The total number of cases in the country... ISTANBUL In 2010 a scandal broke out at the Croatian Embassy in Washington, DC when it was revealed that Grabar-Kitarović's husband, Jakov, had been using an official embassy car for private purposes. In this virtual event, the President will highlight the strong and deep partnership between the United States and Canada as neighbors, friends and NATO Allies. A run-off election took place between Milanović and Grabar-Kitarović on 5 January 2020. [74] The Turkish president on Saturday hailed the NATO secretary-general’s comments regarding the Euro-Atlantic security and defense matters. 1947) and Branko Grabar (b. She was eventually defeated in her bid for reelection by Milanovic who won 52.66% of the vote, while Grabar-Kitarovic, who had tried to unite a fractured right wing, garnered 47.3 percent. Copyright 2021 Anadolu Agency. Ukraine - Ukraine - The Orange Revolution and the Yushchenko presidency: The presidential election of 2004 brought Ukraine to the brink of disintegration and civil war. Grabar-Kitarović only managed to defeat Škoro by a margin of only 2.2% of the vote, and therefore narrowly proceeded to the run-off against Milanović. Under Donald Trump, … Grabar-Kitarović, however, said that she did in fact inform the newly elected president of Croatia, Social Democrat Ivo Josipović, of her plans and Josipović subsequently confirmed these claims in December 2014, stating that he even gave his personal contribution to her appointment to NATO by writing Grabar-Kitarović a written opinion that she needed from someone reputable. He said in the southeast, non-EU member Turkey sits on the borders with Syria and Iraq, and added that it is “extremely important in the fight against Daesh and international terrorism.”. [11][12], Kolinda Grabar was born on 29 April 1968 in Rijeka, Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia, to Dubravka (b. [75] Therefore, this election marked the first time in Croatian history that the incumbent president did not receive the highest number of votes in the first round. [98], She speaks Croatian, English, Spanish and Portuguese fluently and has basic understanding of German, French and Italian. Turkey on Sunday reported 13,378 new coronavirus cases, including 852 symptomatic patients, according to the Health Ministry. [31][32][33][34] Grabar-Kitarović was the first woman ever to be appointed to the position. Kenya will not take part in the hearings of its maritime dispute case with Somalia that start at the International Court of Justice... ANKARA [26], On 8 March 2008, while the President of Croatia was Stjepan Mesić, she became the Croatian ambassador to the United States, where she replaced Neven Jurica. [21] She became the head of the North American department of the Foreign ministry in 1995 and held that post until 1997. [17][18][19] She also received a Luksic Fellowship for the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and was a visiting scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. During her stay in the hospital, she applied for Fulbright scholarship for studying international relations and security policy. [21] Her main task as foreign minister was to guide Croatia into the European Union and NATO. She is thus the second (consecutive) President of Croatia to not win a second term, after Ivo Josipović. [87], Grabar-Kitarović considers that the prohibition of abortion would not solve anything, and stresses that attention should be paid to education in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Following the HDZ's victory in the 2007 parliamentary election and the subsequent formation of the Second Sanader Cabinet, she was reappointed as foreign minister, but was suddenly removed from the position on 12 January 2008. 1944). [20], In 1992, Grabar-Kitarović became an advisor to the international cooperation department of the Ministry of Science and Technology. [60], Grabar-Kitarović expressed her condolences to Slobodan Praljak's family after he committed suicide in The Hague where he was facing trial, calling him "a man who preferred to give his life, rather than to live, having been convicted of crimes he firmly believed he had not committed",[61] adding that "his act struck deeply at the heart of the Croatian people and left the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia with the weight of eternal doubt about the accomplishment of its tasks". The president in the stands", "Grabar-Kitarovic: Everyone is slowly giving up on Bosnia", "2019 Lifetime Achievement Award: Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović", "Kolinda u Kninu najavila kandidaturu - i pobjedu: 'I idućih 5 godina ću se viđati ovdje s vama kao predsjednica, "GRABAR-KITAROVIĆ U EKSTREMNO DESNOM LISTU NAJAVILA KANDIDATURU ZA DRUGI MANDAT 'Ne mogu sada okrenuti leđa Hrvatskoj, naravno da idem u kandidaturu, "Croatia president will run for job again: PM", "President Grabar-Kitarovic formally announces bid for second term in office", "Zoran Milanović relativni pobjednik izbora, u drugi krug i Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović", "Izbori za predsjednika RH 2019. [99], Ambassador of Croatia to the United States, minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, List of state visits made by Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, List of elected and appointed female heads of state, President of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, "BIOGRAFIJA KOLINDE GRABAR KITAROVIĆ, PRVE HRVATSKE PREDSJEDNICE Put marljive odlikašice iz Rijeke do Pantovčaka", "Grabar-Kitarovic elected Croatia's first woman president", "Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic elected president of Croatia", "NOVA PREDSJEDNICA Evo što svjetske agencije javljaju o Kolindinoj inauguraciji", "NATO – Biography: Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy", https://fulbright.org/2019/08/29/2019-lifetime-achievement-award-kolinda-grabar-kitarovic/, "Kolinda se javila šefu Karamarku: Izlazim iz HDZ-a", "Kolinda Grabar Kitarović - nova nada Hrvatske", "Kolinda više nije članica Rockefellerove Trilaterale, jedne od najmoćnijih grupa na svijetu - Vijesti", "FORBESOV IZBOR Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović je 39. najmoćnija žena na svijetu", "Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović elected IOC member as the fourth person and the first woman from Croatia", "Mrs Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović - CROATIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, IOC Member since 2020", "Grabar-Kitarovic to Speak Feb. 14 – News Releases", "Presidential Victory for Fulbright Alumna from Croatia | Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs", "Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović i službeno se upisala na doktorski studij - Večernji.hr". [10], In 2020 she was elected in International Olympic Committee as the representative of Croatia. [77] Her political positions have mostly been described as conservative in the media. At 46 years of age, she also became the youngest person to assume the presidency. ", "Karamarko želi Kolindu Grabar Kitarović za predsjednicu Hrvatske", "Ivo Josipović ili Kolinda Grabar Kitarović – evo što kaže prvo istraživanje! [6], Grabar-Kitarović was a member of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union party from 1993 to 2015[7] and was also one of three Croatian members of the Trilateral Commission,[8] but she was required to resign both positions upon taking office as president in 2015, as Croatian presidents are not permitted to hold other political positions or party membership while in office. [90] In 2016, she signed the Paris Agreement at UN Headquarters in New York City. However, she expressed her support for the Life Partnership Act, which enabled same-sex couples to enjoy rights equal to heterosexual married couples except in adoption, praising it as good compromise. Ms. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President", "LIJEPA KOLINDINA KĆI BRILJIRA NA LEDU Hoće li nova državna prvakinja Katarina Kitarović braniti boje Hrvatske na Olimpijskim igrama? In addition, Grabar-Kitarović is the only presidential candidate to date to have won a Croatian presidential election without having won the most votes in the first round of elections, as she lost it by 1.24% or 21,000 votes. Following a backlash from historians that the salute was not historical, Grabar-Kitarović admitted that she was wrong in that part of the statement. EMMANUEL MACRON, the French president, has warned European countries that they can no longer rely on America to defend NATO allies. ", "Predsjednica: Hrvatski narod prvi se odupro velikosrpskoj agresiji braneći svoju opstojnost i opstojnost BiH", "President Begins Visit to Argentina, Meets with Diaspora", "Kolinda: Mnogi su Hrvati u Argentini pronašli slobodu nakon Drugog svjetskog rata", "President Rejects "Malicious Interpretations" of Her Speech in Argentina", "Bauk o Kolindinim izjavama u Argentini: Da je to izjavila Merkel strpali bi je u zatvor", "How Croatia's World Cup party highlighted 'fascist nostalgia, "Croatia's real World Cup star? Furthermore, the 1.114 million votes she received in the second round is the lowest number of votes for any winning candidate in a presidential election in Croatia and the 1.48% victory margin against Josipović is the smallest in any such election to date. [65], During the 2018 FIFA World Cup, held in Russia, Grabar-Kitarović attended the quarter-final and final matches, wearing the colors of the national flag in support of the national team, which ultimately ended up as tournament runners-up. [24] With the formation of the new government led by HDZ chairman Ivo Sanader she became Minister of European integration, which entailed the commencement of negotiations regarding Croatia's ascension to the European Union.[5]. "[92], In 2020 she was elected in International Olympic Committee as 5th representative of Croatia in this body and first female in this position. Turkey, as a NATO ally, will continue to fulfil all its responsibilities and serve global peace & security.https://t.co/kffP4sKDYS, — Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) March 6, 2021. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (pronounced [ɡrǎbar kitǎːroʋitɕ] (); born 29 April 1968) is a Croatian politician and diplomat who served as President of Croatia from 2015 to 2020. She would also have become the first, and to date only, Croatian president to have never finished first in the first round of a presidential election. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. In 2017, Forbes magazine listed Grabar-Kitarović as the world's 39th most powerful woman. [91] During another speech at the UN, she stated that climate change was a "powerful weapon of mass destruction. [85][86], Grabar-Kitarović opposes same-sex marriage stating that marriage is a matrimony between woman and a man. [52] She called the salute a "Croatian historical greeting" that was "compromised and unacceptable". Gordan Jandroković succeeded her. [66][67] In a press release, Grabar-Kitarović rejected what she described as "malicious interpretations" of her statement. [78][79][80] Agence France-Presse wrote that Grabar-Kitarović represents moderates within her party. Furthermore, stating that Kosor had just ignored her offers and that it is for this reason that Grabar-Kitarović decided not to communicate with the Prime Minister any further. [73] On 2 October 2019, Grabar-Kitarović formally announced her bid for re-election with the campaign slogan "Because I believe in Croatia". We would like to thank the NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg for his objective evaluations on Euro-Atlantic security and defence matters. As a result, Foreign Minister Gordan Jandroković launched an internal investigation because of Jakov Kitarović's unauthorized usage of the official car, as the unauthorized filming of members of the diplomatic staff and their families by a member of the embassy's security staff. [5], She is a recipient of the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Award and a number of national and international awards, decorations, honorary doctorates and honorary citizenships. After taking office he immediately started to remove politically appointed staff that was appointed by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) to high-ranking diplomatic positions. The exact reason for her removal is not known. [13][14], Upon her return to Yugoslavia, she enrolled at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Spanish languages and literature. Grabar-Kitarović also said that she had on two occasions offered herself to Prime Minister Kosor and also to return to Croatia, so as to make herself available to the HDZ for the 2011 parliamentary elections. She immediately rejected petition calling it "frivolous, unacceptable and provocative". Furthermore, as the country had previously also had a female prime minister, Jadranka Kosor, from 2009 until 2011, Grabar-Kitarović's election as president of Croatia also included it into a small group of parliamentary republics which have had both a female head of state and head of government. She was the first woman to be elected to the office since the first multi-party elections in 1990 and independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. She served as ambassador until 4 July 2011. If Grabar-Kitarović was to be reelected, her victory would have marked the second instance in a presidential election where the result of the first round was overturned in the run-off, with the first instance of this occurring having been in the 2014–15 election, in which Grabar-Kitarović won her first term. [93][94][95], Grabar-Kitarović is a practising Roman Catholic. Her task was to take care of the "communication strategy" and to "bring NATO closer to the common people". [5], In 2002–2003 she attended George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs as a Fulbright scholar. [40], The run-off took place on 11 January 2015, with Grabar-Kitarović winning 50.7% of the vote. All rights reserved. 2003). [59], In October 2016, Grabar-Kitarović made an official visit to Baku, Azerbaijan where she expressed her support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, stating that the solution to this conflict "must be peaceful and political". [51] They proved inconclusive and negotiations on forming a government lasted for 76 days. [96] In an interview for HKM (Croatian Catholic Network) she stated that she regularly attends Mass and prays the Rosary. Earlier, Stoltenberg said European flanks are defended by non-EU countries, the US, Canada, and the UK in the north and Turkey in the south. [41] She thereby became Croatia's first female post-independence head of state and the country's first conservative president in 15 years. [42][Note 1] She was ceremonially sworn into office on 15 February,[43] and assumed office officially at midnight on 19 February 2015.[44]. Playing at Istanbul's Sinan Erdem Dome, Anadolu Efes forward... Turkish president hails NATO chief's 'objective evaluations'. Vladimir Putin. [5] Furthermore, on 28 November 2005 she was elected by the international community to preside over the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention's Sixth Meeting of the States Parties, or Ottawa Treaty, held that year in Zagreb. It was only when NATO failed to choose a candidate for the job in two rounds that she finally applied, and in the third round she received the position. Red Bull Leipzig were held to a 1-1 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday in a week 25 German Bundesliga game. Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji List published an article in September 2012 stating that Grabar-Kitarović was being considered as a possible candidate for the 2014–15 Croatian presidential election by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). [21] In 1993 she joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Here is the full transcript of his remarks, courtesy of the Federal News Service. When Grabar-Kitarović saw an ad for a job at NATO in The Economist magazine, she thought that the job was well-suited for her, but in the end decided not to apply for it. With the parliament expected to dissolve by 25 September,[50] Grabar-Kitarović called parliamentary elections for 8 November 2015. Zoran Milanović won a plurality of 29.55% of the vote, ahead of Grabar-Kitarović, who received 26.65% of the vote,[75] while Miroslav Škoro attracted the support of 24.45% of voters. The meeting will … Grabar-Kitarović was ordered to return to Croatia from Canada within next six weeks, which she at first refused to do because she was pregnant and had already made plans to give birth in Canada, however, she eventually decided to return after being strongly pressured by the ministry to do so. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. After graduating, she returned to Croatia and continued to live in Rijeka. The Initiative was officially formed in 2016 and held its first summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 25–26 August 2016. [citation needed] According to the analytics company Mediatoolkit, she "emerged as her country’s star of the tournament" with "25% more focus on her in news stories about the final than any of the players on the pitch", as she "travelled to Russia at her own expense in economy class and often watched from the non-VIP stands". [81] Some observers describe her actions as populist,[82][83][84] or nationalist. [46] In September 2015, after Hungary constructed a fence and closed its border with Serbia, the flow of migrants was redirected towards Croatia, causing over 21,000 migrants to enter the country[47] by 19 September, with the number rising to 39,000 immigrants, while 32,000 migrants exited Croatia, leaving through Slovenia and Hungary. ANKARA [36][37] It was confirmed in mid-2014 that she was to become the party's official candidate, going up against incumbent Ivo Josipović and newcomers Ivan Vilibor Sinčić and Milan Kujundžić. Furthermore, Milanović attained both the lowest number of votes (562,779) and the lowest percentage of the vote of any winning candidate in the first round of a presidential election.[76]. She was criticized because of the way she left her position in Washington, DC. “Turkey, as a NATO ally, will continue to fulfil all its responsibilities and serve global peace and security,” he added. [57][58] The two presidents reaffirmed the traditionally good relations between their countries and signed an agreement on economic cooperation. Grabar-Kitarović criticized the hard process of adoption and stated that "the whole system has to be reformed so that through education and social measures it enables every woman to give birth to a child, and that mother and the child can eventually be taken care of in an appropriate manner. “We would like to thank the NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg for his objective evaluations on Euro-Atlantic security and defence matters,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter. As a result, the position of Croatian ambassador to the United States was vacant for almost nine months after Grabar-Kitarović's departure. Namely, a member of the embassy's security staff had followed and filmed Kitarović for days and footage of the events was posted on YouTube, but were later removed. According to figures compiled by Anadolu Agency, authorities detained 2,343 suspects, including so-called senior members of the group, seizing large amounts of documents, weapons, and ammunition. Turkey has continued its struggle against the Daesh terror group, also known as ISIS, in 2020. “We would like to thank the NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg for his objective evaluations on … The Turkish president on Saturday hailed the NATO secretary-general’s comments regarding the Euro-Atlantic security and defense matters. [68] Commenting on the appearance of Croatian nationalist singer Marko Perković at the celebration, whose songs and concerts are said to glorify the fascist Ustaše regime, and have been banned recently in some places, Grabar-Kitarović stated that she “never heard” such songs nor “seen any evidence that they exist”, was "very fond" of some of his songs and that she did not see any evidence for the controversies associated to him, claiming his songs are "good for national unity". During her term at NATO she often visited Afghanistan and the Croatian soldiers that are deployed there as part of a peacekeeping mission. Grabar-Kitarović claimed that her duties continued for 24 hours a day and that she could not separate her working life from her private life. [72] Prime Minister and HDZ President Andrej Plenković announced that the HDZ will support her bid for second term. [45] She is also the first candidate of any gender to defeat an incumbent Croatian president. [9] As president, she launched the Three Seas Initiative in 2015, together with Polish President Andrzej Duda. - rezultati", "The 2014/2015 Croatian Presidential Election: Tight and Far-reaching Victory of Political Right", "Croatia elects conservative in presidential election runoff", "Croatia's president rebukes PM for invitation snub as rift deepens", "Grabar-Kitarovic: Croatia's first female president", "Croatia's World Cup run divides nation where football is never just sport", "Croatia's Serbs: Pawns in a Right-Wing Game", "Croatians Elect Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic as Their First Female President", "ŠTO ZAPRAVO ZASTUPAMO Četiri kandidata odgovaraju na 20 teških pitanja Jutarnjeg -Jutarnji List", "Kolinda protiv katoličkih radikala: "Da, ženama treba omogućiti pobačaj kao i do sada" - Vijesti", "Kolinda Grabar Kitarović: Moj osobni stav o pobačaju je poznat, ali zabrana ništa ne rješava > Slobodna Dalmacija", "Croatian president hails Paris accord as step toward environment-friendly progress", "H.E.