The best way of honouring WWI General Rudolf Maister's memory is by being a cohesive, patriotic and ambitious nation, said President-elect Danilo Tuerk, as he addressed a ceremony in honour of Maister in Ljubljana on Thursday.

Tuerk attended the ceremony at the Defence Ministry held on the eve of Rudolf Maister Day, which is celebrated to mark the day in 1918 when Maister (1874-1934) took control of the city of Maribor in what is seen as a move which secured that northeastern Slovenia became part of Yugoslavia rather than Austria.

Tuerk believes that without Maister, one of the most prominent military personalities in Slovenian history, an independent Slovenia would most likely not come into being.

The Slovenian nation has a very long history of co-existing in multi-national countries, while its own experience with sovereignty is very short, said Tuerk.

A transformation from a culture-based into political nation demanded heroic decisions, especially in the fight against Nazism and Fascism, the time in history Slovenia is most proud of, and the strong unity of the 1991 independence efforts, when Slovenians showed they were worthy of self-determination and their own state.

"We deserved the sovereignty and statehood and thus constituted ourselves as a political nation with our own state," said Tuerk, who will be inaugurated as president at the end of December.

The main question now is whether the Slovenians are aware that even within the EU, Slovenia is still a sovereign state, and how to function in order to retain sovereignty in reality and not only formally, said Tuerk.

"Obviously, Slovenia must act self-confidently in Europe and worldwide, meaning it must act competently," Tuerk said in his speech at the statue of General Maister in front of the Defence Ministry's headquarters.

It is largely owing to General Maister that Maribor and the northeast of Slovenia became part of the new Yugoslav state rather than Austria following the decline of the Austrian Hungarian Empire.

He occupied Slovenian ethnic territory, establishing the northern border between Austria and Yugoslavia that was later ratified by the Saint Germain Peace Treaty. The border between Slovenia and Austria has not changed since.

The ceremony was also attended by Defence Minister Karl Erjavec, the Chief-of-Staff of Slovenian Armed Forces, Lt.-Gen. Albin Gutman and Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic.

The ceremony is only one of several marking the holiday, with the main national ceremony to take place on Friday in the town of Gornja Radgona (NE).

STA/MOD