by Visnja GOTAL
The former authorities not only did not do anything to stop Turek's wild-west-type rule in Kordun, but its officials never even found it appropriate to say anything about the Turek's reign of terror over the Serb returnees. Moreover, the only court case regarding the return of property initiated by the returnee Dusanka Kosanovic finished favorably for Turek, while an investigation about Turek's looting expeditions on abandoned Serb houses was abruptly terminated. The reason for HDZ's "amnesty" offered to Turek is most likely the service provided by his father Stjepan Turek to the former authorities. Stjepan Turek was for years the director of the Croatian Health Insurance Alliance, a state institution. Journalists will recall above all arrogance with which he used to dismiss every their request, while the patients are unlikely to recall his concern about their health.
Turek's reign of terror in Kordun started in 1996 when the town of Slunj Commission for Temporary Occupation and Use of Property gave him a use permit for a house and restaurant owned by Dusanka Kosanovic who had escaped after the operation "Storm" from the village of Tocak. Turek drove up to his restaurant one Saturday afternoon in a tractor, pulling behind him a cistern with two hundred liters of water. He named the restaurant "Purger" and was soon open for business. Besides the restaurant, Turek was allocated two houses and two garages.
In his biography, which according to the law he had to submit to the local council, Tomislav Turek wrote that he was born in 1962, in Zagreb, that his father was the director of the Croatian Health Insurance Alliance, mother a hairdresser, and he a metal worker. Furthermore he wrote about his participation in the war and wounds because of which he has the status of a wartime disabled person. Afterwards he worked as a military policeman and in August 1998 he founded an import-export company "Tomilen-Commerce". In the end of his biography Turek wrote the following: "I believe that we've created our sovereign and independent Republic of Croatia and that we face the development of a firm economic base to which I want to contribute with my work and activism, both in war and peace." Turek's request was fulfilled and he was given the right to use requested real estate with the warning that "the property cannot be removed, exchanged, rented or leased to other persons". However the document does not say anywhere how long Turek has the right to use the property.
In March 1999 the HHO received a complaint with similar content: "...in that moment Turek approached my father in law who was standing next to a tractor and hit him in the mouth with his fist. My father-in-law fell down next to the tractor. Turek knocked out one of his teeth." Complaint filed by the Karlovac branch of the Committee for Human Rights (GOLJP) in November 1997 with the Police station in Slunj describes Turek's night time raid of a house owned by a Serb woman.
These are only some of the testimonies included in the HHO Turek's dossier. The HHO has sent each and every one of them separately to the Ministry of Justice, but it is not known that Turek was prosecuted for any of these attacks.
In spite of numerous criminal complaints and witnesses of Turek's physical attacks and maltreatment of Serbs, Tumislav Turek tried to proclaim himself for a victim in his statements for newspapers. He stated the following for Nacional on February 18, 1998: "They persecute me non-stop. They follow my movement, note it down and take that to the Police. I wonder if they have nothing else to do but to follow me. They are like an organized network and exert tremendous pressure on me. They accuse me of stealing this or that and the truth is that I only have two couches that do not belong to me. The Police disturbs me all the time and recently they beat me up in the station in Slunj." After the HHO recently inquired with the Police about the alleged beating of Tomislav Turek by the Police, Turek stated that he hadn't told the journalists that the had been maltreated and beaten up in a Police station. According to him "most likely, that was a free interpretation of that journalist."
Because of increasingly frequent reports about Turek's theft from Serb houses, investigative magistrate of the District Court in Karlovac Zvonimir Matan on April 11, 1997 decided to initiate an investigation against Turek "since there is a well-founded suspicion that Turek 1) on an unidentified day between May 20 and August 19 1996 in the village of Tocak broke down the entrance door on the holiday home owned by Bozo Markovic, entered the house and removed two couches, worth about 5,000 kunas, from the house; 2) between June 1 1996 and February 13 1997 in the villages of Tocak and Veljun Turak looted from the houses of unidentified owners who had left Croatia after the operation "Storm" thirteen doors, 27 windows, two water heaters and a plastic water tank. The approximate value of the looted property is about 10,000 kunas..."
Hazler did not forget to mention in his letter the father of Tomislav Turek, Stjepan Turek. Although most persons knowledgeable about these events are convinced that Stjepan Turek's name was decisive for the abrupt end of the investigation, Stjepan Turek has distanced himself from the actions of his son in the past. In one statement for the papers, after the first Tomislav Turek's escapades in Kordun, Stjepan Turek stated the following: "I have not been informed about my son's activities for a while now. We are not in touch. I only hear about him when I read something in the newspapers." On the other hand, Tomislav Turek had this to say about his father: "My father is strict and distant. He slapped me even after I got married because I accepted a drink brought by some patients of his. He has never tried to intervene for me." Furthermore, Tomislav Turek indirectly blamed his father's high office for "the media campaign against me."
The only existing charges were filed against Tomislav Turek by Dusanka Kosanovic and Svjetlana Topic, the owners of the house and restaurant housing today Turek's "Purger", previously known as "Zlatni San" [golden dream]. The two of them demanded in 1998 from the municipal court in Slunj the return of their property. Their request was denied. Moreover, the court forced them to pay Turek's lawyer's expenses of 4,760 kunas. Turek stated on that occasion: "The court decided in my favor because Dusanka has no basis to demand her property back. I did not illegally occupy the house. I got it legally from the state. Therefore she has to sue someone else." It is obvious to whom Turek was referring but, it seems, he also forgot that he had merely been given the right to use the property. In the meantime Turek has on several occasions threatened Ankica Dudukovic. She reported these incidents, but in vain.
Inter-ethnic tension in these Kordun villages haven't died down to this day. These tensions were incited by Tomislav Turek. The Croatian authorities will have a hard time explaining to the international community why, while they promise secure return of Serbs to Croatia and return of their property, they allows a single individual to endanger the trust of the world in the sincerity of these promises earned with a lot of difficulty.
Tomislav Turek is not concerned about that. In 1997 he stated that he did not intend to move out of houses that he had received for temporary use together with his wife Elena (who claims for herself to be a Manchurian, a daughter of a Chinese woman and a Frenchman). He is today the wealthiest individual in Kordun. His company "Tomilen" carries out numerous services. Besides a restaurant, the Tureks have an auto-mechanic shop, repair car tires, own a towing service and a store selling construction material.
It is not surprising that the first tycoon from Kordun, who at the start of his business career sold walking dolls, is fiercely opposing the return of those who unwillingly provided the basis (by providing commercial space for free) for his current status. Only the Croatian authorities, if they do not follow the example of their predecessors, can foil his plans and prove their dedication to the rule of law and desire to be a trustworthy partner of the international community.