President Milanović in Nuštar: Croatia was defended thanks to the Odysseuses of our history such as Andrija Andabak
The President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović attended a formal session in Nuštar today on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the tragic death of Lieutenant colonel Andrija Andabak. On that occasion, he presented the Order of Nikola Šubić Zrinski for heroic deed in the Homeland War posthumously to the widow of Lieutenant colonel Andrija Andabak.
Expressing his satisfaction that the memory of Lieutenant colonel Andrija Andabak is kept alive so that this courageous and important man is not forgotten, President Milanović noted in his address that his memory is likely more alive today than it was twenty years ago. ”I must regretfully say that my sons don’t know who Andabak was. Neither do the sons or daughters of my friends. We have to work on this because we failed to do something out of fear or shame – actually, I don’t know why”, the President added.
President Milanović told Mrs. Andabak that she can be proud of her husband whose life ended tragically in Bosanska Posavina. “You can be proud of what he was doing there because he didn’t go there to kill, plunder or conquer foreign territories, but he was part of a great story of soldiers who were very few. He was the Odysseus of the Croatian Army, that shrewd guy at the same time esteemed and hated by the adversary. Likable, witty, intelligent, uncatchable like an enigmatic smile”, President Milanović said about Lieutenant Colonel Andabak.
Furthermore, the President underlined that Lieutenant Colonel Andabak defended Croatia and Croatianhood. “He didn’t go to seize or occupy foreign lands, he didn’t go to dismember human beings – he went to defend a people that couldn’t be defended any other way. He went to a state, a neighbouring and a respected state. Half of our people in these regions are originally from those areas. That’s another state and he was there for honest and justified activities with the support of the entire Croatian state authorities at that time, people who later argued and went their separate ways, but who worked as one because if they hadn’t, Croatia would literally be dismembered”, he stated.
President Milanović went on to say that today, thirty years later, we still have to explain and justify to others that “we didn’t go there to steal, plunder or seize, but simply to defend human lives and property”. In concluding, President Milanović underlined that today we know what is ours, that Croatia is an open country that welcomes all those of good faith who respect our laws, but that it is “the Croatia that was defended thanks to the Odysseuses of Croatian history such as Andrija Andabak”.
Prior to the commemoration of the tragic death of Andrija Andabak in Nuštar, the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the fall and banishment of the local population of Ćelije, paid tribute to the victims at a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial to the 33 executed civilians and defenders.
Alongside President Milanović was the Special Adviser for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas