitution rather than a working relationship with the Interior Ministry of the Ministry of Defence, and that he had not belonged to any particular unit. To get Tudjman on to the list: 'If you want Tudjman to get branitelj status, the Sabor will have to change the Law on Branitelji' for 'commander-in-chief' to be recognised as an eligible category.

Friends of the Tudjman family are - perhaps not unreasonably - upset, according to Večernji list, and see further evidence of his neglected memory in the fact that Zagreb still has no street or square named after Tudjman. (Possibly because the city council would have to agree on what to re-name first.) They'd be happy with Zagreb airport instead, or so we're told.

There's a definite West Wing feel about this story, although the chances are that C.J. Cregg wouldn't be doing any better or worse than Kosorica right now.