Nenad Ivanković (born March 18, 1948) is a Croatian author, journalist and politician. He is best known for his book about the first Croatian president Tuđman and the biography of General Ante Gotovina. He founded '' Samostalnost i napredak'', a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

party, and was one of the founders of ''

Croatian True Revival Croatian True Revival ( or HIP) was a right-wing political party in Croatia. Founded in 2002 as a splinter party of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), HIP never won any seats in elections, although it briefly had three MPs in the Cro ...

'', a

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, autho ...

political party. Ivanković received several awards and decorations, including the German

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by ...

and the Croatian Order of Danica Hrvatska.

Life and career

Ivanković was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

. He graduated from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, with a BA in Philosophy and Comparative Literature, and got his MA from the Faculty of Political Science in 1980. He became a journalist in the

Vjesnik ''Vjesnik'' () was a Croatian state-owned daily newspaper published in Zagreb which ceased publication in April 2012. Originally established in 1940 as a wartime illegal publication of the Communist Party of Croatia, it later built and maintained ...

consortium, where he worked as an editor and columnist in the daily ''Vjesnik'' and the weekly '' Danas''. In 1988, Ivanković went to

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

to report for ''Vjesnik'', ''

Večernji list ''Večernji list'' (also known as ''Večernjak''; ) is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Zagreb. History and profile ''Večernji list'' was started in Zagreb in 1959. Its ancestor ''Večernji vjesnik'' ("Evening Courier") appeared for the ...

'' and

Croatian Radiotelevision ''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' (abbr. HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is Croatia's public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into t ...

. He was the co-founder of the German-Croatian Society with the seat in Bonn. After working as the minister counselor in the first Croatian embassy in Bonn in 1992, he went back to reporting until 1996. For his contributions to the development of the relationships between Croatia and Germany, he was awarded the greatest German decoration,

, by the German president

Roman Herzog Roman Herzog (; 5 April 1934 – 10 January 2017) was a German politician, judge and legal scholar, who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the first president to be elec ...

in 1994. A year later, he was chosen as the journalist of the year by the

Croatian Journalist Society Croatian may refer to: *Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * Se ...

for his articles about

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

. The Croatian president

Franjo Tuđman Franjo Tuđman (; 14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999), also written as Franjo Tudjman, was a Croatian politician and historian. Following the country's independence from Yugoslavia, he became the first president of Croatia and served as ...

awarded him the Order of Danica Hrvatska in 1995. In spring 1996, Ivanković became editor-in-chief of ''

'', host of the TV show ''Pressklub'' and editor of

Croatia Weekly , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. In 2000, he resigned as editor-in-chief of ''Vjesnik'' and went into politics. Together with

Miroslav Tuđman Miroslav Tuđman (; 25 May 1946 – 31 January 2021) was a Croatian scientist and politician, the son and eldest child of the first President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, and his wife Ankica. Biography Tuđman was born in Belgrade, where he com ...

and others, he founded

(HIP), a

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

political party that won five seats in the Zagreb City Assembly in 2001. After leading the HIP Representatives Club till late 2003, he left the party and founded the

party '' Samostalnost i napredak'' ndependence and Progress(SIN) as its first president. (in Croatian) The party had a nine-month campaign called ''Cheese and Cream''. He wrote several books of non-fiction, including the bestsellers ''Predsjedniče, što je ostalo?'', a psychological and political portrait of

, and ''Ratnik'', a biography of General Ante Gotovina, which has been translated into English as ''The Warrior''.''The Warrior'' on Amazon
/ref> Ivanković founded HONOS, the association for the protection of

Homeland War The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...

and boxing club ''Šaka''. He was the director of the Croatian Nordic team and two-time world journalist champion in

Nordic walking Nordic walking is a Finnish-origin total-body version of walking that can be done both by non-athletes as a health-promoting physical activity and by athletes as a sport. The activity is performed with specially designed walking poles similar to ...

(in 1988 and 2000). He lives and works in

Bibliography

* ''Bonn, druga hrvatska fronta'' (Bonn, the Second Croatian Front) * ''Hrvatska od okupacije do regionalne sile'' (Croatia, from Occupation to Regional Power) * ''Predsjedniče, što je ostalo?'' (Mr. President, What Is Left?) * ''Ratnik'' (The Warrior) * ''Mesiću i Račane, zašto tako?'' ( Mesić and Račan, Why So?) * ''Krvava zemlja'' (The Bloody Land) * ''Sova'' (The Owl) * ''U potrazi za vedrinom'' (Looking for Serenity) * ''Što smo mu učinili?'' (What Have We Done To Him?) * ''Ona'' (She) * ''Obična pisma neobičnim ljudima'' (Ordinary Letters to Extraordinary People) * ''Što je zapravo EU'' (What the EU Really Is) * '' Bandić / Zoon politikon''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivankovic, Nenad 1948 births Living people Journalists from Zagreb Croatian non-fiction writers Politicians from Zagreb Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany