Gotovina and Markač in the committee for the organization of the 20th anniversary of "Storm"

The commemoration of the "Storm" is another point of contention between the prime minister and the president, that is, the SDP and the HDZ in the election year. Regular parliamentary elections should be held at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year
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Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markač, Photo: Beta/AP
Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markač, Photo: Beta/AP
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.
Ažurirano: 07.05.2015. 10:07h

The Government of Croatia should make a decision on the establishment of a state committee for the organization of the 20th anniversary of "Storm".

This was determined because there is no agreement on the place and manner of celebrating that Croatian military-police action.

In addition to representatives of the state and military leadership, the committee will, as proposed, include four retired generals, participants in "Storm" - Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markač, Petar Stipetić and Marijan Mareković.

The government and the president of the country do not agree on whether a military parade should be held in Zagreb along with the ceremony in Knin. The government announced the establishment of a state committee so that "The Storm" would be properly and dignified.

Although President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović was initially in favor of commemorating "The Storm" in Zagreb and Knin on August 5, she gave up supporting that idea. She said two days ago that the dispute over the way and place of the "Storm" celebration has become something that divides the nation, so she believes that the military parade in Zagreb should be abandoned and it should be organized next year on Armed Forces Day.

The intention of Prime Minister Zoran Milanović from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to mark the 20th anniversary of the Storm on August 5, first in Knin, and then in the evening in Zagreb, provoked sharp criticism from some veterans and the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), from which the current Croatian president comes. They believe that Knin should have an advantage over Zagreb when it comes to that date.

The commemoration of the "Storm" is another point of contention between the prime minister and the president, that is, the SDP and the HDZ in the election year. Regular parliamentary elections should be held at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year.

The Center for Peace Studies appealed today to the Prime Minister and the President to give up the military parade and thus send a strong message of commitment to peace in Croatia. "We believe that such commemoration of the military-police action, in which hundreds of people were killed - civilians, soldiers and policemen, is reckless because it removes primarily military elements from the memory of the war, and does not promote the efforts that we as a society make to make war never happen again don't do it again," the statement said.

It is emphasized that "instead of waving flags and lining up military units, it is necessary to shed light on the facts about the victims, the missing and the displaced in the 'Storm' and to prosecute the crimes committed against the civilian population".

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