{"id":40081,"date":"2025-10-04T15:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T13:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/?post_type=news&p=40081"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T13:17:30","slug":"president-milanovic-at-35th-anniversary-of-the-tigers-in-1991-europe-didnt-know-what-was-happening-to-it-and-doesnt-know-it-today-either","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.predsjednik.hr\/en\/news\/president-milanovic-at-35th-anniversary-of-the-tigers-in-1991-europe-didnt-know-what-was-happening-to-it-and-doesnt-know-it-today-either\/","title":{"rendered":"President Milanovi\u0107 at 35th anniversary of the Tigers: In 1991 Europe didn\u2019t know what was happening to it and doesn\u2019t know it today either"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhen it comes to the year 1991 and what you have experienced and accomplished, it is a unique success story that doesn\u2019t exist anywhere in Europe. It never happened that a small, yet an old European nation of constitutional law \u2013 the Croatian people and Croatian nation \u2013 is thrown into a situation having to defend itself, doesn\u2019t know what tomorrow brings and can\u2019t count on anybody\u2019s help\u201d, the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanovi\u0107 told the former members of Special Tasks Unit of the Ministry of the Interior \u2013 Rakitje at a ceremony held on the occasion of the 35th<\/sup> anniversary of the foundation of this Unit known as the Tigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main ceremony took place in front of the memorial home of the Tigers in Rakitje, and in his address, President Milanovi\u0107 said that \u201cin 1991, Rakitje enters a spiritual and mental map of the Croatian people as some kind of small Croatian Sparta\u201d. \u201cAnd those of you who started from here, you are Croatian Spartans. You won the war in conditions and circumstances that were impossible\u201d, the President pointed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou armed yourselves and they armed you as they knew how and could, as a rule illegally from the point of view of international law, but the only possible way from the point of view of the Croatian national interest and the question of survival\u201d, President Milanovi\u0107 noted. He added that Croatia as a society, national framework and as a territory has existed since 1945 and that it had everything except a democratic political system, army and diplomacy, \u201cand those two things \u2013 army and diplomacy \u2013 are like two hands, they complete the state\u201d. \u201cWithout an army, no one takes you seriously. Without diplomacy, no one will listen to you. Those two things needed to be built, an army and diplomacy, but an army is much more difficult to build so eternal glory and thanks to all who started from here\u201d, President Milanovi\u0107 stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying that in 1991, \u201cEurope didn\u2019t know what was happening to it, and doesn\u2019t know it today either\u201d, President Milanovi\u0107 recalled that \u201cthe Croatian political leadership was aware of where we were and who we were dealing with at the time.\u201d \u201cIt was aware that we were dealing with people outside Croatia who may not be malicious, but who did not understand much, and aware that we had to mind for ourselves, to define for ourselves what mattered to us. The same is true today,\u201d he indicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDisaster doesn\u2019t threaten us, it\u2019s not immediate, it\u2019s not straightforward, I don\u2019t see it, but times are murky and leaden. In my opinion, the leading positions in Europe are held by people having less capacity than those in 1991. And in 1991 they didn\u2019t understand very well what was going on and didn\u2019t have any understanding for us. I don\u2019t consider recognition to be understanding. That was our right, as is the right of other states, including Palestine, to be recognized. Not a reward, but a right, that is where it all begins,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 believes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think children should come here too, to learn how everything started from Rakitje when it comes to armed struggle and resistance. And we, as a political nation, within the framework of common sense, reason and unity, should be rational, but aware that this is our country. We are, first and foremost, the Croatian state, and everything else, all these alliances that we have advocated and fought for, worked for years, is all a nice frosting and superstructure. The facade will change, but the house remains. This Croatian house remains and you built it, registered it, founded it and put up its roof. Thank you and faithful to the homeland!\u201d, President Milanovi\u0107 concluded his address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the occasion of the 35th<\/sup> anniversary of the foundation of the Special Tasks Unit of the Ministry of the Interior \u2013 Rakitje, the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces bestows the Order of Nikola \u0160ubi\u0107 Zrinski for valour in the Homeland war on Marko Dogan\u010di\u0107. For special merit for the Republic of Croatia during the war, the Order of the Croatian Trefoil is bestowed on Ivan Bago, Ivan Bio\u010di\u0107 and Renato Angelo Jerkovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Special Tasks Unit of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia was founded on 5 November 1990 in Rakitje, near Zagreb, and was the core of the organization of the 1st<\/sup> A Brigade of the National Guards Corps, and subsequently of the 1st<\/sup> Tigers Guards Brigade. Approximately eighty students who attended \u201cThe First Croatian Police Officer\u2019s\u201d course (Prvi hrvatski redarstvenik) were among the first members of the Special Tasks Unit of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the formation of the 4th<\/sup> Company, the Unit had 450 members by mid-November 1990, and with the formation of the 5th<\/sup> Company in early 1991, it had 570 members. The Special Tasks Unit of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior took over the role of a transitional training centre and operated together with the Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Ministry of the Interior in Lu\u010dko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first intervention of the Rakitje Special Tasks Unit was in Pakrac at the end of December 1990, and by the beginning of January 1991, it was deployed to defensive positions in the Zagreb area. In early March 1991, an operation followed in Pakrac, where, together with ATJ Lu\u010dko, members of the Unit from Rakitje established public order and peace, followed by successful operations in Kutina, Novska and Jasenovac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Plitvice operation, known as \u201cBloody Easter\u201d, on 31 March 1991, Josip Jovi\u0107, a member of the Rakitje Unit, was killed, becoming the first Croatian defender to die in the Homeland War. In addition to their first experiences on the battlefield, members of the Rakitje Special Tasks Unit of the Interior Ministry provided support in the organization of other Interior Ministry units and the formation of the National Guards Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside President Milanovi\u0107 was the Adviser to the President for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Marekovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n \n <\/a>\n \n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia \/ Filip Glas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen it comes to the year 1991 and what you have experienced and accomplished, it is a unique success story that doesn\u2019t exist anywhere in Europe. 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