President Milanović in Jajce: Croatia will never support abolishing the Dayton Agreement, there is no Bosnia and Herzegovina without equality of peoples
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović took part today in a celebration marking the 27th anniversary of Military-Police Operation “Maestral” and the liberation of the royal city of Jajce. On that occasion he bestowed the Order of Nikola Šubić Zrinski upon the “Hrvoje Vukšić Hrvatinić” Brigade Jajce for the prowess displayed by their members in the Homeland War.
The address by President Milanović at the main celebration marking the 27th anniversary of Military-Police Operation “Maestral” and the liberation of the royal city of Jajce follows in its entirety:
“Dear families of the Croatian defenders – the living and the fallen Croatian warriors, the citizens of Jajce – the residents of this beautiful historical town that testifies to the indestructibility and the ineradicability of the Croatian identity, name and memory, ladies and gentlemen, dear Croats, brothers and sisters, happy Liberation Day of Jajce!
They say that man dies twice – the first time when his heart stops beating and the second time when he is overcome by oblivion, miserable nothingness, something man mostly fears. The people who have fallen and have given all they had for Jajce should not for a moment have to fear that miserable nothingness and oblivion, because your numbers today, the spirit and energy in which you have gathered show that they will be remembered forever and that we will never forget them. Glory to them!
Many proverbs say what man learns, ponders until he is fifty or sixty. Half of those proverbs and folk wisdom are indeed wisdom, half are nonsense. One such senseless saying that is often repeated in law is ‘One who proves too much proves nothing’. That is equally untrue as the saying that in matters of taste there can be no disputes. Just as matters of taste are discussed all the time, so too one who proves too much cannot prove too much. One must prove more. The whole time all of us must interpret, explain, prove with valid arguments, with an open and a pure heart, with clear eyes, why this entire Croatian story is – an epic with elements of a tragedy, but also of a rhapsody – honest and just in Bosnia and Herzegovina, why it is the right way and why we are on the right side of history.
Without the Croatian Army, without the Croatian Guards Brigades, without the Croatian Home Guard units and regiments, without the Croatian Defense Council’s Guards Brigades, the Croatian Defense Council’s Home Guard Brigades – Bosnia and Herzegovina would not be liberated, the bloody war and occupation would not end in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina would not be an integral state today!
The gratitude about which the war commander of the 3rd Guards Brigade Nekić spoke is what we do not see. That is what bothers some, that is what hurts some, that is what irritates some, and that is on what we shall persevere to prove that we are right and that we have done the just thing. Both you, who have fought, and us, who watched from a safe distance. Not only Jajce in Operation ‘Maestral’, but also Mrkonjić Grad and other areas that the Croatian Army and the Croatian Defense Council, brothers in arms, together – with the occasional yet valuable assistance of the Fifth Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina – liberated in Operation ‘Southern Move’ (“Južni potez”), one month after this operation, which paved the way for negotiations. And you know that some have to be driven a little more, they are not ready to sit down at the negotiating table. If they are dominant, they feel too powerful. Had those victories been in September or in October 1995, they would have forced the enemy of the time, the army of Karadžić and Mladić, to sit down at the negotiating table in Dayton. That’s the truth and there is no other.
But we are building all our arguments on this truth with more or less unity of those in power in Croatia, you here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with full respect for this state. This respect for Bosnia and Herzegovina has been my human and political goal for at least twenty years. The unblocking of Sarajevo and other major events in the war in 1995 was not accomplished by American, British or French bombers, fighter jets and airplanes but by boots on the ground and the blood of Croatian soldiers. That’s the truth, take that stand each and every time. Maybe in the end we don’t need gratitude for this, but we must repeat it.
Those are incredibly strong arguments when we ask for charity for you, the Croatian women and men in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And I as Croatian President am ashamed of this. We’re asking for so little that I’m ashamed to even talk and think about it. We’re asking for fundamental respect of the fundamental rights and principles that were once agreed and little by little later, by method of trial and error, repeating, were applied and implemented and today are considered adopted. For example, it was decided – and no one is even talking about that today – that the member of the Presidency from the ranks of the Croatian people, and I repeat, from the ranks of the Croatian people, can be elected by anybody. Where is there sound logic, basic human respect in this matter?
The Republic of Croatia could not have dreamed of getting integrated into Europe if it had not established its system for the protection, in its case, of minorities. The Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not a minority, but they have been reduced to a minority. Look at how minorities have been protected in Croatia for thirty years now. They have their representatives in Parliament, the Serbs’ representatives in Parliament are guaranteed, the Bosniaks have their own representative in Parliament, they don’t have one at the moment but perhaps they will have one again, they have the right to that. Who can elect the representatives of Croatia’s numerous minorities, of our fellow citizens the Italians, Hungarians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians, etc. Who has the right to elect them in Croatia? – Exclusively members of those minority groups and of those identity groups, which are not constituent peoples. But this shows the logic of things, it shows what an honest approach to the issue, not pure theft, looks like. This – what is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina after years of attempts, warnings, of insisting, begging – cannot be described in any other way than as theft, robbery. The cynicism with which this is justified is even more saddening and demoralizing.
Therefore, to all those who, out of good intentions – if their intentions are good, then they are lacking common sense – or out of bad intentions, talk about abolishing the Dayton Agreement, about the need to replace it with some new arrangement – I can say as the President of the Republic of Croatia, as a representative of the Republic of Croatia, a modern European country, a member of NATO and the European Union, that Croatia will never support this. And not only will it never support this, but it will vigorously fight against it by all means, by peaceful means.
There is no Bosnia and Herzegovina without the equality of Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs! This is not clear to some at the moment and they justify and hide their greed, putting it under the veil of cynical excuses. You don’t know what bothers you more, theft or rudeness, but when they act in unison they create a toxic combination. Fight against this with the honour, the energy you possess, the ineradicable will of the Croatian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where almost half of us in Croatia originate from anyhow, to survive, to fight, to progress, so that your children, sons and daughters, grandchildren have the right and the opportunity for a better life – not as fiction, not as a catchphrase, but as something real.
Croatia did not join the European Union only to, among other things, absorb several hundred million euros worth of European funds annually. That is nothing, it disappears in the darkness of nothingness, it is concrete, pipes, some buildings. Croatia joined in order to be stronger, just as every family, every person, every community, every military unit strives, develops and plans in order to become stronger – i.e. more independent, firm, so that it can express its will, oppose the yoke. Thus, the Croatian state in the European Union and NATO is in some respects stronger than ever. From these rights, these opportunities, these tools, these tools of peace, tools of justice, Croatia has additional benefit and I will advocate for them in Zagreb and here with you – always taking into account that I am in a foreign country, that I am not the President of this country, but that my compatriots, my brothers and sisters, of whom in the last thirty years there are twice as few as earlier, live and will continue to live here.
Dear friends, once again, with a joint will and foreheads raised for the prosperity, progress and autonomy of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for a European, stable Bosnia and Herzegovina to which Croatia will be a friend, not some endless suspect, not a joint criminal enterprise, but a joint effort of people of good will – for this to be a happy country that preserves this identity that is passed down through the generations. Both Hrvoje and Tvrtko are names used only by the Croats. It is a fact that these are names were adopted throughout history and used only by the Croats. These are the historical names of the greatest men of this country from the Middle Ages until the arrival of the Ottomans, which means that we have some relevance here. You will hear that word here, and nothing more. One who proves too much is doing a good job. Let us prove too much. Long live the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina!”
Speaking at the event apart from President Milanović were the Chair of the Municipal Council of Jajce Josip Topić, wartime commander of the Croatian forces on the main route of the liberation of Jajce General Stanko Sopta (retd) of the Croatian Defense Council, wartime commander of the 3rd Guards Brigade of the Croatian Defense Council Major General Ilija Nakić (retd), President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Marinko Čavara and the nominee of the parties of the Croatian National Assembly for the Croatian seat of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Krišto.
The marking of the 27th anniversary of the Military-Police Operation “Maestral” and the liberation of the royal city of Jajce began with a wreath-laying and candle-lighting ceremony at the central memorial to the fallen defenders in Jajce. Attending the wreath-laying alongside President Milanović were the Head of the Office of the President of the Republic Orsat Miljenić, Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic, Bartol Šimunić, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina Ivan Sabolić, Consul General of the Republic of Croatia in Vitez Pero Bilušić, Military Envoy of the Republic of Croatia in Bosnia and Herzegovina Davor Kiralj and Minister-Counsellor at the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Glavina.
The Military-Police Operation “Maestral” lasted from 8 to 17 September 1995, and created preconditions for further advances of the Croatian forces. On 13 September 1995, Jajce was liberated following a three-year occupation. Operation “Maestral” was the first more significant operation of the joint forces of the Croatian Army, the Croatian Defense Council and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in western Bosnia and Herzegovina in which large areas of western Bosnia were retaken, including the towns of Drvar, Šipovo, Jajce, Bosanski Petrovac, Bosanska Krupa and Ključ.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta