President Milanović Presents Sabre and Golden Ring with Croatian Coat of Arms to Winner of Sinjska Alka
The President of the Republic of Croatia Zoran Milanović and the President of Hungary Katalin Novák today jointly attended the 308th edition of the Sinjska Alka lancing tournament in the town of Sinj, which was held under the patronage of the President of the Republic. This historical event symbolizes courage, togetherness and victory, and it gathered many guests from Croatia and abroad.
As patron, President Milanović presented this year’s winner Ivo Zorica with a sabre and a golden ring with the Croatian coat of arms and congratulated him. In his speech at the end of the competition, the President emphasized the importance of Sinjska Alka as a symbol of Croatian identity and history. He reminded those present of the historical context in which the Croatian statehood and people were created, in regions that were inaccessible, and highlighted the power and uniqueness of that historical development.
Speaking about Sinjska Alka, he pointed out that it is a symbol of the victory over the Ottoman army in 1715 and emphasized its symbolic importance as a story about the conflict between Europe and the Ottomans, Christianity and Islam. “There have been bigger battles, but the battle in Sinj is so symbolic and special and says so much about us and our dealings with the world and our role in that world. This area was empty for years. For 150 years, during the Ottoman Empire, few people lived here. Only from 1687 onwards, rivers of people came and settled in this area,” he said.
President Milanović recalled the difficult historical periods in which the Croatian people defended their interests, both by serving the interests of others out of necessity, and by bravely confronting threats. “It was all about controlling the space; space that the Croatian people and the state have finally begun to seriously manage in the last hundred years, and in its fullness only in the last 20 years after the victory brought by the Croatian Army,” he said, adding that a few good people accomplished this.
President Milanović ended his speech by congratulating the alkars and the people of Sinj, and emphasized the importance of preserving the Croatian identity, history and togetherness.
Ahead of the 308th Sinjska Alka, Presidents Milanović and Novak toured the exhibition “Stipe Sikirica – blizina čovjeka i zavičaja” [Stipe Sikirica – The Proximity of Man and Homeland] at the Sikirica Gallery, together with their spouses and under the expert guidance of museum curator Ana Žanko. They also visited the Sinjska Alka Museum and attended a reception hosted by the Alka duke, at which the President of the Alka Knights Society Stipe Jukić presented them with gifts. President Milanović was accompanied at this year’s Sinjska Alka tournament by the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić and the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicarić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan