ZAGREB/BELGRADE, 05. AUG. 2015 – Croatia staged a military parade to mark the 20th anniversary of its victory in Operation Storm, which defeated Serb rebels and when more than 2,000 Serbs were killed or went missing., while Serbia commemorated the dead and the refugees. More than 200,000 Croatian citizens ethnic Serbs were expelled from the country during the operation, BIRN and B92 reported. Half an hour before the start of the parade, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who is the commander-in-chief, drove passed the parked armored vehicles and greeted the citizens, who responded with ovations. She then gave the order to start the parade. The guests who gathered on the main stage in Vukovar Street in Zagreb were joined by former Hague war crimes indictee and former Croatian general Ante Gotovina, while another former general and indictee and one of the leaders of Croatia’s army during the war, Mladen Markac, took photographs with soldiers participating in the parade. “This is a march of peace, not war; a parade of dignity with which we have shown that we appreciate and love our own. We grieve for every defender [Croatian soldier in the 1990s war] who has been killed, disappeared or gave his health for his homeland,” said Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, who opened the parade. “We didn’t want this war, but we were forced into it and that’s the only truth. We defended ourselves and we’re moving on,” she added. Representatives of the US, China, Poland, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Macedonia were among the foreign officials who attended. Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said that Operation Storm was justified in order to keep Croatia “alive and complete”. “Croatia isn’t celebrating war today, it’s not celebrating anyone’s suffering or persecution… is Croatia celebrating freedom and peace; celebrating victory with a pure heart, a turning point that brought an end to an ugly, imposed and particularly mean war,” Milanovic said. Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladan Markac were acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia of committing war crimes against Serbs during the operation. Gotovina, who attended the parade, said that Operation Storm was “the beginning of peace”. “It solved the problem of the occupied territories, it defeated a force of aggression,” he said. While the anniversary was celebrated in Zagreb, Serbia held a commemoration event for more than 200,000 Serbs who fled Croatia because of Operation Storm, which Belgrade sees as large-scale ethnic cleansing. 3,000 members of Croatia’s army with 300 vehicles and 30 aircraft took part in the first military parade held in 18 years. Although Croatia invited all NATO members to take part in the parade, none did. Germany, the U.S., Slovenia, and Britain first announced their participation, but then canceled. The parade was attended by 42 foreign delegations that included ambassadors, military envoy and high ranking military officials. Due to disagreements among top Croatian officials on how to mark the day, Operation Storm is also celebrated in Knin. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska, led the ceremony on Tuesday evening at the Sremska Raca border crossing with Bosnia, where Serbs fleeing Operation Storm entered Serbia 20 years ago. In front of a crowd of several thousand people, the two leaders symbolically threw wreaths into the River Sava from the bridge that the refugees crossed as they escaped. Vucic said in a speech that it was “hard to find sadder day in recent Serbian history than this one”, and described the Croatian operation as “the biggest ethnic cleansing since World War II”. “Today we are sending a clear message to the world – that the crimes should be forgiven but not forgotten,” he said, insisting meanwhile that Serbia wants good relations with Croatia. Dodik praised Serbia for taking in huge numbers of refugees. “Serbia did everything it could to accept the expelled Serbs and it was a refuge for all of them… This bridge represented everything back in those days: freedom, truth, peace, a safe escape from death,” he said. Of the Serbs who fled, about 50,000 have since returned to their homes in Croatia. The Croatian authorities organized also a major celebration on Wednesday in Knin, a town which is one of the symbols of the 1990s war because it was the stronghold of the rebel Serbs until it was taken back at the start of Operation Storm. A museum dedicated to Operation Storm will be opened at Knin fortress, where Grabar Kitarovic will also unveil a statue of 1990s Croatian president and wartime nationalist leader Franjo Tudmjan. Wreaths will be laid at an event led by officials on the town square, then popular rightwing nationalist pro-nazi Croatian singer Marko Perkovic Thompson will headline a concert in the evening. Knin officials said they expected some 100,000 visitors to attend the celebration.
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