President Milanović Receives Representatives of Associations of Volunteers and Veterans of Croatian Defence Council of Brčko District

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović held talks today with representatives of associations of Croatian Homeland War Volunteers and Veterans of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) of Brčko District in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Attending the meeting were representatives of the Association of the Croatian Homeland War Volunteers and Veterans of the Croatian Defence Council of Brčko District, the Association of Families of Defenders, Killed and Missing in the Croatian Homeland War Ravne Brčko, and the Association of Croatian Disabled Veterans of the Croatian Homeland War “Udruga HVIDR-a Ravne Brčko” as well as the war commander of the 108^th Infantry Brigade of the Croatian Defence Council Ravne Brčko.

The war commander of the 108^th Infantry Brigade of the HVO Ravne Brčko Ivo Filipović recalled the war record of the brigade founded in March 1992 in Bosanski Brod. The official date of the founding of the unit is considered 11 May 1992 therefore they announced to the President that a ceremony to mark the founding will be held in May. Speaking about the role of the Brigade of three Croatian and three Bosniak battalions, they underlined that in dire conditions they defended some thirty villages with 20,000 residents, and thanks to the Brigade Serbian forces were prevented from conquering the entire Municipality of Brčko in the spring of 1992.

Though at first made up of Croats and Bosniaks, in early 1993 it was split into the 108^th HVO Infantry Brigade Brčko and the 215^th Motorized Brigade of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the brigade was split, the 108^th HVO Brigade was under constant pressure by the Bosniak political and military leadership to rename and be put under the control of the 2^nd Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nonetheless, they managed to not only keep the features, the flag and the dignity of the Croatian people, but to avoid a conflict between the Croats and the Bosniaks in the Municipality of Brčko until the end of the war.

Besides the war commander of the 108^th Infantry Brigade of the HVO Ravne Brčko, in attendance at the meeting were the president of the Association of Families of Defenders, Killed and Missing in the Croatian Homeland War Ravne Brčko Ivo Anđelović, the president of the Association of Croatian Disabled Veterans of the Croatian Homeland War “Udruga HVIDR-a Ravne Brčko”  Mirko Zečević-Tadić, the president of the Association of the Croatian Homeland War of the Croatian Defence Council of Brčko District Anto Jerković, and the recipient of the Order of the Croatian Interlace Mijo Josipović.

Alongside President Milanović was the Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek