CROATIA-OPERATION STORM/PARADE Croatia marks 20th anniversary of 1995 military offensive with parade

Record ID: 145071

  • Title: CROATIA-OPERATION STORM/PARADE Croatia marks 20th anniversary of 1995 military offensive with parade
  • Date: 4th August 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Croatian) RESIDENT OF ZAGREB, JURAJ IVANKOVIC, SAYING: "I think we all showed a nice sense of unity, as always at occasions like these." VARIOUS OF ARMOURED VEHICLES AND TANKS (SOUNDBITE) (Croatian) WAR VETERAN, STJEPAN KOVACIC, SAYING: "There is no hatred towards anyone here, we are victors after all, and that's something we should be proud of. And I thank al
  • Embargoed: 19th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Croatia
  • Country: Croatia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABBL9184KDQXQL1EQ2SR04DCDS
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands of Croatians lined the streets of capital Zagreb on Tuesday (August 4) to watch a military parade celebrating the 20th anniversary of Operation Storm, a four-day military offensive which ended the 1991-95 war in Croatia.
    The event, which featured some 3,000 soldiers and 300 vehicles, was presided over by the President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and was also attended by highest state officials.
    Although anniversaries are usually marked by celebrations in Knin, this year the holiday was celebrated by a large scale military parade in Zagreb, to the delight of many Croatians.
    "I think we all showed a nice sense of unity, as always at occasions like these," said Juraj Ivankovic, a resident of Zagreb.
    "There is no hatred towards anyone here, we are victors after all, and that's something we should be proud of. And I thank all the people here, Zagreb, entire Croatia... Magnificent," said Stjepan Kovacic, a veteran of the 1991-95 war.
    In August 1995, Croatia's army launched a pre-dawn offensive on the self-proclaimed Krajina republic, a territory bordering Bosnia and Herzegovina held by ethnic Serb rebels since 1991, when they opposed Zagreb's drive for independence from Yugoslavia.
    In less than four days Croatian army retook the whole territory, effectively ending the war and causing some 200,000 Krajina Serbs to flee to neighbouring Bosnia and Serbia.
    The capture of the rebel stronghold of Knin on August 5 was the highlight of the operation and was later declared a national holiday in Croatia.
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