ZAGREB, November 18, 2019 - On the eve of Vukovar Memorial Day and the 28th anniversary of the Škabrnja massacre, candles were lit and prayers were said throughout Croatia to commemorate the victims of the 1991-95 Homeland War and the defeat of Vukovar's defence forces on November 18, 1991.

Candles were traditionally lit along Zagreb's Vukovarska Street and numerous citizens gathered in front of a monument to Croatia's first president Franjo Tuđman, where Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, too, lit a candle for the Vukovar victims.

The commemoration in front of the monument to Tudjman was also attended by Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić and representatives of associations of the Homeland War defenders and victims.

On the eve of the 28th anniversary of the Vukovar tragedy, a prayer was said outside the Vukovar General Hospital and candles were lit at a monument dedicated to the victims of the 1991 aggression, with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović attending the event.

Participating in the prayer were also Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić-Radman, War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, State Assets Minister Mario Banožić, Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava, Vukovar County head Božo Galić, hospital staff and numerous residents of Vukovar.

They were joined by pilgrims who were arriving in the city to attend the central commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the city's plight in the Homeland War and Vukovar Memorial Day.

Candles were lit for the victims of Vukovar also in Split, Osijek and Varaždin.

On the eve of the 28th anniversary of the Škabrnja massacre, when enemy and Serb rebel forces seized that village in the Zadar hinterland, killing dozens of villagers and defenders and setting houses on fire, local residents lit candles and organised a concert of sacred music to commemorate the victims.

Candles were also lit in a number of Croat communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with several thousand people heading off to Vukovar to attend commemorative events on Monday.

More Vukovar news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, November 8, 2019 - Croatia on Friday protested to Serbian authorities over a monument commemorating a Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) general who led the attack on Vukovar in 1991 and called on Belgrade to stop glorifying war crimes.

The memorial plaque to Mladen Bratić, commander of JNA and Serbian para-miltiary forces during the attack on Vukovar, was unveiled in a Serbian army complex in the northern city of Novi Sad on Friday.

Bratić was killed on 2 November 1991 at Borovo Naselje, a suburb of the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar which was occupied by Serbian forces on 18 November after killing over 2,000 people there.

In a diplomatic note presented to the Serbian Embassy in Zagreb, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs condemned this act and called on Serbian authorities to stop playing down and glorifying war crimes.

"Serbia is once again called upon to focus on the process of facing its own past and its role in the war it initiated in the 1990s," the Croatian ministry said. Such decisions and moves by Serbian authorities go against Croatia's efforts to build good neighbourly relations, it added.

Following criticism of Serbia's plan to unveil a memorial plaque for Yugoslav Army Major General Mladen Bratić, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić on Friday in Geneva said that Croatia has streets named after Mile Budak, a writer who served as a minister in the NDH governments.

The unveiling of a memorial plaque in the Serbian army complex in Novi Sad to Bratić has come across criticism in Croatia but also in civil society activists in Serbia. The plaque has been described as "unacceptable and incomprehensible," and "mocking the victims of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide committed in the 1990s."

"Reporters from Serbia asked me how it can be that Croatian reporters can ask that of me when there are streets named after Mile Budak in Croatia," Vučić said. Budak was a minister in the Nazi-style Ustasha regime in Croatia from 1941 to 1945 and he is also known for his literary work.

Croatia's Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced that Croatia would send Serbia a protest note regarding the plaque honouring Bratić.

Earlier in the day Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman condemned Serbia's actions.

"Unveiling a memorial plaque to a war criminal, certainly doesn't contribute to stabilisation and good-neighbourly relations. That direction in Serbia's foreign policy is unacceptable and incomprehensible," Grlić Radman told reporters in Rijeka.

A coalition of non-government organisations in Vojvodina known as Civic Vojvodina described the unveiling of the plaque as "a mockery of the victims of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide in the 1990s." the "021.rs" web portal reported on Thursday.

Civic Vojvodina condemned the planned unveiling, saying in a press release that Bratić "commanded the attacks on and destruction of Vukovar, which was one of the most shameful military operations in the history of modern warfare, leaving an indelible stain on (northern Serbian province of) Vojvodina's capital."

More news about relations between Croatia and Serbia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 9, 2019 - There are 438,000 people in Croatia with war veterans' status, War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said at a round table debate on veterans' pensions, saying that defenders were a foundation of society and not a burden and that they did not pose a threat to the pension system.

Medved said the round table would focus on the existing legal framework regulating pensions granted under special regulations, including veterans' pensions.

"We will pay special attention to the structure of the war veteran population, the number of pension beneficiaries, their age and their years of service," he said.

Ministry data that were presented at the round table show that in September 2019, 508,605 people - living, killed, missing and deceased - had the status of war veteran.

Of that number, 438,262 were living.

The number of veterans - pensioners, with their pensions being divided in nine categories, stood at 151,892 and their average pension amounted to 4,200 kuna (approx. 570 euro).

The highest veterans' pension, in the amount of 7,000 kuna (946 euro), was received by families of fallen defenders, and the number of beneficiaries in that category was the highest.

Disabled war veterans received an average pension of 5,700 kuna (770 euro).

The number of employed war veterans stood at 190,408 and there were also 6,954 veterans who both worked and received a pension. The number of veterans who were not employed and did not receive a pension stood at 74,627.

The average number of years of service in the war veteran population was 28, while the average number of years of service of disabled veterans was 20.

The average number of years of service of other pension recipients in the country is 30 years, it was said at the round table.

"I expect this round table to send a strong, well-argued message to the public that Croatian defenders-pensioners do not pose any threat to the pension system," said the minister.

More news about veterans can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 7, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković laid a wreath on the memorial plaque on the government building commemorating a Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) air raid on the building 28 years ago.

Plenković said that the attack marked a turning point in the process of Croatia's gaining independence from Yugoslavia. "Fortunately, the state leadership survived the attack, which was followed by the key and definitive decision at a secret session of Parliament to sever all constitutional and legal ties with the structures of the former state," he said.

"This day is also important in terms of respect for the Homeland War, Croatian defenders, the first president Tuđman, the clearly expressed will of the Croatian people in the independence referendum, the eventual international recognition and the fact that Croatia became an international entity," the prime minister told reporters.

More news about the Homeland War can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 25, 2019 - A round table was held in the Croatian Parliament on Wednesday to mark 70 years since the adoption of the Geneva conventions relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts, highlighting the importance of protecting and respecting international humanitarian law and the role of national parliaments in their promotion.

The chair of the Committee on International Cooperation, Romana Jerković, warned that violations of international humanitarian law continued to present a major problem in the world and that it was necessary to raise awareness of this matter.

Lawmakers should ensure respect for international humanitarian law in cooperation with civil society organisations, media and other stakeholders, Jerković said, recalling that Croatia had experienced serious violations of international humanitarian law during its 1991-1995 Homeland War.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Željko Reiner said that Serbian forces had repeatedly violated international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions during the Homeland War, especially in the case of the Vukovar hospital which was shelled despite a Red Cross sign on its roof. This also happened with other Croatian hospitals, including those in Gospić and Vinkovci, he added.

Reiner also drew attention to the issue of missing persons from the war, saying that Croatia had managed to resolve about 82 percent of such cases, but that 1,892 people remained unaccounted for.

The chairman of the Executive Board of the Croatian Red Cross, Robert Markt, said that international humanitarian law was a civilizational achievement that should be preserved. He stressed the importance of providing assistance and protection to persons whose lives were at risk from armed conflict.

More news about Homeland War can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 18, 2019 - A meeting with 30 representatives of missing persons family associations from Croatia was organised in Zagreb on Tuesday by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) with the participation of representatives of the Croatian Veterans Ministry's Directorate for Detained and Missing Defenders.

This was the second in a series of meetings with families of the missing, organised to share information about the missing persons process on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, the ICMP said in a press release, adding that the first meeting was held with families from Bosnia and Herzegovina in January 2019.

The meetings are part of a two-year project supported by the UK government and being implemented by ICMP to renew the effort to account for 12,000 people who are still missing throughout the region, the press release said, adding that countries in the region have undertaken to work together as the regional Missing Persons Group, maintaining a process that has already made it possible to account for more than 70 percent of the missing.

Information on new initiatives and implemented activities to strengthen regional cooperation was presented at the meeting.

Families were informed about the Database of Active Missing Persons Cases from the Armed Conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia, the enactment of the Law on Persons Missing from the Homeland War, efforts undertaken to identify unidentified remains, and other activities in accounting for missing persons.

Croatian War Veterans Ministry representatives said lack of information on concealed mass and individual graves was the key obstacle to greater efficiency in the process.

Participants highlighted the need to involve families more widely in discussions on the issue of missing persons at the international level.

Families also appealed to institutions and individuals in the region to provide information on the location of mass and individual graves in order to help address this painful issue, the ICMP said.

More news about the Homeland War can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 30, 2019 - International Day of the Disappeared, observed on August 30, was marked by wreath-laying ceremonies at the town cemetery in Vinkovci on Friday, and on that occasion War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved said that Croatia was still searching for 1,892 people who had gone missing in the 1991-1995 war.

Medved reiterated that the government was committed to shedding light on the destinies of people who had been unaccounted-for since the war.

"This is the humanitarian issue of top priority," he underscored during the commemorations in the eastern town of Vinkovci. The minister criticised Serbia for its failure to cooperate in providing documents and information about primary and secondary graves of war victims.

Medved said that in the last three years, 108 people had been identified in Croatia and trial excavations were conducted on a daily basis.

The commemorations were organised today by associations of families of defenders and soldiers who were killed during the 1991-1995 war of independence, under the auspices of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and the ministry of war veterans' affairs.

More info about the Homeland War can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 25, 2019 - Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Ministry says that the statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić that the armed rebellion of local Serbs against Croatia's authorities in the early 1990s aimed at undermining the Constitutional and legal order was justified is absolutely unacceptable.

The ministry calls on Serbia to abandon the rhetoric that is detrimental to the bilateral relations as well as to stop manipulating the facts and start enhancing the status of the ethnic Croat minority.

Ministry warns about Serbia's attempts to downplay its responsibility for aggression against Croatia

"The Republic of Croatia refutes any attempt of downplaying Serbia's responsibility for causing the armed conflict and aggression against Croatia's state territory, which were the results of the Great Serbia policy of Slobodan Milošević," the ministry underscores in a press release it issued on Sunday.

Zagreb recalls that many relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly, verdicts of the Hague-based UN-tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as well as the judgement of the International Court of Justice in the case of Croatia's genocide lawsuit against Serbia and Serbia's counter-suit, clearly speak about Serbia's responsibility for these developments in the 1990s.

Furthermore, these continuous attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of a neighbouring country is something that makes a distinction between the policies led by Serbia and Croatia.

"Contrary to such Serbian attempts, Croatia is interested in the stability of its neighbourhood and is open to transfer its own experiences to its neighbouring countries during their journey to the European Union."

"We do not allow the disrespect for the fact that Croatia is a sovereign and independent country, created following the democratically expressed will of its people (to have its state) and defended during the imposed war," the ministry says reiterating Zagreb's commitment to developing harmonious good-neighbourly relations with all neighbours.

Croatia provides its minorities with the highest level of protection of their rights and is building a tolerant and inclusive society based on the rule of law and trust among citizens.

"Croatia calls on Serbia to enhance the status of the Croat national minority in the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the obligations it has assumed, instead of manipulating the facts, and to abandon the rhetoric aimed at reviving the defeated projects detrimental to the relations between the two neighbouring countries."

Following the recent incidents in two cafes near Knin in which guests were assaulted while watching a TV broadcast of the Belgrade-based Zrvena Zvezda's football match, Vučić told Serbian media on Saturday that "it is understandable" that 30 years ago the largest part of local Serbs launched a rebellion against Croatia's authorities.

Vučić described those incidents as "awful" and promised Serbia's help to its people in Croatia.

The 21 August assault against guests in a cafe in the village of Uzdolje near Knin is qualified by the Šibenik county law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities as an act of causing riot, the Šibenik police said on Saturday. The perpetrators, who are facing criminal charges for their riotous behaviour, have not yet been identified. The offence carries a prison sentence from six months to five years. As far as a similar incident in the Đevirske village is concerned, misdemeanour charges have been filed against five people and one person is charged with a criminal offence.

More news about relations between Croatia and Serbia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 6, 2019 - A dozen activists of several nongovernmental organisations on Monday afternoon held a protest rally in Zagreb's main square to express their sympathy with the victims of the combined military and police operation Storm in August 1995 when Croatia liberated areas in northern Dalmatia, Lika, Banovina and Kordun that had been controlled by Croatian Serb rebels for four years.

"We want to warn that the victory that is being celebrated in recent days is not indisputable and is not so magnificent. It was stained by crimes that have not yet been prosecuted," said activist Bojana Genov of the Women's Network Croatia.

We call for the prosecution of crimes and for defusing war rhetoric, and now when a quarter of a century passed since the war, the time has come to bring the relations back to normal and to develop peace-mongering rhetoric, Genov said.

She also said that during the Operation Storm ethnic cleansing had been conducted and that the future would be burdened unless war crimes were prosecuted.

Activist Nela Pamuković accused the Croatian leadership of hypocritical rhetoric.

"We insist that the government does not invest funds in the military industry and militarism but it should invest funds into the safety and security of all its citizens, into healthcare and other measures," Pamuković said.

Some of the passers-by made insulting comments about the protesters who carried a huge banner with the message "Crimes in Storm are the responsibility of all of us!", however no major incident happened.

More news about Operation Storm can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 5, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said at a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of Operation Storm in Knin on Monday that the 1995 operation was the moment that changed Croatia's history, telling citizens to awaken the self-confidence that helped them overcome the obstacles at the time and to look at the future with optimism.

"Under the leadership of the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman we liberated one-fifth of the then occupied areas and showed the world that the Croatian people decides about its fate on its own. The Croatian flag at the Knin Fortress told the world boldly that the cradle of the Croatian state... the ancient town of Knin... will forever stay Croatian. And it also (told the world) that the strength of the newly built Croatian army had made it possible to finally complete the historic act of creation of an independent and sovereign Croatian state," Plenković said at the event marking Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and Croatian Veterans Day.

He said that Operation Storm was the decisive endeavour that secured the survival of the Croatian state and its territorial integrity, a legitimate response to the occupying forces and the final battle that dealt a fatal blow to Great Serbian claims to Croatian territory.

Recalling that Croatia was remembering with pride all Croatian soldiers killed in the war, Plenković told their families that state institutions were working tirelessly to shed light on all war crimes and locate all the missing persons.

Plenković noted that Croatia's coming presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2020 would be dedicated to Croatian defenders.

He said that Croatia was oriented towards the future and towards building a more just and more solidarity-based society.

"We want a prosperous, demographically vital and poverty-free country, we are working to strengthen the rule of law because we want a more equitable Croatia, free of corruption and unlawfulness, based on its tradition and identity, and with the political will and strength to include all its minorities and ensure respect for their rights," said the PM.

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said in her address at the Knin commemoration that Croatian politicians had the duty to make Croatia a prosperous, free country.

Quoting General Ante Gotovina's statement in which he said that the war was over and that Croatians should turn to the future, Grabar-Kitarović said that the future was primarily the responsibility of politicians but also of all citizens.

"The defenders gave their lives and health so that we could live... in our own, free and democratic country. We were given the responsibility to make Croatia a country where work is valued, where every citizen's dignity is beyond dispute, where Croatian identity and tradition are developed in freedom that fosters initiative, learning and creation and not destructiveness. That is our responsibility and my message today," said the president.

Addressing the commemoration, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said that on the 24th anniversary of Operation Storm Croatians celebrated "their historic achievement with a feeling of unity, pride and joy."

"... today we celebrate the joint act of liberation of Croatian territory occupied by the Serb aggressor and the entire Homeland War," Jandroković said, adding that Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day was also an opportunity to remember the Croatian people's aspirations for independence that had lasted for centuries.

Expressing gratitude to Croatian defenders for self-sacrifice in the defence of their people, Jandroković said that the values for which they had fought should be passed onto young generations.

Croatia's future is up to its people and Croatians must be aware of that, said Jandroković.

"Our homeland must be a country that protects its identity, tradition and values on which it was founded, which respects its saints and heroes and objectively evaluates its history, and which rejects the legacy of totalitarian regimes that oppressed it and made it retrograde," Jandroković said, calling for "stronger engagement in the accomplishment of the set goals and for the creation of positive trends and a positive atmosphere in the country."

More news about Operation Storm anniversary can be found in the Politics section.