President Milanović: Thinking with your own head and for yourself is Croatia’s greatest asset today
“In the world we live in today, which does not look good and which many of you did not hope for, we do not think exclusively, we do not think categorically and without the desire to talk, but we think our own heads and for ourselves. “This is our greatest asset in these times, which have just begun. Because the experience of the people of Bogdanovci, and in many other communities in Croatia, is an experience that you live with for the rest of your life, and no other country in Europe has such experience in difficult times and from difficult times,” the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces, Zoran Milanović, stated in Bogdanovci, where he participated in marking Vukovar Croatian Defenders Day and the 35th anniversary of the formation of unarmed units.
In his address, President Milanović reminded that in 1991 a different life was lived in Europe, which was “full of expectations and hope that were not destined here“. “Here one fought for one’s own piece of land, for life, for survival. And not one European state, not one other people has the experience that a generation of Croatian people has, is still alive and is here. It’s not that we asked for it, it just happened that way and we, and above all you who were directly involved, knew how to deal with it”, President Milanović noted.
“Let that experience, that intelligence and that courage be precisely the pledge of intelligence, common sense and determination that we need today as a nation, as an old historical people. We are an old European people and the foundations of our state law and our history are very deep. We value others, we do not underestimate them, but we are aware of who we are, what we are, what is behind us. We know this and we have made it aware, this knowledge and energy keep us in constant progress and a fight for a better life for all people in Croatia,” the President stated.
Furthermore, he pointed out that in March 1991 in Bogdanovci, even before the formation of the National Guard Corps, “unarmed people gathered in an act of great personal courage and in an act of defiance and resistance to someone who was stronger at that moment because they had picked up the weapons and all the force that we paid for together”. “Those who were here 35 years ago may have been alone, but they were not lonely. They were people who knew what they wanted and what price they might pay for it”, President Milanović said, congratulating the Croatian defenders on their Day and the 35th anniversary of the formation of unarmed units.
“I want all of us to be loyal to the homeland and to know how much it means to us. To be divided in small things – because a life without dialogue and without disputes is not possible – but in key issues to try to achieve dialogue and if possible to think alike, to always remember that this is the only thing that is crucial to us”, President Milanović said in concluding his address.
The marking of Vukovar Croatian Defenders Day and the 35th anniversary of the formation of unarmed units began at the Homeland War Victims Memorial Cemetery in Vukovar at a wreath-laying ceremony paying tribute to the fallen defenders at the Central Memorial. Laying wreaths in addition to the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces were members of the families of the fallen, missing and dead Croatian defenders and civilians from the Homeland War, Croatian defenders of the Homeland War, delegations of the Croatian Parliament and Government, Vukovar-Srijem County, the City of Vukovar and the Municipality of Bogdanovci.
After Vukovar the programme continued in Bogdanovci, where wreaths were also laid at the Memorial, and speeches followed. Also speaking besides President Milanović were the delegate of the Prime Minister the State secretary of the Central State Office for Croats Abroad Zvonko Milas, and the delegate of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament the Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Ivan Penava, and the Mayor of the City of Vukovar Marijan Pavliček and the Head of the Municipality of Bogdanovci Marko Barun.
Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Filip Glas