President Ljubomir Vlašić Headquarters Zagreb, Croatia | Founder Ante Pavelić Membership (2010) 650 | |
Founded 8 June 1956 (established in Buenos Aires);
9 October 1991 (registered as a political party in Croatia) Ideology Croatian nationalism
Anti-communism
Euroscepticism | ||
The Croatian Liberation Movement (Croatian: Hrvatski oslobodilački pokret or HOP) is a minor far right political party founded in 1956 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Croatian WWII fascist dictator Ante Pavelić who was leader of the Nazi puppet state, so-called Independent State of Croatia, and some Croatian emigrants.
Until the 1970s HOP was a Croatian emigrant organization with more than 80 percent of its members made up from people who had been politically active in some way in the 1941–1945 NDH regime. Originally led by Ante Pavelić, the former Poglavnik, other signatories of HOP's first foundation charter included former NDH government officials such as Džafer Kulenović and Vjekoslav Vrančić, which caused it to be considered a successor of the Ustaša, the Croatian fascist organisation which ran the World War II puppet state.
The stated goal of the organization was the re-establishment of the Independent State of Croatia in its World War II borders, encompassing most of territory of present-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was at the time of HOP's foundation part of SFR Yugoslavia. Although considered by outsiders to be the most radical Croatian nationalist organization, HOP officially described itself as an anti-communist organization committed to democratic political means.
After the collapse of communism in Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the organization's headquarters were moved from Buenos Aires to Zagreb and it was officially registered as a political party in Croatia in October 1991.
Following registration, HOP ran in the August 1992 parliamentary election with little success. It has remained a marginal political force ever since. Their only other election campaign came six years later for the 2007 election, in which they also fared poorly.
Today, HOP functions as a minor political party in Croatia without holding any seats in the Croatian Parliament or at any other government level. The organization has active branches in Canada (in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver), and Australia (in Melbourne and Sydney).