ZAGREB, Oct 6 (Hina) - On Tuesday, October 8, Croatia will mark Independence Day for the first time.
ZAGREB, Oct 6 (Hina) - On Tuesday, October 8, Croatia will mark
Independence Day for the first time. #L#
The day was included in the calendar of state holidays for the first
time last year to mark a decision adopted by the Croatian parliament
on October 8, 1991, to sever state and legal relations with the
former federation.
Although important, this date was not marked over the past years.
It was only with the changes to the calendar of state holidays,
initiated last year by Ivo Skrabalo, at the time a Social Liberal,
that the parliament decided that October 8 should be celebrated as
Independence Day.
Since the new calendar of state holidays was voted as late as
autumn, Croatia marks Independence Day for the first time this
October 8.
Events which had taken place before October 8 eleven years ago were
very dramatic for Croatia.
The Serbian aggression had already hit a large part of the country,
columns of refugees were fleeing to safer parts of the country.
On October 7, the very heart of Zagreb was attacked by the former
Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) jets, which bombed and caused great
damage to the government building. At the time of the attack, the
then President Franjo Tudjman, Parliament President Zarko Domljan,
and the Presidents of the Yugoslav Presidency and Government,
Stjepan Mesic and Ante Markovic, were in the building.
Chroniclers note that they survived the attack by sheer luck.
On October 7, 1991, a three-month moratorium on Croatia's decision
on independence and sovereignty expired. On June 25 the same year
the Croatian parliament had adopted a constitutional decision on
independence but its implementation was postponed with the Brijuni
Declaration of July 7, at the request of the European Community,
which insisted that the Yugoslav crisis be solved peacefully.
In an atmosphere of galloping Serb aggression, the Croatian
parliament convened on October 8, 1991, for what today is
considered a historic session.
Due to the threat of new JNA attacks on the Croatian capital, the
session was not held in the parliament building but in the basement
of a Croatian Oil Industry building in Subiceva Street.
The MPs discussed the political and security situation and adopted
a decision on severing state and legal relations with the former
Yugoslavia.
The parliament also adopted conclusions about the aggression,
noting that Serbia and the so-called JNA had carried out an act of
aggression against Croatia and that the JNA was an aggressor and
occupier army.
Eleven years later Croatia officially remembers the date which
significantly determined its more recent history.
(hina) rml