Speech by the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović at a solemn reception for wartime commanders held on the occasion of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day, Day of Croatian Defenders and the 27^th Anniversary of the Military and Police Operation Storm

Ladies and gentlemen, Croatian commanders, dear guests,

After almost 30 years, our country is slowly coming to terms with its recent past. Major events, the liberation of Knin and the Croatian victory in the 1990s are one of the biggest events in Croatian history. In the moment when they unfold, many people are left confused – not indifferent – and things are interpreted in various ways.

In these less than 30 years, there were a lot of excuses, a lot of ‘buts’, a lot of ‘we didn’t know’, ‘we didn’t want to’, ‘we did it wrong’. Enough time has passed allowing us to say, with some distance which represents almost an entire or a significant part of a person’s working life, that there were very few bad things and very many good things, and enough magnificent things. Many of you, who are today in your senior years but are still going strong, participated in this.

This fellowship started exactly 10 years ago at the Knin Fortress, when in the spring of 2012 the then Minister of Defence, one of the commanders of the Croatian Army that was victorious here and entered Knin, Ante Kotromanović, said that it would be good to hold a gathering, a reception, after almost twenty years, for Operation Storm wartime commanders, which would be hosted by the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister. That was 10 years ago and I am glad to see that this tradition has firmly taken hold, and that in the coming years this one-of-a-kind generation of people and Croatian soldiers, warriors and heroes will remain a generation that will be remembered.

People die twice, the first time when they die, and the second time when they are forgotten. This generation, your generation of Croatian soldiers and commanders, will have the privilege of living longer than others. One of man’s greatest fears, if not his deepest and only fear, is the fear of impermanence. We should speak against oblivion and against the downplaying of what we achieved in the Homeland War, relying on facts. We will talk about that again in the coming days, as in previous years, and we should talk about that now and tomorrow at the commemoration and observance of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Defenders Day, and at the Sinjska Alka. For it is clear that this should be talked about.

From day one, Croatia was in a very difficult situation. I am not saying this for the sake of the audience present here, since everyone here knows this very well and was personally engaged. Some are not present here today, either they died in the war or after the war. Croatia was not given anything. This is what every people and the leadership of every nation likes to believe and say: ‘Nobody has given us anything’. From 1991 on, nobody has given Croatia anything and everything was paid for at double price with old greenback interest rates, and we are still recovering from that.

And we are not frustrated, dissatisfied or furious, and we truly don’t hate anyone. But we have to say and underscore some things: yes, our country was either on the verge of sanctions, or under embargo. The people who fought to liberate this area for months, since the battle of Knin was the pinnacle of a major and successful endeavour, these people had ammunition not for five months, but for a few days or two weeks and they had to be fast and efficient. Nobody openly supported them and nobody openly helped them. It was a very difficult and high goal for a small country, for Croatia.

Croatia feared sanctions, Croatia’s every move was looked at with scepticism and when I say this, I don’t think I sound like a frustrated President of a small frustrated country. Quite the contrary – I speak in a commonsensical way as a leader of a self-confident and finally historically defined country. Our path was a just and right one. The role of our army and our brothers from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was great. No one has even thanked us for that.

We were suspected all along of trying to partition Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is not true. The siege of Bihać would have never ended without the Croatian Army. Bosnian Serbs, who were the enemy in the war, would have never surrendered and been brought to the negotiating table in Dayton to accept what was already on paper if the Croatian Army had not defeated them in its last operation in October 1995, (without the engagement of) Croatian fighters from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on valid plans and agreements in line with international law and by persuasion and advocacy of the United States.

Almost 30 years later, we still have to explain ourselves and apologize, ‘we didn’t want to’, ‘we didn’t know’, ‘sorry if we stepped on something’ – no, gentlemen. Our path was a right one, it was civilized and, like in every war, it was bloody. And for that I thank you. I thank those who are here, those who are not here, I thank everyone who came. We must repeat this and constantly emphasize – while being open for discussion, for a second opinion – so that our children, our daughters and sons know that they are members of a civilized, modern European society that has paid very dearly for its path and everything it has acquired.

And that the state is not only about symbolism and deep emotion, but also an instrument for satisfying and fulfilling national interests – material, real, hard, solid, political interests in Croatia, yes, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And that is what the Croatian state is for. This time with calm, peaceful and entirely civilized means, but with the power of argumentation, will and clarity.

In 1995 Croatia did not have a choice. Croatia did not expel anyone, Croatia did not want that, I am fully confident that a vast majority of people did not want that, but it did not have any choice. Croatia was offered a peace agreement, a plan known as Z-4, which was unfavourable for it, much more unfavourable than the Minsk Agreement was for Ukraine. Croatia and the then leadership was willing to sign it, President Tuđman was ready to sign it to prevent bloodshed and death on both our and the opposing side.

Our adversary did not want it. And that is what our children must know and what must be repeated, not as a dogma, but as something that can be discussed and where a different opinion can also be heard. But 27 years later, as someone who has spent all those years as a mature person, I see no other truth. This is the only thing I see and I will continue to keep my eyes open and be open to a different opinion and to criticism, and to the other side. But this is how things stand, as far as we are concerned.

The poet says, Nek’ ne dođe nitko do prijatelj drag! [Let no one but a dear friend come!] I say, everyone is welcome in Croatia, everyone who is ready to live according to the civilized rules of the modern world. We have a modern army and the task of that army is, first, second and third, to protect the Croatian state, its integrity, independence and sovereignty. Three components make up the state – its territory, people, i.e. the population, its citizens, all those who currently live here, and ultimately its democratically elected government. That holy trinity is the duty of our army. All other partnerships, alliances and loyalties are not there to be swept under the rug, but they do not have equal bearing according to our Constitution, our history and basic instincts. These instincts, human instincts, have guided the bravest and the very few among us and among you – that small number of the right kind of people without whom this victory and today’s Croatia would not exist, which is good and strong, but can be better, stronger, more self-confident and, if needed, more brazen in defending its interests.

Long live our Homeland, Domovini vjerni! [Faithful to the Homeland!]