"The generals who gave a great contribution to the defence of Croatia during the Homeland Defence War are convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for serious crimes and many citizens are disappointed and have a hard time accepting such a verdict," Josipovic told reporters after the ICTY earlier in the day convicted Gotovina and Markac and acquitted General Ivan Cermak.
Whatever the verdict, it does not bring into question the legitimacy and legality of the Homeland War and its military operations, including Operation Storm, the president said.
The president said he expected that many of the arguments stated in the verdict would be thoroughly examined and eventually refuted in the appeals proceedings.
"I am convinced that there was no joint criminal enterprise in the defence of Croatia. Moreover, the argument about a joint criminal enterprise does not imply that all members of the Croatian army and police were participants in a joint criminal enterprise or that all of them were criminals," he said.
Croatia pays tribute and will pay tribute to all heroes who preserved our independence and freedom, Josipovic said.
Josipovic added that Croatia was aware that crimes had been committed in the Homeland War on all sides and that the Croatian judiciary was prosecuting those crimes, regardless of who had committed them.
"Croatia is a state which abides by the international legal order and the rule of law. I am sure that such a Croatia enjoys support among our veterans and our citizens. This is a European Croatia," he added.
According to him, to respect legal aspects of the tribunal's work does not mean to accept political and historical aspects of the judgement.
"Regardless of the judgement, the Homeland Defence War remains for us a just and defensive war in which we protected our freedom and democracy against the aggression and the criminal policy of the Slobodan Milosevic regime," the Croatian president said.