The ceremony was attended by top state officials, including the President of the Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Stjepan Mesic, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks, government ministers, members of Parliament, representatives of political parties and of the military diplomatic corps.
Addressing the gathering, Mesic said that through Operation Flash, and three months later through Operation Storm, Croatia demonstrated its determination to restore government authority and order on its entire territory.
The president said that several thousand ethnic Serbs remained to live in the liberated areas after Operation Flash and that many had returned to their pre-war homes over the past few years.
"Today representatives of the national minorities can participate in decision-making processes at all levels of government," he said, adding that it was necessary to draw up economic development plans for the war-affected areas.
Mesic said that it was also necessary to continue reform processes in the country, expressing confidence that Croatia would soon join the European Union.
"I am confident that very soon we will remove the obstacles standing in Croatia's path towards integration with the European Union and NATO," the said.
Seks said that the 10th anniversary of Operation Flash "testifies to the unity and togetherness of all elements of Croatian state policy on the fundamental issues of the Croatian state and society."
"Operation Flash was not only a military but also an important political victory which showed that Croatia was ready and capable of protecting its own territorial integrity," he added.
"The people who were killed in Operation Flash deserve to be remembered forever," Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said, adding that the operations Flash and Storm showed that "Croatia and the Croatian people are capable of taking care of themselves."
The Croatian Army Commander, General Marijan Marekovic, recalled that 16,000 Croatian soldiers and police officers had taken part in Operation Flash, and that during the 36-hour offensive they regained control of about 800 square kilometres of the Serb-occupied territory of Western Slavonia.
Marekovic separately mentioned Air Force pilot Rudolf Perisin who was killed during the operation when his aircraft was shot down over the Sava river by Serb forces.
After the speeches, members of the Armed Forces and special police performed a demonstration featuring aircraft flyovers and parachute jumps.