Izvor: N1 televizija, 01.Maj.2018, 13:12 (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)
Croatia proud, Serbia sad over same event
The Croatian Army operation Flash (Bljesak) against the rebel Serbs 23 years ago is still differently marked in neighbouring countries, but this year is also burdened with spoiled relations between Zagreb and Belgrade.
The Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, together with defence and interior ministers and war veterans, laid a wreath and lit candles in the eastern village of Okucani and unveiled a memorial >> Pročitaj celu vest na sajtu N1 televizija << site, “The Crystal Cube of Serenity”.
While the Croatian top officials were marking what they consider as a great success of their army and police, Serbia mourned the dead, missing and expelled Serbs on May 1 and 2, 1995 when the Croatian army launched its operation Flash to take control of what were the UN protected areas in the Western Slavonia part of the country.
Those areas were part of the war-time Republic of Serb Krajina which was formed by Croatian Serbs at the start of the war, following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
More than 130 people are still listed as missing in the operation the Veritas Documentation-Information Centre has said.
Veritas says some 15,000 Croatian Serbs were expelled and 283, including 114 civilians and 11 policemen, were either killed or listed as missing.
The 133 people still considered missing include 59 civilians 27 of who are women, it says, adding 148 bodies have been exhumed to date and 107 of them have been identified.
The Croatian military captured 1,450 of about 4,000 Serbian troops defending the area, Veritas said. A large number of the Serb soldiers were tried and sentenced to prison terms while the civilians who stayed in their homes were put into camps and taken to Bosnia and Serbia, the Centre said and added that about 1,500 mainly elderly people have returned home so far.
According to Croatia’s official data, some 7,200 Croatian troops, supported by the police, took part in the military offensive in which 42 of them were killed and 162 wounded.
The operation ended on May 3, after the last organised resistance of the secessionist Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) formally ceased. The majority of RSK troops surrendered the next day.
The data do not mention Serb victims.
Belgrade and Zagreb have been exchanging tit-for-tat diplomatic moves, declaring respective defence ministers persona non grata and blaming each other for spoiling mutual relations.
Unpleasant exchange between Serbia and Croatia goes on
Izvor: N1 televizija, 01.Maj.2018
Amid different ways of marking an anniversary of the Croatian army Flash (Bljesak) operation against the rebel Serbs in 1995, top Croatian and Serbia's officials continued an unpleasant exchange of public messages on Tuesday...Taking part at the 23rd anniversary’s ceremony in the eastern village...
