LINTA URGES EU TO CONDEMN AND BAN THOMPSON CONCERTS IN MEMBER STATES

BELGRADE, AUGUST 30 /SRNA/ – The President of the Association of Serbs from the Region Miodrag Linta has called on the EU to clearly condemn and ban concerts by Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson in EU member states, saying his performances have for decades been associated with the promotion of Ustasha ideology.

Linta said that a concert held in Vukovar last night was further evidence that Croatia tolerates the widespread use of symbols associated with the Ustasha regime. He added that no European country that genuinely respects the victims of Nazism and fascism should turn a blind eye to the widespread display of such symbolism. He therefore called on EU institutions to abandon a policy of double standards and demand that Croatia consistently uphold European values in combating Nazism, fascism and all forms of their rehabilitation, the Association of Serbs from the Region said in a statement. "If the EU can respond to the display of Nazi and fascist symbols in other countries, then it must apply the same standard to Croatia. The EU must show that, for it, there are no 'our' and 'their' Nazis and fascists," Linta says. If Croatia, under the European flag, tolerates what would in any other European country be condemned as a dangerous rehabilitation of Nazi ideology, Linta said, then the problem has long ceased to be solely Croatian and has become a European one as well. Linta said Thompson has for decades contributed through his songs, concerts and public appearances to the normalization of Ustasha symbolism and the rehabilitation of Ustasha ideology. "What is particularly dangerous is that for many years younger generations have been sent the message that Ustasha symbols are acceptable and can be presented as part of contemporary Croatian patriotism," Linta said. He said this reflected a deep-rooted problem in Croatia, which, more than three decades after the war, was still unwilling to confront its Ustasha legacy clearly and without double standards. According to Linta, Thompson's concerts also demonstrate the hypocrisy of invoking European values while symbols associated with the Ustasha genocidal regime, which was part of the Nazi order during the Second World War, are tolerated, promoted and widely displayed at public gatherings. Linta said footage and photographs from the concert showed HOS flags bearing the inscription "Za dom spremni" /“For the Homeland – Ready”/, as well as raised arms resembling the Nazi salute. In front of more than 100,000 people, Thompson performed, among other songs, the notorious “Bojna Čavoglave”, which begins with the Ustasha salute "Za dom spremni", while the audience sang along and lit flares.