Slovenia, Croatia and other countries which were part of the former Yugoslavia bear no responsibility for the World War II killings of up to 15,000 Italians by Yugoslav communists, Italy stated on Friday.
'Remembering is a moral, civil and political duty, but it in no way means reopening old conflicts', foreign minister Antonio Tajani said in address at the Quirinal presidential palace in Rome.
The killings are known in Italy as the 'foibe' - the name of deep caves where Yugoslav partisans dumped the bodies of the 1943-1945 massacres as Yugoslav forces moved into the Istria and Dalmatia, regions which had been part of fascist Italy since the 1920s
"The states that replaced the former Yugoslavia are in no way responsible for the violence of that time'," Tajani told the 'Remembrance Day' commemoration to mark the anniversary of the 'foibe' killings.
Tajani cited as examples "friendly and allied nations, starting from Slovenia and Croatia, which share our values, our democratic system, membership of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance (Nato)."
The 'foibe' massacre perpetrators belonged to the armed force - the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army - of a dissolved stated led by Marshal Tito "and were inspired by an ideology defeated by history,'' he added.
