Milanović at the unveiling of the monument to Bosniaks in Croatia: The Army of BiH was an allied and friendly army

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, on Tuesday, after marking the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Homeland War from the Majur area, attended the unveiling of the Golubica monument, erected in memory of Bosniaks from Bosnia and Herzegovina executed in 1992 during the Greater Serbian aggression against Croatia at the Vasića Bare location.

In his address, Milanović recalled that the fallen young men were members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he said was an allied and friendly army at the time, reported the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia.

“They were breaking through from the occupied territory, fighting for their lives. They were brave and desperate at the same time, mostly armed, and they entered into conflict with the occupiers and terrorists from this area. Dozens of them eventually broke through towards Sunja and were accepted by the Croatian Army and Croatian authorities,” said Milanović, adding that the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina thanked Croatia for this.

Milanović described the manner in which these young men were killed, at the site where the Golubica monument was erected, as brutal. “Some of the men, some of our allies from the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, died fighting, some were captured and liquidated. That is what is terrible about this whole story,” said the Croatian president, emphasizing that those times are now behind us and that he wished we could understand each other better today as people, neighbors, and nations.

“If we had understanding for the problems, fears, frustrations, expectations of each other, regardless of faith, regardless of which nation we belong to, as people and as neighbors. Because, people who lived in this area remember such times. And we have gathered here to remember much worse times, evil and leaden times that loomed over us then.”

The Croatian president expressed hope and a wish that this would never happen again and said that the perpetrators of these crimes should be sought.

“In the hope and wish that this will never happen again, but also that it will not be forgotten, I express my deep condolences and respect to the boys, young men who had enough courage, blood, heart, and desire to break through, to survive. The perpetrators of these crimes should be sought,” Milanović emphasized.

Besides him, at the monument commemorating the execution of four Bosniaks from the village of Čarakovo near Prijedor, addresses were given by the mayor of Majur municipality, Klementina Karanović, the prefect of Sisak-Moslavina County, Ivan Celjak, and the state secretary in the Ministry of Croatian Veterans and envoy of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Špiro Janović.