Slovenian President responds to initiative concerning meeting for reconciliation

Ljubljana, 8.1.2009  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, learned of the Croatian President's initiative for a meeting of reconciliation through the media. In this respect, President Türk estimates that neither a real need nor the conditions for such a meeting exist. In the political sense a high level of reconciliation has already been achieved: Slovenia and Italy are members of the European Union, which is regarded as the greatest and the most successful project of reconciliation in Europe's history. On this point President Türk and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano fully agreed on the occasion of their meeting of 14 February 2008 in Ljubljana. As to relations between Slovenia and Croatia, no such historical heritage exists that would call for additional acts of reconciliation at the state level.

Furthermore, President Türk pointed out that the question of reconciliation also entails its ethical dimension. This, however, implies a more explicit confrontation with the crimes committed under fascist rule, seen historically as the earliest totalitarian system in this part of Europe, which gave rise to much evil in the 20th century. A considerable part of the Slovene nation, like many Italians, suffered under the fascist dictatorial rule spanning more than two decades with their exposure to all kinds of oppression. In World War II, during the Italian military occupation, numerous war crimes were committed against Slovenes, in particular the civilian population. Many people were put into concentration camps on the island of Rab, at Gonars and elsewhere. Many of these crimes against humanity and against international law still remain unaddressed. All this has resulted in an ethical deficit, in respect of which Italy has still not gone through the necessary catharsis. President Türk welcomes the recent efforts made by distinguished Italian personalities such as the judge Antonio Intelisano and the ethnically Slovene writer Boris Pahor, who keep calling attention to this problem; moreover, he is hopeful that these efforts may help establish the necessary understanding in the general Italian public. This can, in fact, facilitate progress in establishing the conditions for eventual new acts of reconciliation.