Mesic spoke at a ceremony at which members of the Fourth Guard Brigade were formed into ranks as part of events marking Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the 11th anniversary of Operation Storm.
"But on this occasion we must not forget that after Operation Storm the rule of law partially failed and that the liberated area was not reintegrated quickly into Croatia's political and legal system. Unfortunately, this led to crimes. But those were incidents committed by irresponsible individuals which must be not only condemned but prosecuted," Mesic said.
He recalled that the blitz operation of the Croatian army and police liberated Knin and, in only four days, large areas of northern Dalmatia, Lika, Kordun and Banovina, thus creating conditions for the completion of the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The operation opened the door to a joint offensive of the Croatian forces and the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina against Bosnian Serbs, to political negotiations and the Dayton peace agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Erdut agreement, Mesic said.
"The success of the operation was the result of Croatia's determination to establish authority on its entire territory. The international circumstances at the time were increasingly favourable - Milosevic's policy of creating a Greater Serbia, which incorporated war crime and genocide, was entirely revealed. Remember only what happened in Skabrnja and Srebrenica," Mesic said.
"For the sake of purity of the Homeland War and our just fight, we must individualise the guilt for crimes committed after the operation and punish those responsible for them. History teaches us that we must do it for the sake of generations to come," Mesic said.
"The physical consequences of the war have been removed to a large extent in the areas liberated in Storm. The process of reconstruction and refugee return is in its final stage. We have built democratic institutions which guarantee security and equality to all citizens, although ethnic incidents still happen. Members of national minorities can preserve and develop their identity and participate in decision-making on all levels of authority. This qualifies us as a democratic country accepting European standards and firmly holding the course to the EU and NATO," Mesic said.
"Because of this approach, Croatia is enjoying increasing support from international factors and I am confident that that support will help us overcome the current obstacles which are slowing us down," Mesic said.