SLOVAKIA:Slovakia's parliament has voted to honour a politician and Catholic priest who compared himself to Hitler, prompting outrage from Jewish groups and stoking tension with neighbouring Hungary.
Andrej Hlinka campaigned for greater Slovak rights within the Austro-Hungarian empire and then Czechoslovakia after its creation in 1918, and was idolised following his death in 1938 by another ultra-nationalist priest, Jozef Tiso, who led a pro-Nazi Slovak regime.
Hlinka is best known for saying in 1936: "I am the Slovak Hitler. I will restore order in Slovakia like Hitler did in Germany."
Slovakia's parliament voted 94-26 to approve a Bill that says Hlinka's "personality, work and legacy contributed to the formation of the independent Slovak republic in 1993", referring to its split from the Czech Republic following the 1989 collapse of communism.
Parliament removed clauses calling Hlinka the "father of the nation" and making it illegal to insult his memory, but the vote appalled Jewish groups in Slovakia, where the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS) is a member of the coalition government.
The Association of Slovakia's Jewish Communities said it "considers the name of Andrej Hlinka a symbol of Slovak fascism in the years of 1939-1945 . . . [ who] rejected the democratic principles of Czechoslovakia and spoke with admiration about politicians such as Adolf Hitler and [ Italy's fascist dictator] Benito Mussolini".
On Sunday Slovak president Ivan Gasparovic defended Hlinka at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the killing by Hungarian police of 15 Slovaks protesting against a ban on Hlinka consecrating a church in his hometown of Cernova. "No one casts doubt on the facts [ of the shooting]. Paradoxically, however, they cast doubt on the person that was linked with it in a positive way," Mr Gasparovic said, in a clear reference to Hlinka.
SNS leader Jan Slota denounced Hungarian nationalism at the ceremony.
The governments of Slovakia and Hungary have accused each other in recent months of stoking nationalist feeling to boost their domestic popularity, and relations between the EU and Nato allies are strained.