From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Croatian Party of Rights (Croatian Hrvatska Stranka Prava, HSP) is a right-wing political party in Croatia.
Contrary to how it sounds in English, the rights from the party's name refer to Croatian national and other rights that the party has always vowed to represent, rather than the usual meaning of right as in right-wing politics, though the meanings do seem to interject these days.
It came to existance on June 26, 1861 when dr. Ante Starčević and Eugen Kvaternik presented the policies of the Party of Rights for the first time in the Croatian Parliament. Ante Starčević was one of the first Croatian patriots and nationalists, later proclaimed the Father of the Nation (Otac domovine).
The Party of Rights was the most fervent supporters of Croatian autonomy in Austria-Hungary. In early October 1871, several members of the party, led by Eugen Kvaternik, detached themselves from the official party position and went on to stage a rebellion in the village of Rakovica (in Kordun, one of the parts of mountainous Croatia), with the following proclaimed aims:
- freeing of the Croatian people from the Austrian-Magyar oppression
- proclamation of an independent Croatia
- equality under law
- muncipal self-government
- abolition of the Military Frontier and introduction of free counties
- respect for both religions in love and unity
The Party of Rights welcomed the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and wanted independence for Croatia, and opposed the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929, when the king of Yugoslavia banned all political parties, the militant wing of the HSP went underground to organize the Ustaše movement, led by former Party secretary dr. Ante Pavelić.
The Ustase would later return to power during the WWII aided by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and pursue fascist policies, especially towards the Serbs. The reputation of the Party of Rights was severely marred by its association with these events.
After the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, the Party of Rights was restored but it was a rather minor nationalist party compared to the Croatian Democratic Union. The war years were a turbulent period during which the party was involved in the creation of the so-called Croatian Defense Forces (Hrvatske Obrambene Snage, HOS), one of the first paramilitary units that aimed to secure Croatian independence from Yugoslavia. The ruling HDZ cooperated with them until the fall of Vukovar, after which the leaders of the HSP and HOS were imprisoned for terrorist activities and obstruction of democratically elected government, but later released.
The party leadership also changed hands fairly often in this period: the first post-communist president, Ante Paradžik was a political dissident during the former Yugoslavia when he was one of the student leaders in Croatian spring, but he was killed during the war (reportedly assassinated). His second in command and the second president Dobroslav Paraga was also in previously conflict with the Yugoslav Communist authorities, but also in conflict with his second in command Ante Đapić. Paraga's and Đapić's fractions fought a legal battle for the rights over the party name which Paraga lost and subsequently formed the Croatian Party of Rights 1861 (HSP 1861) but also became marginalized.
The present HSP is a self-declared neo-conservative party led by Ante Đapić. Đapić's political career was severely tarnished after the media found out that he cheated to obtain his first post-diploma degree on the Law Faculty at the University of Split (in collusion with dr. Boris Kandare, senior member of his party and professor at the said faculty). He was also publically accused of faking injuries to obtain the status of a war veteran.
Currently HSP have 8 representatives in the Croatian Parliament.
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