President Milanović at swearing-in ceremony in Požega: The person who desecrated the monument to the fallen Vukovar defenders in BiH did a horrible thing
The President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran MIlanović attended a swearing-in ceremony of the 36th generation of soldiers enrolled in voluntary military training in the 123rd Croatian Army Brigade Barracks in Požega.
Eighty-four soldiers enrolled in voluntary military training including 72 men and 12 women swore an oath. President Milanović congratulated them on their oath and told them: “Congratulations on your choice at times that are different from those of a year or two ago. A dangerous and difficult war is raging and normally people are discouraged, and now it is heating up. Not the war, but the will of our people to receive voluntary training and maybe choose this as a profession. This is one of the most difficult professions, the most challenging, sometimes even uncertain, but a great profession”.
President Milanović underlined that in just a few sentences the soldiers swore an oath to the most important fundamental values of our constitutional order: “the Constitution, law, territorial integrity, freedom. That’s that. That’s what is defended here in Croatia, first and foremost in Croatia, but in a few days or weeks a contingent of our soldiers will once again go to Poland and Lithuania in these complex and uncertain times”, President Milanović stated. He underlined that that’s Croatia’s loyalty to the Allies. “But first and foremost our duty and the duty of the Croatian Army and our Armed Forces is the defence of Croatia, its borders, its population and its constitutional order, democracy, freedom, but also the western world to which we belong”, the President noted.
He recalled that thirty years ago and more Croatia was defended and later liberated by a small number of brave people who must not be forgotten. “That is our debt of honour. Their monuments are located through all of Croatia and in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina – not to be forgotten. Because a nation that forgets loses its identity, loses its meaning. One such monument was desecrated yesterday or the day before on the outskirts of Kupres, a monument to the defenders of Vukovar who survived the siege of Vukovar and months later came to help defend Kupres where they were killed. That monument was desecrated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the person responsible for that did a horrible thing. But Croatia will care for those things as well and will make every effort for such things not to be forgotten. For the culprits to be found and punished”, President Milanović concluded his address.
Attending the swearing-in ceremony of the 36th generation of soldiers enrolled in voluntary military training were the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces Admiral Robert Hranj, Commander of the Croatian Army Lieutenant General Boris Šerić, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence and delegate of the Defence Minister Branko Hrg, the Commander of the Fran Krsto Frankopan Training and Doctrine Command Brigadier General Željko Ljubas, the Commander of the Infantry and Armour Training Centre Colonel Milan Čorak, Commander of the “123rd Croatian Army Brigade“ Požega Colonel Mile Valentić and the Commander of the Croatian Defence Academy’s NCO School Colonel Ivica Pejaković.
Alongside the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces were the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić and the Head of the Military office of the Cabinet for Defence and National Security of the Office of the President Rear Admiral Predrag Stipanović.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta