"January 15, 1992 will remain written in golden letters in the history of Croatian statehood and sovereignty, the day when a millennium-old dream of many Croatian generations of an independent, free and internationally recognised Croatia came true," Seks said.
He recalled that after the first democratic elections and the inauguration of the first multiparty Parliament on May 30, 1990, the Croatian Parliament promulgated the Constitution in December of that same year, laying a foundation for a new, democratic and sovereign Croatia, based on the tenets of the antifascist struggle during the Second World War and the rejection of the communist system.
A few months later, in May 1991, citizens of Croatia voted in a referendum for their country's independence from the Yugoslav federation. On June 25, 1991 the Parliament adopted a declaration of independence, which was put on hold until October 8 of the same year when all constitutional and legal ties with the republics and provinces of the Yugoslav federation were severed.
"Political decisions of the state leadership and the Croatian Parliament convinced the international community that Croatia was a responsible country committed to a democratic political civilisation of the modern world," the message said.
"On January 15, 1992 Croatia won its historical and first major international victory under fierce attacks, with a third of its territory occupied by the Yugoslav army and the Serb aggressor.
"Croatia gained its international recognition thanks to its heroic and united resistance to a technically and numerically superior aggressor suffering, unfortunately, huge human losses and property destruction," Seks recalled in his message.
Remembering January 15 "we remain eternally grateful to all those who fell on the path to freedom, to all Croatian defenders who, by heroically defending Croatia, ensured a free and peaceful life for us all in our own country," Seks said.
The message concludes with the Croatian Parliament expressing its gratitude to "numerous generations of Croats at home and abroad and to all countries, particularly the Holy See and Germany, which played crucial and decisive roles in helping Croatia secure international recognition as an independent state."