Mourning Croats Look to New Era

Croats paid last respects Saturday to President Franjo Tudjman, the father of their troubled young state, turning a hilltop square into a blaze of devotion with thousands of candle lanterns and lining up for more than a mile to file past his flag-draped coffin at the presidential palace.

It was the start of three days of mourning that will culminate with a state funeral Monday to be staged with all the nationalist pomp and military formality that marked Tudjman’s autocratic 10-year reign.

Word of Tudjman’s death, which was announced in the capital’s predawn stillness, drew messages of condolence from around the world--from Pope John Paul II, the White House, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and even the late Croatian leader’s bitter rival in this decade’s Balkan wars, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Many of the messages were curt expressions of sympathy for Tudjman’s family and the Croatian people, with pointed wishes to the latter for a more successful search in parliamentary elections next month for the democracy and prosperity that have eluded the Croats since Zagreb’s bloody break from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Political analysts, even some of the 77-year-old leader’s harshest critics, kept their observations about the misguided past and the uncertain future duly restrained and respectful in the first hours after news spread of Tudjman’s death.

But throughout Croatia, politicians and plain folk seemed to share a sense that a new era awaits them after the burial of the only leader independent Croatia has known, and that they should seize the opportunity to end the culture of corruption, poverty and isolation.

“We hope very much for change because it can only get better,” said Sanja Malbaso, a 21-year-old graphic arts student strolling on the fringes of St. Mark’s Square with her boyfriend. Both watched with detachment as mourners staged a candlelight vigil outside the church where Tudjman’s last rites will be held before his burial at Mirogoj Cemetery.

“It doesn’t matter who takes over next because whoever it is must realize we need more democracy,” said Tomislav Bigac, a veterinarian who brought his young son to the church-side vigil more to mark a moment in national history than to express personal grief.

Those who revered Tudjman as the heroic ex-Communist who brought Croatia its first independent statehood in a millennium--albeit after a war that destroyed the economy and interethnic trust--braved a damp chill and long waits in a line that stretched more than a mile along winding Pantovcak Street to the chamber where he lay in state.

Numbed by the weather and six weeks of dire medical bulletins from the presidential deathbed that reminded many here of the protracted 1980 passing of Yugoslav strongman Josip Broz Tito, most of the mourners were somber as they passed by the coffin. Rotating six-man honor guards bedecked in elaborate military and national costumes flanked the bier.

Flags flew at half-staff, church bells tolled solemnly, and all sports and entertainment events were canceled for the three days of mourning. Still, bustling Jelacic Square, just a few blocks from St. Mark’s, was as alive with in-line skaters, shoppers and strollers as on any Saturday night.

Croatian state radio appealed to mourners not to bring flowers to the president’s residence or other sites of remembrance and suggested that they instead make donations to the restoration of the war-shattered eastern city of Vukovar, near the Yugoslav border.

The appeal hinted at the ruling Croatian Democratic Union’s likelihood of using Tudjman’s legacy, and rekindling harsh memories of the 1991-92 war that won Croatia independence, in the weeks before the Jan. 3 parliamentary elections. As it is, the late leader’s party faces the loss of its longtime monopoly on power.

No date has yet been set for an election to replace Tudjman as president, which the constitution specifies must be held within 60 days. Acting President Vlatko Pavletic already had assumed many duties of the head of state after a Nov. 26 ruling by parliament that the cancer-stricken Tudjman was incapacitated.

“We have to hope that the elections that will now take place in Croatia [and] the new political situation will help Croatia in the direction of a democratic country,” Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said as EU leaders wound up a two-day summit in Helsinki, Finland.

Croatia faces tough tests of its already suspect democratic credentials, with pending demands by an international war crimes tribunal for cooperation in its investigations and with the demands of the 1995 Dayton peace accords that Zagreb encourage Bosnian Croats to work with Muslims and Serbs to erase the divisions plaguing neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Some political observers have speculated that Tudjman’s death could pave the way for an improved climate throughout the Balkans, given that the late president won broad support from his people to stand up to Milosevic by elevating Croatian nationalist pride to match that of the rival Serbs.

Without the Croatian counterpoint, these observers say, opposition forces pushing for more democracy in Serbia may be strengthened against the rampant nationalism there and could successfully argue that Milosevic is no longer the leader Serbs need.

Despite the polite note of condolence from Milosevic, official comments in Belgrade, the capital of both Yugoslavia and its dominant republic, Serbia, continued to take a hard line against Croatia.

“Some other Tudjman will undoubtedly come, and it is up to us, the Serbs, to regain our century-old territories,” Serbian Information Minister Aleksandar Vucic said about the impending changes in Croatia, warning that Serbs will never forgive Zagreb for chasing them from Croatia’s Krajina region.