Eurasia Press & News
ZAGREB
Croatia this Tuesday celebrates the anniversary of a military operation as Victory Day and Homeland Gratitude Day and Day of Croatian Defenders.
This despite the fact that the August, 1995 military attack, known as Operation Storm, on Serb areas of that country killed over 2,000 and drove more than 200,000 people from their homes.
It also comes although there are ongoing trials at the Hague Tribunal against three Croatian generals accused on joint criminal enterprise which had the goal of forcefully and permanently removing Serbs from the Krajina region.
Croatian officials wished a happy holiday to all citizens. The holiday is symbolically celebrated on August 5, which is when the Croatian military forces entered the town of Knin.
Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said that officials will be placing wreaths in honor of the defenders of Zagreb, and that there will be a large-scale gathering in Knin.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that Croatian citizens want to build a country of peace, equality for all citizens and to continue to fight for a country that “demands its place in the European family of democratic countries and people”.
Mesić recently stripped the generals who are on trial of their medals, but the declaration of the Croatian assembly from 2006 is still in power, which stated in contradiction to the Hague indictment, that Storm was implemented “with respect to all regulations of international war, humanitarian and civil rights”.
