President Milanović at ceremony marking liberation of Kupres: The Croatian state has instruments with which it can and must help Croats in BiH
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended today a ceremony marking the 28th anniversary of the liberation of Kupres. On this day in 1994 the first joint operation of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina was successfully carried out – Operation Cincar – which liberated the greater part of the Kupres plateau including Kupres, which the HVO entered on 3 November 1994.
“This day of liberation is a big day not only in Kupres but also for all those who aren’t from Kupres, yet got news of the liberation of Kupres with apprehension, big expectations and with some disbelief”, President Milanović stated in his address. Recalling that time of twenty-eight years ago he reminded that there wasn’t enough weapons, but there was a will.
“Those two transport trucks that arrived on the last day wasn’t assistance that came from Berlin or Washington. Those weapons were either captured in a battle or purchased on the black market at three times the price, with the money of Croatian people”, President Milanović noted, reminding that all Croatian operations during the war were brief. “For them to be brief and successful courage wasn’t sufficient but it was indisputable”. “What was necessary was intelligence, wartime cleverness, an honest but also a clever way of conducting war”, he added. President Milanović said that the limited resources were surpassed with an organizational genius that we lack in peace today.
“Let us never forget – and in order not to forget we must repeat – that this was the beginning of the end of aggression in Bosnia and Herzegovina, against Bosnia and Herzegovina, that this was the beginning of the illustrious Operation Storm that followed. A territory was liberated that not only ended the war, but the enemy of the time was forced to sit down at the negotiating table. Thanks to you all those operations helped to end the war, the Croatian Army forced the adversary to surrender, and not NATO bombers. For this reason we must be deeply and eternally grateful to those people. If it wasn’t for them, there wouldn’t be a Croatian state, there wouldn’t be the Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina either”, the Croatian President stated.
“That Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina, as an international agreement on the division of the government influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina was created with the agreement and acceptance of all those sitting at the table. At the table was Sarajevo, represented by the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the time Alija Izetbegović, whom we considered to be the President of the Presidency. The other side was political Zagreb, Franjo Tuđman who represented the Croats as a whole in Dayton. The same goes for Belgrade and subsequently condemned war criminal Slobodan Milošević, who negotiated on behalf of Serbia and the Serbs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. That agreement under the sponsorship of the United States in Dayton is the basis of your freedom, the preservation of your identity and simply a good feeling in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a neighbourly, friendly and second state, which I stress on every occasion. A state where the Croatian people live, whose numbers keep getting smaller and whose political rights are constantly being trampled on”, President Milanović stated, stressing that nothing changed not even after the last elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He assessed that it’s a good thing that elections were held and noted that on the level of the presidency good results weren’t achieved. “The principle remained unchanged, the principle of injustice and dishonesty. The other one, about whom I don’t have a negative feeling, can elect my representative, yet I can’t elect his. That must be changed!”, President Milanović stated. He said that to bring about these changes they will need the assistance of the Croatia state, because as he said “in Croatia there is practically no further discord and bickering about the position and status of the Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We all agree about what isn’t good and what should be kept – that is Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina. Everyone who is our ally and like-minded in this matter is welcome here in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite the events of thirty years ago, this is something that Croatia must actively enable for you because it can”, the President of the Republic noted.
“Just as 28 years ago the instruments of politics were transport trucks, ammunition, radio stations and Croatian infantry and tank commanders, so today it is the European Union of which Croatia became a member, but not to beg for European funds. The EU and NATO are instruments that Croatia as a small but full-fledged member, a country of a unique history, a country that paid too high a price for its independence, even for American and western interests here – that that Croatia has instruments with which it can help itself, and by helping Croats in BiH it can help itself. Preserve your democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina, but you have to fight for it not with military resources, not with hate speech, not with exclusiveness, but with persistent repetition”, President Milanović stated in concluding his address in Kupres.
The 28th anniversary ceremony of the liberation of the liberation of Kupres was organized by the Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Homeland War associations of Kupres and the Municipality of Kupres. Speaking at the ceremony besides President Milanović were the Head of the Municipality of Kupres Zdravko Mioč, retired General Tihomir Blaškić and the war Defence Minister of Herceg-Bosna Vlado Šoljić.
The 28th anniversary ceremony of the liberation of Kupres began with a candle-lighting and wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial to the fallen Croatian defenders in the municipal park in Kupres. Attending the wreath-laying ceremony with President Milanović were the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić, the Special Adviser to the President for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković and the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina Ivan Sabolić, the Military Attaché of the Republic of Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina Davor Kralj and the Consul Second Class of the Consulate of the Republic of Croatia in Livno Zvonko Picukarić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan