FM Pusic: Celebrating Victory Day is celebrating defeat of Milosevic policy

 "All innocent victims of the wars on the territory of former Yugoslavia, deserve condolences and respect. However, Milosevic's criminal policy, which instigated the war (in Croatia) was definitely defeated and brought to an end on 5 August 1995." Pusić said.

Pusic also underscores that Croatia does not celebrate the suffering of people, admitting that just as in the wake of every war, including the Croatian Homeland Defence War, there had been cases of suffering of innocent people.

The fact is that in the aftermath of the war which Slobodan Milosevic waged against Croatia, many Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered. Unfortunately, we must acknowledge that all wars cause casualties, Pusic said in her statement.

"And the (1991-1995) war was instigated by the then Serbia. It was the war that claimed tens of thousands of victims among the Croatians, the Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and members of other peoples, and eventually among the Serbs. Every lost life is tragedy, and Milosevic's instigation of those wars is crime."

Pusic finds it necessary to talk about crimes committed in the name of the Milosevic policy and not to incite intolerance among the peoples,

"We can today talk about large-scale Serb crimes committed against the Croatians and the Bosniaks, but we talk about crimes committed by the policy pursued by Slobodan Milosevic. For that purpose, our position is that we understand that the present-day policy should create space for freedom, opportunities and openness towards the future of the coming generations."

Pusic calls for respecting the fact that on 5 August 1995, Croatia was again unified after its parts had been occupied for several years.

On August 5, Croatia remembers Operation Storm, a combined military and police operation undertaken in 1995 to regain control of Serb-held areas of the country after five years of occupation. Within 84 hours, Croatian soldiers and police crushed the Serb rebellion and retook control of 10,500 square kilometres of land, or nearly a fifth of the country. The operation led to the end of the war and pave the way for the peaceful reintegration of the eastern Danube region three years later.

(Hina) ms

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