Croatia held a ceremony in the village of Smiljan on 10 July 2006 to mark the 150th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth. The ethnic Serb inventor was born there in 1856, when the region belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Croatian President Stipe Mesic spoke at the event alongside Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Serbian President Boris Tadic, and representatives of Croatia's Serb community. Both leaders described Tesla as a symbol of shared history between the two nations, and expressed hope that the occasion could deepen mutual trust. Tadic called figures like Tesla "our joint treasure."
Tesla emigrated to the United States at 28, where he developed a long list of inventions. His most celebrated contribution was the alternating current (AC) motor, still in global use today. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1931 and died in a New York hotel in 1943 at age 86.
Croatian-Serbian relations have been slowly improving since the 1991-1995 war in which Belgrade backed Serb fighters who opposed Croatian independence. Monday's joint commemoration was seen as a further sign of reconciliation between the two neighbors.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in July 2006, in its own words.