Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has extended her best wishes for Anti-Fascist Struggle Day, which is observed on June 22 as a national holiday.

“A large part of the Croatian people and citizens of other nationalities sided with the anti-fascist resistance against the occupation by the Axis Powers during World War II.

“By the decisions of the State Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH), the Federal State of Croatia established within the former federal community of States was the expression of the continuity and the aspirations of Croatian anti-fascists to preserve Croatian Statehood, becoming a State legal basis for the proclamation and international recognition of the independent Republic of Croatia, which we defended and liberated in the Homeland War as a historical expression of the Croatian people’s lasting aspiration for an independent State,” Grabar-Kitarovic said in her message on Saturday.