Croatia celebrates Operation Storm anniversary

Message to kralj peter, the reason why Serbs celebrate their defeat at Kosovo is that Serbs did not sell their souls to Islam. That is more important than winning. Furthermore, Serbs did not sell their souls to the Nazis, like your fellow Croats did! Do you remember that kralj peter? Do you remember how your Croatian brothers and sisters threw flowers at Nazi troops when they entered Zagreb? When the Nazis entered Belgrade, the Serbs fired bullets, not red roses like your fellow Croats did. The sad part is that instead of being apologetic for joining the Nazis, Croatia is the only country in the world that still celebrates its Nazi past. Yes, Serbs have been losers in many battles and a few recent wars, but Serbs never sold their souls to Islam or to the Nazis.

«Operation Storm involved more than 200,000 soldiers on both sides and lasted only 84 hours, according to official records. 174 Croatian soldiers died, while 1,430 were wounded. »

Serb authorities says that 2500 Serbs died during the Oluja Operation; they don't mention the number of soldiers. Personally, I don't think that 2500 civilians were killed. Possible a few hundreds. This is simply Serbia propaganda at its best!

As for Croatia, I honestly think that the Croats have all the rights to celebrate this victory against their aggressor: Serbia. The Serbs have committed the worst crime in Croatia and unfortunately they focused on the Krajina and what happened during Storm Operation.

The ICTY are investigating Gotivina and other generals for thir absence of discipline and control during this major operation, and they will certainly be sentenced if the Tribunal finds them guilty. I hope Croatia will put on trial the soldiers who have killed helpless civilians, in order that justice is made for those who suffered. I also hope that Serbia brings to justice all the soldiers, policemen, paramilitaries, and members of local militias for the countless atrocities they have perpetrated during the war in Bosnia and Croatia.

Yes, what a GREAT VICTORY it was! A professional army, supplied and trained by the US/Germany against a militia of common citizens/farmers. Great job of ethnic cleansing Croatia (largest cleansing from 90's Balkan wars)! You can add that to your long list of crimes against humanity including Genocide of Serbs, Jews, Roma, and the Cleansing of Italians from Istria, how proud you must feel!!!

kralj peter,
They celebrate defeat because of something you could not comprihend and that something is what makes Serbs stand out as truelly brave peoples.

As far as Victories are concerned the operation storm was a military campaign aimed at removing the civilians not the military since the entire region was demilitarised at the time and all links with Belgrade had been severed by NATO.

If there was no organised evacuation all of the people living there would have been slaughtered by the croats just as the old people who stayed were.

There cannot be any EU integration for a country which celebrates ethnic cleansing and hatred of Serbs along with their fascist routes.
I wonder what Europe would say if Serbs started celebrating Srbrenica on a yearly basis, yet they turn a blind eye to operation storm where many more people (not just men) were cleansed.

Serb protestations about Operation Storm (Oluja) are falling on deaf ears in the international press. Radio Free Europe is one of the few international online media outlets I have seen that has carried statements by Serbia's Tadic and Kostunica about the anniversary of the 1995 Croatian military operation.

It seems only the Serbian press has provided extensive coverage of what Serbian politicians have had to say, and the Croatian press is the only outlet that has covered the reactions of Croatian politicians.

My interpretation is that the world doesn't care.

The world does not care because it knows that Croatia has fulfilled its obligation to the ICTY, and has and continues to prosecute Croatian citizens suspected of war crimes, and that Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina have not. It has been 12 years since the ICTY indictments have been issued against Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, and both are still at large. Perhaps that’s the real anniversary that should be maligned, not Operation Storm.

The world doesn't care about what the Serbs say anymore because it knows that from 1991-1995, prior to the Storm operation, ethnic Serbs in Croatia, with hefty assistance from both paramilitary units from Serbia proper and the Milosevic-controlled Yugoslav Army (JNA), killed at least 10,000 Croatians and forcibly displaced, “ethnically cleansed,” some 220,000 Croats from about one-third of Croatian territory.

The world is fatigued from Serb cries of victimization because unlike the poorly armed Croats defending the Croatian city of Vukovar, which fell after a three-month siege in 1992 and resulted in thousands of Croatian refugees leaving the city on foot with only the clothes on their backs, the much better armed Serbs in “Krajina” chose to retreat within three days. The Serb population was evacuated in cars, trucks and on tractors filled with fuel and possessions—evidence that the evacuation was planned ahead of time.

The world no longer is concerned about Serb protestations because it knows that thousands of Croatian Serbs suspected of committing major war crimes against Croats from 1991-1995 on Croatian territory have left with the Serb evacuees in 1995 and most probably have escaped prosecution, and justice, forever.

Many of the Serbs from “Krajina” will not return to Croatia because they know that if they do, Croatian authorities will arrest and prosecute them because Croatia is obligated to do so under its international obligations. One important reason, that has not been well publicized, for a refugee return rate that is slower than what the international community would like to see is this fear of prosecution.

The latest headlines from the Associates Press about Serbia are not about Operation Storm. They are:
“Serbian Gypsies claim asylum in Romania” - Aug 1, 11:33 AM EDT
“Battle over gaunt Lipizzaner horses” - Aug 2, 10:57 AM EDT

The message is: “The World Doesn’t Care”

The hidden message is: “Serbia and Serbians, get your act together, face reality and your own culpability.”

Croatia celebrates a VICTORY,happened 12 years ago.Serbs keeps on celebrating DEFEEAT from turkish empire more than 600 years ago.Serbs are the ONLY nacionality in all over the world,celebrating Defeeates,not Victories!!!It's strange,isn't it?I expect them to start celebrating the latest defeeat from NATO.

In October 1991, the largest Lipizzaner horse-farm in Croatia, situated near the town of Lipik, was bombed by Serbia with napalm bombs. Out of 117 horses 27 of them were killed, and more than 80 taken away to Serbia, where they are also today.
If nothing else, this is a disgusting. A spokesman for Croatia's agriculture ministry said that Serbia was due to return the stolen horses to Croatia, "like it returned everything that was looted and stolen from Croatia during the war". But Serbia insists that the horses cannot leave until Croatia settles its ransom. The owner of the farm wants €300,000 (?200,000) in ransom for the cost of looking after the stolen horses but Croatia has refused to pay ransom. Serbs & Croats help the horses.

It is not celebrating defeat, but history. That outnumbered we stood up until we died and never gave in. Something you guys don't understand because back 600 years ago America and NATO couldn't come to our defense. Also, Croatia has no history so what else are you going to celebrate? 12 years is when Croats sort of popped on the map.

It is beyond my comprehension how this post, written by kralj peter, serves any positive purpose.
It is comments like this (if I can even understand the spelling) that shows just how nasty some of the people are who post on this site. By your own words, you are not interested in living a peaceful and prosperous life but rather perpetuating hundreds of years of hatred and ill will.
Why should the world keep spending time and money to help the people of the Balkans when they refuse to build bridges between themselves?

Slobodan Milosevic told the "Serbs" in Croatia to leave before the Croatian army advanced towards Knin! This is what Milan Babic said! Dr.Franjo Tudjman told the Serbs (on radio announcements) to stay in Croatia! So it is correct to accuse Slobodan in ethnic cleansing and not Dr.Tudjman or the Croatian authorities1

Denis says “Plus why are you bringung up nazism anyways. That generation of croatian died. Just to let you know. World war 2 was in the 40's.”
Just on July 2, 2007 "at a rock concert in Zagreb, Croatia, this weekend, a young generation of concert-goers displayed a disturbing nostalgia for fascism. Thousands of fans responded to rock star Marko Perkovic by giving the Nazi salute and shouting slogans from WWII. Some fans were wearing black caps from Croatia’s Nazi-affiliated Ustache government, which was responsible for sending thousands to the concentration camps."
You are not telling the truth Denis.

Way to go Croatia celebrate victories unlike some others that tend to celebrate defeats only through out history.

I think that petbunari wrote a great analysis. You cant just concentrate on Oluja and not events leading up to it and ignore thousands of croatians that were killed or removed from Krajina and East Slavonia prior to that. Bill Clinton wrote in his biography that one of the reason they supported croats was because Bosnian serb army was closing in on Bihac and the hundreds of thousands of people there. Serbia needed to feel defeat so it can be brought onto negotiating table. And Oluja did all that. In essence it lead to peace.

And you cant ignore the fact that evacuation of Krajina was ordered by Martic and Babic (they testified to this, documents exist). And as an act of bravery by serb military, instead of being the last ones to leave Krajina, they were the first. Shows how much Milosevic cared about serbs in Krajina.

But I do agree with petbunari, the world does not care about Oluja or Battle of Kosovo or anything else really. There have been many bigger and more significant battles than these with bigger casualties and bigger effects on the world like Battle of Waterloo and Battle of Mohacs.

As soon as I saw this headline I knew the fascists would be out in strength commenting. And sure enough when I clicked onto the comments page it reads like the readers comments page of the Gestapo Gazette.

You do realise that the vast majority of the EU is liberal lefty don't you? If you are invited to join us in the EU you will be massively censured unless you significantly change your ways. I can feel another letter coming on to my local MP and my MEP.

Ahmet
Just like u celebrate ur independence day? :)

Serbia should reserve the right to Operation Storm KLA terrorists in Kosovo in case of any actions to destroy our state.

Apparently years of Marxist education in Yugoslavia has taught nothing to those on this discussion! The discussion degenerates into nationalistic rhetoric, when in reality, the workers in both Croatia and Serbia have been sold a bill of goods by their nationalistic, new capitalistic leaders. The workers of Croatia and Serbia will unite just fine when the can learn who their true enemies are. Nazi collaboration was an issue for both Serbs and Croats, as was participation in Partisan activities!

This things are taking place in Balkan area only.I bet,no one resident from EU (west)can understand this kind of comments,even though they know english language!!!Countries like Romania,Hungary etc.used to fight harder against turks,they didn't sell the spirit to them.Anyway,as far as I know,there is no sutch a celebration there,comparing to Serbia!!!

I saw a comment that said serbia never sold themselves out to islam or Nazis. And thatcroatia threw roses to nazi troops. ummm by the way Croatia wanted to become a republic more then serbia. They wanted to be indepeneded. Serbia on the other hand wanted to stay communist. Whats more nazi then being a communist???

PLus why are you bringung up nazism anyways. That generation of croatian died. Just to let you know. World war 2 was in the 40's.

"celebrating victories"

oh, does victory mean killing innocent civilians in Croatian?

Omg who ever wrote this article is croatia hater! He is basically saying that anyone attending is a bad guy. Thats like saying USA killed a bunch of Vietnamese people in asia. And look at them now celebrating and honoring their soldiers that died. Thats not a bad thing, its called being patriotic, and loving your country. Its obviously something u the writer of this article that doesnt understand.

«...a young generation of concert-goers displayed a disturbing nostalgia for fascism.»

As you know, even in Germany, the Cradle of Nazism, there are many of the 'young generation' who vows a great admiration to the late Fugrer. The same in Austria and other countries. There are even Neo-Nazis in the USA.

Many of this 'young generation' don't even know how the Nazis, the fascists, the SS were and they should be sent to Boot Camps where the philosophy of the SS would be applied. Let me tell you that after a few weeks of this regime they would crawl on their knees begging PARDON!!

People here commented that Serbs “didn’t dell their souls to Islam or Nazism”. But they sold their soul TO SATAN by murdering and raping thousands of innocent people in the Balkan Wars.

Or do you think Orthodoxy gives you a free pass to do everything against people who don’t share your faith?

And Serbia is selling its soul to THE DEVIL again, allying itself with RUSSIA and CHINA, two of the most repressive and dictatorial countries in this world.

Stalin murdered over 20 million people in the old Soviet Union and Mao Tse Tung murdered over 60 million in the Cultural Revolution of the 1950's and '60's and Josip Tito(who was probably a Russian or Polish agent not a Slovenian or Croat) murdered over 1 1/2 million in the old Yugoslavia! How can God keep these monsters from walking the earth?

Croatia celebrates a VICTORY,happened 12 years ago.Serbs keeps on celebrating DEFEEAT from turkish empire more than 600 years ago.Serbs are the ONLY nacionality in all over the world,celebrating Defeeates,not Victories!!!It's strange,isn't it?I expect them to start celebrating the latest defeeat from NATO.

Way to go Croatia celebrate victories unlike some others that tend to celebrate defeats only through out history.

«Operation Storm involved more than 200,000 soldiers on both sides and lasted only 84 hours, according to official records. 174 Croatian soldiers died, while 1,430 were wounded. »

Serb authorities says that 2500 Serbs died during the Oluja Operation; they don't mention the number of soldiers. Personally, I don't think that 2500 civilians were killed. Possible a few hundreds. This is simply Serbia propaganda at its best!

As for Croatia, I honestly think that the Croats have all the rights to celebrate this victory against their aggressor: Serbia. The Serbs have committed the worst crime in Croatia and unfortunately they focused on the Krajina and what happened during Storm Operation.

The ICTY are investigating Gotivina and other generals for thir absence of discipline and control during this major operation, and they will certainly be sentenced if the Tribunal finds them guilty. I hope Croatia will put on trial the soldiers who have killed helpless civilians, in order that justice is made for those who suffered. I also hope that Serbia brings to justice all the soldiers, policemen, paramilitaries, and members of local militias for the countless atrocities they have perpetrated during the war in Bosnia and Croatia.

Message to kralj peter, the reason why Serbs celebrate their defeat at Kosovo is that Serbs did not sell their souls to Islam. That is more important than winning. Furthermore, Serbs did not sell their souls to the Nazis, like your fellow Croats did! Do you remember that kralj peter? Do you remember how your Croatian brothers and sisters threw flowers at Nazi troops when they entered Zagreb? When the Nazis entered Belgrade, the Serbs fired bullets, not red roses like your fellow Croats did. The sad part is that instead of being apologetic for joining the Nazis, Croatia is the only country in the world that still celebrates its Nazi past. Yes, Serbs have been losers in many battles and a few recent wars, but Serbs never sold their souls to Islam or to the Nazis.

Yes, what a GREAT VICTORY it was! A professional army, supplied and trained by the US/Germany against a militia of common citizens/farmers. Great job of ethnic cleansing Croatia (largest cleansing from 90's Balkan wars)! You can add that to your long list of crimes against humanity including Genocide of Serbs, Jews, Roma, and the Cleansing of Italians from Istria, how proud you must feel!!!

In October 1991, the largest Lipizzaner horse-farm in Croatia, situated near the town of Lipik, was bombed by Serbia with napalm bombs. Out of 117 horses 27 of them were killed, and more than 80 taken away to Serbia, where they are also today.
If nothing else, this is a disgusting. A spokesman for Croatia's agriculture ministry said that Serbia was due to return the stolen horses to Croatia, "like it returned everything that was looted and stolen from Croatia during the war". But Serbia insists that the horses cannot leave until Croatia settles its ransom. The owner of the farm wants €300,000 (?200,000) in ransom for the cost of looking after the stolen horses but Croatia has refused to pay ransom. Serbs & Croats help the horses.

As soon as I saw this headline I knew the fascists would be out in strength commenting. And sure enough when I clicked onto the comments page it reads like the readers comments page of the Gestapo Gazette.

You do realise that the vast majority of the EU is liberal lefty don't you? If you are invited to join us in the EU you will be massively censured unless you significantly change your ways. I can feel another letter coming on to my local MP and my MEP.

Slobodan Milosevic told the "Serbs" in Croatia to leave before the Croatian army advanced towards Knin! This is what Milan Babic said! Dr.Franjo Tudjman told the Serbs (on radio announcements) to stay in Croatia! So it is correct to accuse Slobodan in ethnic cleansing and not Dr.Tudjman or the Croatian authorities1

I saw a comment that said serbia never sold themselves out to islam or Nazis. And thatcroatia threw roses to nazi troops. ummm by the way Croatia wanted to become a republic more then serbia. They wanted to be indepeneded. Serbia on the other hand wanted to stay communist. Whats more nazi then being a communist???

PLus why are you bringung up nazism anyways. That generation of croatian died. Just to let you know. World war 2 was in the 40's.

It is beyond my comprehension how this post, written by kralj peter, serves any positive purpose.
It is comments like this (if I can even understand the spelling) that shows just how nasty some of the people are who post on this site. By your own words, you are not interested in living a peaceful and prosperous life but rather perpetuating hundreds of years of hatred and ill will.
Why should the world keep spending time and money to help the people of the Balkans when they refuse to build bridges between themselves?

kralj peter,
They celebrate defeat because of something you could not comprihend and that something is what makes Serbs stand out as truelly brave peoples.

As far as Victories are concerned the operation storm was a military campaign aimed at removing the civilians not the military since the entire region was demilitarised at the time and all links with Belgrade had been severed by NATO.

If there was no organised evacuation all of the people living there would have been slaughtered by the croats just as the old people who stayed were.

There cannot be any EU integration for a country which celebrates ethnic cleansing and hatred of Serbs along with their fascist routes.
I wonder what Europe would say if Serbs started celebrating Srbrenica on a yearly basis, yet they turn a blind eye to operation storm where many more people (not just men) were cleansed.

It is not celebrating defeat, but history. That outnumbered we stood up until we died and never gave in. Something you guys don't understand because back 600 years ago America and NATO couldn't come to our defense. Also, Croatia has no history so what else are you going to celebrate? 12 years is when Croats sort of popped on the map.

Serb protestations about Operation Storm (Oluja) are falling on deaf ears in the international press. Radio Free Europe is one of the few international online media outlets I have seen that has carried statements by Serbia's Tadic and Kostunica about the anniversary of the 1995 Croatian military operation.

It seems only the Serbian press has provided extensive coverage of what Serbian politicians have had to say, and the Croatian press is the only outlet that has covered the reactions of Croatian politicians.

My interpretation is that the world doesn't care.

The world does not care because it knows that Croatia has fulfilled its obligation to the ICTY, and has and continues to prosecute Croatian citizens suspected of war crimes, and that Serbia and the Bosnian Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina have not. It has been 12 years since the ICTY indictments have been issued against Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, and both are still at large. Perhaps that’s the real anniversary that should be maligned, not Operation Storm.

The world doesn't care about what the Serbs say anymore because it knows that from 1991-1995, prior to the Storm operation, ethnic Serbs in Croatia, with hefty assistance from both paramilitary units from Serbia proper and the Milosevic-controlled Yugoslav Army (JNA), killed at least 10,000 Croatians and forcibly displaced, “ethnically cleansed,” some 220,000 Croats from about one-third of Croatian territory.

The world is fatigued from Serb cries of victimization because unlike the poorly armed Croats defending the Croatian city of Vukovar, which fell after a three-month siege in 1992 and resulted in thousands of Croatian refugees leaving the city on foot with only the clothes on their backs, the much better armed Serbs in “Krajina” chose to retreat within three days. The Serb population was evacuated in cars, trucks and on tractors filled with fuel and possessions—evidence that the evacuation was planned ahead of time.

The world no longer is concerned about Serb protestations because it knows that thousands of Croatian Serbs suspected of committing major war crimes against Croats from 1991-1995 on Croatian territory have left with the Serb evacuees in 1995 and most probably have escaped prosecution, and justice, forever.

Many of the Serbs from “Krajina” will not return to Croatia because they know that if they do, Croatian authorities will arrest and prosecute them because Croatia is obligated to do so under its international obligations. One important reason, that has not been well publicized, for a refugee return rate that is slower than what the international community would like to see is this fear of prosecution.

The latest headlines from the Associates Press about Serbia are not about Operation Storm. They are:
“Serbian Gypsies claim asylum in Romania” - Aug 1, 11:33 AM EDT
“Battle over gaunt Lipizzaner horses” - Aug 2, 10:57 AM EDT

The message is: “The World Doesn’t Care”

The hidden message is: “Serbia and Serbians, get your act together, face reality and your own culpability.”

Serbia should reserve the right to Operation Storm KLA terrorists in Kosovo in case of any actions to destroy our state.

Omg who ever wrote this article is croatia hater! He is basically saying that anyone attending is a bad guy. Thats like saying USA killed a bunch of Vietnamese people in asia. And look at them now celebrating and honoring their soldiers that died. Thats not a bad thing, its called being patriotic, and loving your country. Its obviously something u the writer of this article that doesnt understand.

Ahmet
Just like u celebrate ur independence day? :)

This things are taking place in Balkan area only.I bet,no one resident from EU (west)can understand this kind of comments,even though they know english language!!!Countries like Romania,Hungary etc.used to fight harder against turks,they didn't sell the spirit to them.Anyway,as far as I know,there is no sutch a celebration there,comparing to Serbia!!!

"celebrating victories"

oh, does victory mean killing innocent civilians in Croatian?

Apparently years of Marxist education in Yugoslavia has taught nothing to those on this discussion! The discussion degenerates into nationalistic rhetoric, when in reality, the workers in both Croatia and Serbia have been sold a bill of goods by their nationalistic, new capitalistic leaders. The workers of Croatia and Serbia will unite just fine when the can learn who their true enemies are. Nazi collaboration was an issue for both Serbs and Croats, as was participation in Partisan activities!

I think that petbunari wrote a great analysis. You cant just concentrate on Oluja and not events leading up to it and ignore thousands of croatians that were killed or removed from Krajina and East Slavonia prior to that. Bill Clinton wrote in his biography that one of the reason they supported croats was because Bosnian serb army was closing in on Bihac and the hundreds of thousands of people there. Serbia needed to feel defeat so it can be brought onto negotiating table. And Oluja did all that. In essence it lead to peace.

And you cant ignore the fact that evacuation of Krajina was ordered by Martic and Babic (they testified to this, documents exist). And as an act of bravery by serb military, instead of being the last ones to leave Krajina, they were the first. Shows how much Milosevic cared about serbs in Krajina.

But I do agree with petbunari, the world does not care about Oluja or Battle of Kosovo or anything else really. There have been many bigger and more significant battles than these with bigger casualties and bigger effects on the world like Battle of Waterloo and Battle of Mohacs.

Denis says “Plus why are you bringung up nazism anyways. That generation of croatian died. Just to let you know. World war 2 was in the 40's.”
Just on July 2, 2007 "at a rock concert in Zagreb, Croatia, this weekend, a young generation of concert-goers displayed a disturbing nostalgia for fascism. Thousands of fans responded to rock star Marko Perkovic by giving the Nazi salute and shouting slogans from WWII. Some fans were wearing black caps from Croatia’s Nazi-affiliated Ustache government, which was responsible for sending thousands to the concentration camps."
You are not telling the truth Denis.

«...a young generation of concert-goers displayed a disturbing nostalgia for fascism.»

As you know, even in Germany, the Cradle of Nazism, there are many of the 'young generation' who vows a great admiration to the late Fugrer. The same in Austria and other countries. There are even Neo-Nazis in the USA.

Many of this 'young generation' don't even know how the Nazis, the fascists, the SS were and they should be sent to Boot Camps where the philosophy of the SS would be applied. Let me tell you that after a few weeks of this regime they would crawl on their knees begging PARDON!!

People here commented that Serbs “didn’t dell their souls to Islam or Nazism”. But they sold their soul TO SATAN by murdering and raping thousands of innocent people in the Balkan Wars.

Or do you think Orthodoxy gives you a free pass to do everything against people who don’t share your faith?

And Serbia is selling its soul to THE DEVIL again, allying itself with RUSSIA and CHINA, two of the most repressive and dictatorial countries in this world.

Stalin murdered over 20 million people in the old Soviet Union and Mao Tse Tung murdered over 60 million in the Cultural Revolution of the 1950's and '60's and Josip Tito(who was probably a Russian or Polish agent not a Slovenian or Croat) murdered over 1 1/2 million in the old Yugoslavia! How can God keep these monsters from walking the earth?