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Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Victory and exile: Operation Oluja still dividing Croatia and Serbia, 30 years on
To Croatia and Serbia, Operation Oluja means very different things. For Croatians, it is a moment of victory and celebration. For Serbians, it brings memories of war crimes and forced displacement. In early August 1995, the Croatian army recatured the breakaway region of Krajina in just 84 hours. Most of the ethnic Serb population fled. To mark the 30th anniversary of the operation, authorities in the Croatian capital Zagreb held the largest military parade in the country's history. On Thursday, 3,500 soldiers, police and war veterans marched along Vukovar Avenue in the capital. They were marking the events of 4 to 7 August 1995, when Operation Oluja – Storm in Serbo-Croatian – crushed the self-declared Serbian Republic of Krajina and restored control over 14 percent of Croatia's territory. Tens of thousands of people watched the parade. They saw some of the army's newest equipment, including Turkish Bayraktar drones, German-made Leopard tanks and 12 second-hand French Rafale fighter jets. This was only the fourth military parade in Croatia since independence in 1991. 'Today, everyone will have seen the strength of the Croatian state,' Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on public TV. President Zoran Milanovic said once again that Operation Oluja was key to changing the course of the 1991–1995 war. 'Victory for Croatia' 'We are fully aware – and I want those who succeed us to be aware too – that this is a victory for Croatian soldiers, the Croatian people and the Croatian leaders of the time,' said Milanović, who is also head of the armed forces, before the parade began. More commemorations are planned for Monday 5 August – a key date in the operation and a national holiday in Croatia called Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day. But the war left deep scars. The Croatian Helsinki Committee said 677 civilians were killed during Operation Oluja and over 22,000 homes destroyed. Some Serbian sources say around 2,000 people died. The offensive forced almost the entire Serbian population of Krajina – about 200,000 people – to flee. The Republic of Krajina had been set up in late 1990 by Serb leaders who rejected Croatia's independence. Croatian airstrikes and artillery then hit convoys of tractors, buses and cars carrying people to safety in Serbia. It was not until 2020 – 25 years later – that Croatia officially expressed regret for the crimes committed against Serbs. Milanović said at the time, 'We celebrate victory; we hate no one.' Serbia denounces 'ethnic cleansing' Few Serbs have not returned to Krajina. Their families had lived there since the 1600s, when the Habsburg Empire gave them land in exchange for guarding the border with Ottoman-controlled Bosnia-Herzegovina. Today, there are just over 120,000 Serbs in Croatia – five times fewer than in 1991, just before the war. In Serbia, Operation Oluja is viewed as a large-scale act of ethnic cleansing. A memorial event is held each year on 3 August, the day before the 1995 offensive began. This year's ceremony was called 'Oluja is a pogrom, we will remember it forever'. It was attended by President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister Duro Macut and the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Porfirije. The Serbian government has also advised citizens not to travel through Croatia between 1 and 10 August. In both countries, commemorations are marked by nationalism. Each side blames the other and there has been little effort to reconcile. Attempts at dialogue have often been attacked. In 2020, Boris Milosevic – a Serb political leader in Croatia – joined official Croatian commemorations. Several ministers in Belgrade called it 'shameful' and 'humiliating for the entire Serbian nation'. But some Croatians are also questioning how the event is remembered. 'The Croatian government has decided to celebrate the end of the war by celebrating the war industry,' said the Centre for Peace Studies. 'Tanks do not feed people, weapons do not heal.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Heroes and villians: 30 years since the Croatian War of Independence
Once a year, on August 5, the small sleepy town of Knin in Northern Dalmatia becomes the heart of Croatia'spolitical life. The country's political and military elite gather under the flag on the castle ruins above the town, and there are patriotic speeches with pathos galore. It's the "Day of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving" and the "Day of Croatian Defenders," commemorating the military operation "Oluja" (Storm) carried out from August 4 to 7, 1995. The raising of the oversized flag above Knin Fortress remains to this day a symbol of Croatian troops victory over Serbia during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. At that time, the Croatian army and police units recaptured the entire Krajina region on the border with Bosnia in a large-scale offensive within 85 hours — thus capturing the largest part of the third of Croatia's territory that had been occupied by Serbs since 1991. Operation Storm also brought about a military turning point in the neighboring war in Bosnia and Herzegovina: In a coordinated action by Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian armies — with limited NATO air support — the long-standing Serbian siege of the western Bosnian city of Bihac was broken and all of Western Bosnia was recaptured. Shortly afterwards, Croatian-Bosnian forces also brought other parts of Bosnia under their control. Serbian-controlled territory shrank from 70% to 49% of the country, ultimately leading to the US-brokered Dayton Peace Agreement. Victims on both sides The wars in former Yugoslavia, which began in 1991 with Slovenia and Croatia's declarations of independence from Yugoslavia and the subsequent Ten-Day War in Slovenia, were provisionally ended. They didn't officially end until four years later, when NATO fought against Serbia in the Kosovo War, which eventually led to the establishment of an independent state of Kosovo. Operation Storm brought about a profound and lasting change for the country: during these 85 hours and immediately afterward, approximately 200,000 Serbs left the Krajina area heading towards Serbia. Many were forcibly expelled, but most fled in fear of revenge from advancing Croatian troops. In the preceding years, more than 170,000 Croats had been displaced from Serbian-dominated areas of Croatia, mainly at the beginning of the war. And hundreds of crimes were committed by Serbian troops against Croatian civilians. As it turned out, this fear was justified: According to the Croatian human rights NGO there was a lot of looting during Operation Storm. Many Serbian houses and even entire villages were destroyed and set on fire. More than 1,000 Serbian civilians who stayed behind were murdered. War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague Even though most of these crimes are well-documented, hardly anyone was prosecuted or convicted for them. Post-war Croatian judicial authorities showed little interest in investigating crimes committed by Croatian soldiers. And neither did the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague find those responsible. While Ante Gotovina, one of the Croatian commanders, and another Croatian army general were sentenced to long prison terms in 2011 over war crimes, both were acquitted in the second instance and released from custody. Even though many refugees have returned to Croatia since the war, Serbs now have only marginal significance in Croatian society. Croatia: A heroic victory Although three decades have passed since Oluja, the assessments of the Serbian and Croatian sides differ significantly. In Croatia, it is clearly viewed positively, seen as a legitimate, justified, and heroic military operation within the framework of a defensive war. For the 30th anniversary, a large military parade was held in the capital Zagreb on July 31, 2025. A long column displayed all the military equipment available to the Croatian army today. Many soldiers participated, and much technology was shown, with newly acquired French Rafale fighter jets flying over spectators. For the first time, soldiers from other NATO countries participated in such a display, as Croatia has been a member of the alliance since 2009. Two Leopard tanks were borrowed from Germany for the parade: while the Croatian army doesn't have them yet, they have been ordered. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic wrote on Facebook about the parade, "We celebrate our victories; we hate nobody. We are completely aware — and I want those who come after us to be aware too — that it was a victory of Croatian soldiers, the Croatian people, and Croatia's leadership at the time." Serbia: A pogrom On the Serbian side, Operation Storm is considered not only the most significant military defeat in the Yugoslav war, but also synonymous with the expulsion of Serbs and the war crimes and devastation they suffered. In this sense, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic repeated the old narrative during this year's commemoration ceremony, under the motto "Oluja is a pogrom — We remember forever," that Serbs have been suffering under enormous injustice from the international community for 30 years. "We will never again allow anyone to threaten the freedom of Serbs," Vucic said, adding that foreign countries are strengthening all states around Serbia and only weakening his country. Vucic also said that Serbia threatens no one, but will show everyone on September 20 "what kind of people's army we have created" and that Serbia is strong enough to defend itself. There will be a large military parade in Belgrade on this day. And once again, French Rafale fighter jets will fly over spectators at this display, just as they did in Zagreb. This article was originally published in German.
