President Milanović: Croatian Army’s Tradition Dates Back to its Foundation 29 Years Ago
On the occasion of Croatian Armed Forces Day and Croatian Army Day, the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran MIlanović hosted a formal reception at which he extended congratulations to all the members of the Croatian army.
In addressing the guests the President of the Republic said that we have to first of all remember all those who laid down their lives for our country. “That is the highest price someone can pay, we have to be forever grateful to those people, and eternal glory to them”, he stated. “This is not just a formality, this is not just lip service, this is reality. Some familiar faces here I have known for decades as a young man, as a diplomat. However, without the Croatian diplomacy, the Croatian State would exist, yet without the Croatian army, it would not. People were not killed in diplomacy or wounded in offices, but people were killed in the army”, President Milanović noted, recalling the time 29 years ago when the modern Croatian army was created.
“Croatia was attacked, butchered and finally thanks to the Croatian army and the special police, the armed forces of the modern, young Croatian State, won. Twenty-nine years in the life of a young nation with deep roots is already a bit of a tradition. The Croatian army is not just an institution, but is already part of Croatian tradition. A tradition should not be invented, we have both the ancient and the new one, and we can be not only proud of it, but also content with what we have done, though never fully. The Croatian army is here first and foremost to defend Croatia, the Croatian people and territory, and Croatian interests in the way set out by the democratic Croatian authorities, elected democratically, and as the citizens of this country decide,” President Milanović stated.
“We often say that the Croatian army shares the fate of other beneficiaries of the national budget. However, as a nation we are not a community of budget beneficiaries or a community of orderly taxpayers, but we are a nation, which is something deeper, broader and greater. The Croatian army, its people and modern equipment have to be party to what most of our people are going through, and this is also an issue of priorities. Some starved their people in order to feed their armies, to be ready for war and maintain power. This is out of the question today, but the difference between that and neglect is huge. In order to be loyal to the assertion that the greatest value of the Croatian army is its people, we have to make sure that the equipment is good so that their lives and their health are preserved”, the President of the Republic stressed.
“The Croatian army does not start from scratch, its tradition should not be sought in royal guards from 150 years ago that suppressed the Croatian identity, or in armies from World War I or even less from World War II because that divides the Croatian people and there will never be agreement on that issue. Our statehood, as far as the army is concerned, begins when you were founded. Once again, I wish you a happy Croatian Army Day and Croatian Armed Forces Day. Long live Croatia!”, the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces said in concluding his address.
