On July 12th 2005. Mr. Ivica Kirin became Interior Minister in Croatian government and youngest member of Ivo Sanader’s cabinet. While at first very quiet, soon he became noticed in the media with some of his notable remarks such as this one:
Police meddles into some peoples affairs. Paid shipment are siezed. Someone owes money to someone else and murder happens. Mafia murders are results of good police work. (free translation of his statement made in late march 2006 following a mafia type execution in Croatian capital Zagreb)
This is just one of his (now legendary) quotations. In mid november 2006, youtube user “bijesprvi” made his first video mocking mr. Kirin.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=B1lAU3JXb-U“Kiro prosvirao” video clip (translated as “Kiro went nuts”) took Croatia by storm and is now probably most viewed Croatian video on youtube with more then 550.000 views so far (impressive compared to population of Croatia of 4.5 mil). This video was featured on most web portals, in newspapers and magazines and was even broadcasted on national television (on more then one ocassion).Some of the quotes in video clip include:
- Media can publish anything, I am not saying that they do not publish something truthfull from time to time.
- Who is going to rule this country if not us?
First video was probably destined to fade away, but few weeks after, mr. Kirin decided to publicly comment it live on TV and at that time he mispronounced Youtube as Jubito (which is basically a play with letters and with enough imagination it reads F*** You in Croatian). Jubito created whole new industry (see Nik Titank mad shop for a whole selection of apparel, underwear, mugs, stationery). His comment resulted in a new video called “Kiro went nuts – Return of the King”, where he said (among other stupidities):
- They were laughing at me on Jubito
- I am thankfull to authors of the clip, when I take into account their IQ I am quite pleased that they are pulling out my sentences.
- There are 26.000 people employed in Interior Ministry, not all of them are daisies.
- I am educated and academic person, quite contrary to the people who criticize me. Let this people from Jubito show their certificates and diplomas and then we can discuss this.
Second video was shown to 287.000 viewers. In late march 2006 he was questioned in Croatian parliament and this footage was a source for “Kiro went nuts III – Spy who loved me”. This video triggered a ban on mr. Kirins public appearances (as quoted by Feral Tribune and business.hr). On 24th of may 2006, Kirin made a following statement:
I was quite simpatethic to this jubito thing because I thought that this videos were made by young rebels and alternatives, and then we discovered thru our servers that this videos were published by our political opponents SDP. Let them be sure that this is nothing compared to what we are going to expose during our election campaign.
This statement provoked SDP (social democrats) since it implied illegal search for IP addresses of Youtube users in Croatia and in protest they left the parliament session on may 27th 2006. Later on, this subject was discussed in parliament but formal inquiry was never launched (since leading party HDZ of which mr. Kirin is member held majority of the votes). Later on, bijesprvi launched “Kiro went nuts IV – Resurection” as well as series of slightly less popular clips about Ivica Kirin.
As a result, bijesprvi is now most popular Croatian author on youtube with more then three million video clips viewed, 109 created and more then 600 subscribers. Also, according to the polls made by IRI, Ivica Kirin who was barely listed on “most unpopular politicians list” in 2006, was the third most unpopular politician in Croatia in september 2007, his popularity slipped and after parliament elections held in november he did not make it into parliament (he was positioned by his party too low on the list).
Finally, in the long line of stupidities made by mr. Kirin, he was discovered to have been participated in a boar hunt on december 22nd in the company of mr. Mladen Markač who is a war crime suspect and who is on the order of Hague war crime tribunal in house arrest. It is almost beyond belief that person in charge of following court orders from the Hague went to hunt together with a person who is not allowed to move away from the house; to make it more impropable – they took pictures after the hunt, then they emailed this pictures to 87 media outlets in Croatia and abroad. After pictures were published, it was claimed that pictures were made in 2003 or that they were doctored.
After seven days of silence from Croatian government, Hague tribunal ordered arrest of mr. Markač and on 29th of december mr. Kirin offered his resignation as “his moral duty after circumstances in which he was found in the case of Mladen Markač”. It is worth noting that his duties as minister are technical at this time, since new government should be formed in first two weeks of january.
Saga about Ivica Kirin is now over and bijesprvi made final video called “And now farewell”.
p.s. this post is a follow-up and epilogue on my previous posts (in english) Ivica Kirin, Croatian story and Croatian parliament in turmoil over YouTube (again!?)
Thought of the day:
Lemony Snicket: Dear reader, there are people in the world who know no misery and woe. And they take comfort in cheerful films about twittering birds and giggling elves. There are people who know that there’s always a mystery to be solved. And they take comfort in researching and writing down any important evidence. But this story is not about such people. This story is about the Baudelaires. And they are the sort of people who know that there’s always something. Something to invent, something to read, something to bite, and something to do, to make a sanctuary, no matter how small. And for this reason, I am happy to say, the Baudelaires were very fortunate indeed.
