Croatia Marks 20 Years Of Independence

People look at tanks from a tram in downtown Zagreb, Croatia, August 3, 2015.

The parade in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, and other events were hailed as victory celebrations in Croatia.

The Association for Social Research and Communications (UDIK) has strongly condemned and expressed regret over the decision of Sarajevo Canton’s police to ban a peaceful public meeting in front of the Croatian Embassy in Sarajevo, which UDIK previously registered to mark 20 years since the suffering of Serbs in military Operation Storm in Croatia.

The parade included about 3,000 Croatian soldiers and 300 military vehicles, with air force jets and helicopters flying above.

The objective was to retake control of Serbian-occupied territory inside Croatia.

“Operation Storm was a turning point (in the conflict), a brilliant military operation, justified and legitimate”, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic said in a speech at a promotion ceremony in the defence ministry, encouraging citizens to be “proud and dignified” during the festivities.

It pitted some 130,000 Croatian troops against an estimated 30,000 Serb fighters. Barely half of those who fled have since returned.

Operation Storm ushered the end to the war that in total claimed about 20,000 lives. In neighboring Serbia, they’re thought-about a day of mourning for nearly 700 ethnic Serbs who’ve died within the Croatian “Operation Storm” that crushed the Belgrade-backed Serb insurgency in western Croatia in 1995.

The anniversary celebrations have for years burdened relations between Croatia and Serbia, the Balkan foes who are trying to patch up economic and political relations.

Speaking earlier in the day at another ceremony to commemorate the victims, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic chided the celebrations in Croatia.