Media reports claim that Minister Krstičević copied parts of his dissertation without giving references to sources.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Damir Krstičević held a press conference on Monday after Index.hr published reports that he had copied some parts in his final dissertation at the United States Army War College without giving references to sources, reports N1 on November 28, 2017.
Minister Krstičević rejected the allegations and stated that “hybrid actions” were being conducted against him. “We saw at the beginning of my term, we had an attempt to launch hybrid actions against me and my activities, and now they have started again. In the beginning, there were first claims I had committed war crimes; that my brigade killed children and civilians in a bus, and you know that it was not true. They said I could not visit Bosnia and Herzegovina, but I went there,” started Krstičević with his defence.
“My team and I are obviously a problem for someone because we want to have the strong Croatian army,” Krstičević continued, claiming that his thesis, whose parts were published by Index.hr, was just a seminar assignment. “This was a review I did for a seminar. I wanted to introduce other students to the war in Croatia,” said Krstičević. “I have invested heavily in my education, and I am very proud of it, and I know that at the US War College I did my best to be one of the best students.”
“This was not the final dissertation, nor was it a graduate thesis. It was just an informative paper with the aim of giving a review of the situation at that moment regarding the war in Croatia and the arrival of peacekeeping forces in Croatia, as part of the seminar on peacekeeping operations Issues,” the Minister said, repeating several times that it was a seminar. “This work is not at the level that I would have to quote each individual source, but I did eventually list the literature that I used in the seminar.”
Krstičević attended the United States Army War College military school in 1997 and 1998.
He explained that he had acquired his academic degree before leaving for the United States. “You have my academic report in English, on three sides, signed by the commander. You can read what kind of student I was and how I represented the victorious army. You can see that my result was brilliant,” Krstičević said. “I can be proud of my achievements,” he concluded, adding that he was one of 40 international students among 270 students in total.
Translated from N1.
