Croatian President Zoran Milanovic addressed the attendees at the commemoration of the liberation of Kupres, where he spoke about the days of aggression in BiH and the current political situation.
“Let’s never forget that here was the beginning of the end of the aggression on BiH. This was the beginning of the famous Storm and the operations that followed, in which until the very end, almost until the middle of October of 1995 the Army of the then Republic of BiH took part. God only knows what happened to that alliance and friendship, as if it never existed, but it should. Thanks to the actions of the Croatian Guard Brigades and other participants, this area was liberated and we forced the then-enemy to sit down at the negotiating table. Every war must end in victory. All these operations made it possible for the war to end. For Banja Luka to be realistically threatened and for the Croatian ground army to force the enemy to surrender, not the NATO bombers. This was our war, we were one. The pawn always wins the war. If it wasn’t for them, there would be neither Croatia nor the Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Milanovic said in his address to those present.
Milanovic then called the Dayton Peace Agreement “an international agreement on the sharing of influence.”
“A thing or two about that. This agreement is the basis of your freedom and good feeling of life in BiH, which I always emphasize – a friendly and a second country, but a country where Croats live, whose numbers are getting smaller and smaller and whose political rights are being trampled on. This has not changed in these (latest) elections either. The principle of injustice and dishonesty remained, that someone else chooses my President. That has to change. You will need Croatia’s help with that. In Croatia, we all agree on what should be preserved in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are off to a good start. Energy will be converted into a unit of power. The EU and NATO are instruments with which we can help ourselves and the Croats in BiH,” the president of Croatia said.
In addition to numerous guests, convicted war criminal Tihomir Blaškić also spoke at the ceremony in Kupres.
Operation Cincar, which liberated the territory of Kupres, was the first joint, albeit completely separate, operation by the forces of the ARBiH and the Croat Defence Council (HVO). Later, other territories were liberated in joint operations and after the great military successes of the HVO and ARBIH, a peace agreement was signed in Dayton.