Otočac - The ceremonies were held on Saturday in the town of Otočac, 120 kilometres southwest of Zagreb to mark the 70th anniversary of the first convention of the te Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) and on that occasion Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said that the conventions of the anti-Fascist fighters of Croatia in Otočac in 1943 were "legal and constitutional foundations" for the present-day Republic of Croatia. - The freedom, which was won (after the Second World War) should protected and nourished, Leko said at the ceremony held in the building in which the ZAVNOH gathering had been held 70 years ago.
In the basis of its first constitution, complied during the Second World War, Croatia made it clear that the pillars of its statehood are the anti-Fascist war of liberation and ZAVNOH decisions. Such decisions were crucial arguments, and something that tipped the balance in the defence against the aggression of a Greater Serbia forces during the Homeland Defence War, enabling Croatia to achieve long-desired independence and international recognition, Leko said extending his gratitude to anti-Fascist fighters.
The State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia, often referred to by the acronym ZAVNOH, was the highest governing organ of the anti-fascist movement in Croatia during World War II. It was developed to be the bearer of Croatian statehood. Later in 1945, it changed its name to the National Parliament of Croatia. (Hina)