It is certainly appreciable that in Pazin on September 25, as part of the Istrian Region Day, the President of Croatia Zoran Milanović recognized that at the end of the Second World War "thousands of Italians" left. This is an acknowledgement that could align Croatia with the moment of sharing between Presidents Mattarella and Pahor that occurred at the Basovizza Foiba last July 13, but some clarifications need to be made.

The exiles numbered over 300.000, from all social and political backgrounds, including anti-fascists, and represented 90% of the native Italian community that had lived rooted for centuries in Istria, Fiume and Zara. Already in 1910, aware of this rootedness and its growing patriotic passion, the Austro-Hungarian authorities, during the census, incorporated into Istria the Kvarner islands and inland locations inhabited mostly by Slavic speakers, in order to alter the numerical result and reduce Italian claims. Yet Istria proper, including the strip of the present-day Slovenian coast around Capodistria and, within the current Italian borders, Muggia, remained clearly majority-Italian, even without counting the citizens of the region who had settled in the region for work and whom Austria had excluded from the statistical surveys.

Just as Italy condemned fascist crimes and made bilingualism mandatory in border areas where there are historical settlements of non-Italian populations, it would be desirable for the Croatian President's declarations to be followed up with concrete actions. We believe it is our duty to respect and implement the bilingualism provided for by the bilateral agreements in every area of ​​social and public life, to introduce the obligation to study Italian in Croatian schools in Istria, and to recognize the communist crimes committed in September 1943 and after the war for ideological reasons (also affecting Croats opposed to the regime that Tito was establishing) or ethnic reasons (creating a climate of terror around the Italian community that flowed into the Exodus with sinkholes and deportations, emptying Istria of its most conspicuous historical component).

Renzo Codarin