ZAGREB, June 23 (Hina) - Croatia will celebrate its Statehood Day for the second time on Wednesday, June 25, recalling June 25, 1991, when the Croatian parliament passed a declaration proclaiming the sovereignty and independence of
Croatia and a constitutional decision on sovereignty and independence.
ZAGREB, June 23 (Hina) - Croatia will celebrate its Statehood Day
for the second time on Wednesday, June 25, recalling June 25, 1991,
when the Croatian parliament passed a declaration proclaiming the
sovereignty and independence of Croatia and a constitutional
decision on sovereignty and independence. #L#
Until 2002, Croatia marked Statehood day on May 30 when the first
Croatian multi-party parliament was constituted after free
elections.
In 2001, a parliamentary majority decided June 25 was the correct
day to celebrate Statehood Day, since the decisions on independence
and sovereignty passed on that date spurred the process of
separation from other ex-Yugoslav republics and the socialist
Yugoslavia, as well as the process for international recognition.
The parliament passed the declaration on sovereignty and
independence on the basis of a referendum in May 1991 at which a
great majority of Croatian citizens opted for state independence.
Slovenia also declared independence then. The declaration and
decision on independence were put on hold for three months under
pressure from the international community and because of the
general state of affairs in the then Yugoslavia, in which Serbia,
assisted by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), was preparing for a
war to prevent Croatia's independence.
The Brijuni Declaration was passed on July 7, 1991, which formally
requested that the increasingly worsening Yugoslav crisis be
overcome by peaceful means and that Croatia and Slovenia contribute
to that by postponing their decisions to become sovereign and
independent.
Over the three following months, until 7 October 1991, the Serb
aggression spread across the entire Croatia, from Vukovar and
Osijek in the east to Dubrovnik in the south and Gospic in central
Croatia, while JNA aircraft even shelled the government and
president's building in downtown Zagreb.
One day after the deadline set by the Brijuni Declaration, on
October 8, 1991, the parliament passed a decision on severing all
state and legal ties with the socialist Yugoslavia, as well as a
conclusion that Croatia was under aggression.
Croatia proceeded to fight a battle for international recognition
and to defend and free itself from the Serb aggression.
(hina) lml sb