Association president Tomislav Hajdukovic said in a statement that Homeland War veterans, the families of the war victims and the former prisoners of war were hurt and flabbergasted by Milanovic's statement that there had been a civil war in Croatia.
He said that no one, least of all the PM, should forget that Croatia had been attacked.
In Karlovac, several veterans' associations held a protest against Milanovic's "civil war" statement, organised by the veterans' committee of the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) county branch.
Mario Matesa, a coordinator of the local veterans' associations, said Milanovic's statement "will awaken the whole Croatia."