President Milanović: There are too many weapons among people, which should be exclusively in the hands of the military and police
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended today a special session of the Pula City Council on the occasion of Liberation Day, which is also observed as City of Pula Day.
In his address, President Milanović spoke about the tragedies that took place in recent days in Serbia due to the availability of firearms. “Such terrible things happen because there are too many weapons among people. Any amount of weapons among people is too much, in fact. Weapons are for killing, for war and they should be, as much as possible, exclusively in the hands of the military and the police. Everything else is an exception, which should confirm that rule,” President Milanović said, emphasizing that gun control in Croatia is at a proper level.
“Weapons should be in the hands of those who know how to use them. They are not for ordinary people,” said President Milanović, adding that the tragic events in Serbia require us to seriously deal with the problem of weapons among people.
The President then spoke about the liberation of Pula, which celebrates this date, the 5th of May, as City of Pula Day. “Why do weapons still have great significance in terms of our event today? Pula was liberated on this day in 1945. It was liberated with weapons. It was liberated, but what freedom is to us was for some others a departure, an exodus, a total defeat,” the President said, adding that the Croats were a minority in the city of Pula and the largest number of those who left Pula were not ethnic Croats.
“For a while, Pula was an empty city. Istria was not. The Istrian countryside was predominantly Croatian. However, Istria would never be free and we would never celebrate Istria in this way and be proud of it – because it is orderly, organized, tolerant and bilingual – if there were no weapons. Without Croatian weapons, without Partisan weapons, it would never be,” President Milanović pointed out, explaining that we should not be ashamed of that and we should teach our children about it because it is an important part of our history, which we must take pride in.
“A history that is proudly worn on the chest, a history whose honourable and deep part was carried over into the 1990s and all the good, honest and brave things done by the Croatian Army, and the late admiral of the Yugoslav People’s Army, who was unfortunately an exception to the rule. I am glad you haven’t forgotten this and that you are doing this today. That man deserved it. If there were more such people, today we would talk less about weapons,” President Milanović said in reference to the posthumously decorated Rear Admiral Vladimir Barović, upon whom the “Honorary Citizen of the City of Pula” charter was bestowed.
President Milanović went on to say that Pula is progressing thanks to the work and efforts of a generation of political leaders and public figures, cultural and educational workers, and urban planners. “Pula took a long time to recover. Today, that recovery can be seen. It took a long time for the city of Pula to raise to a visible level everything that was neglected for decades,” he said.
Concluding his address, President Milanović reiterated that weapons must be in the hands of those who know how to use them. “As the authorities and those who, out of necessity, but also in accordance with their heart and conviction, liberated this city 78 years ago know, to the pride of this city. Today, this city combines all the best that Istria and I would say the Croatian people have ever had – love of freedom, honesty and patriotism – the three things that are key,” President Milanović concluded.
Speaking at the special session apart from President Milanović were the President of the Pula City Council Marija Marković-Nikolovski, Mayor of Pula Filip Zoričić, Istria County Prefect Boris Miletić and the State Secretary in the Central State Office for Public Procurement and delegate of the Croatian Prime Minister Ivan Bubić. Annual awards were also presented at the ceremony to the most deserving individuals and associations for their contribution to the city’s development.
President Milanović was accompanied in Pula by the Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Dario Andrišek