The Great Military - Police Operation Storm (Oluja) began on August 4, 1995. In three days Croatian army has liberated the fifth of the occupied territory of the Republic of Croatia under the control of rebel Serbs. With the Operation Flah (Bljesak), it is a key action that led to the end of the Homeland War.
This is the reason why we celebrate the Day of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving as the Day of Croatian Defenders on August 5th.
Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić in his congratulations told that we remind ourselves that we owe, above all, our freedom, and independence to our defenders and their victims.
On the other hand, Andrija Mikulić, the Zagreb City Hall president, says that it is a day that will be remembered as a day of great pride.
And while Croats celebrate, Serbia is mourning victims that were either killed or expelled from their homes.
Different perceptions of Operation Strom have long been a bitterly divisive factor in relations between Croatia and Serbia.
Zagreb views Storm as a military triumph that liberated its territory from Serb aggression - the crowning victory of what Croatia calls its ‘Homeland War’ for independence from 1991-95. But for Serbs, Operation Storm was the biggest ethnic cleansing since World War II.
Most of the crimes done during Civil War in Croatia went unpunished. Who is guilty? No one probably knows but the soldiers who participated. And victims who are still missing.
In school I have learned that the Serbs attacked my country, and we fought and returned abducted areas.
But for me, guilty are always politicians, and the innocent people who suffer are ordinary people - my friends Croats and/or Serbs.
I upvoted this post but Ilived 2 kilometers far from the battlefield 4 years and I simply can't agree with some facts that you have written. And it is pointless to have these parades in Zagreb because other cities suffered real devastation and again, "Zagreb" views storm..."
I agree...
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Very good post