Speech by the President of the Republic on the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day, Croatian Army Day and the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Croatian National Guard

Croatian soldiers, Croatian policemen, Croatian guardsmen, Croatian heroes, distinguished ministers, but above all, those of you who gathered thirty years ago, who were in Kranjčević Street – or may not have been in Kranjčević Street because you were already risking your lives in service to the Homeland. There are many of you here and I thank you for coming. Come to Kranjčević Street tomorrow, we’ll be waiting for you. That is the minimum that Croatia can give back to you. And that is more important and bigger than the heart, and bigger than all the recognitions, decorations and commendations you have received and will ever receive. This is your day.

Croatia had a long, difficult, complicated path. We are different and we are special, although every parent likes to think and tell their children that they are special and that they are different, while most are in fact ordinary like almost all of us. We are a different and special country. We are the only country that had to go through a war after 1990 (…) and had to fight for what to others had come easy. That’s why we are different and that difference is also reflected in the fact that we are sometimes misunderstood and hurt, but we don’t care. We, you especially, know that our path was right, just, and that we were guided by the fight for our state, for our historical right, which all peoples have.

Many have achieved that. In recent years and decades, most have achieved that in a peaceful and nice way. We were not meant to achieve that peacefully, and without you none of that would have happened, without the few good and special people who gathered in Kranjčević Street or there were people were being killed, or where one would simply live in fear and the uncertainty that they would no longer see their loved ones – their mother, father, brother, sister, their special someone. It wouldn’t be possible without you. And that is, in fact, the essence of today.

Those who are not among us today would be proud to see where Croatia is. It is ours and it is good the way it is. They would be happy to see the Croatian Army at a military exercise with the U.S. Command, with U.S. troops and with the U.S. Army Commander for Europe. It may sound so banal and simple, but they would see that Croatia has come where it always wished to be, an independent country of the West, of the Western civilisation to which it belongs, with all due respect and understanding to those that are not. That’s Croatia, that’s the Croatian goal, the Croatian path, and on that path we, that is you, are the winners.

Once again, thank you for everything. There are no other words, words are empty. Thank you for all the fear you went through together with your loved ones, your wives, loves, girlfriends, mothers and fathers – mothers above all – brothers and sisters. Thank you to all those who did not come back, we will remember them forever. Glory to you, glory to the living, because glory is not only for those who are deceased. Long live our Croatia and may it be peaceful because it is protected by the Croatian Army. All the best!