President Zoran Milanovic issued a message on Friday marking the Day of International Recognition and the Day of the Peaceful Reintegration of the Danube Region. 

“Today we commemorate the 29th anniversary of the international recognition of the Republic of Croatia. On this day we remember an important moment in recent Croatian history when the world accepted and recognised the autonomy and independence of the Croatian state,” Milanovic said.

After a vast majority of Croatian citizens voted in favour of independence and the Croatian Parliament, based on the will of the people, adopted a resolution on independence and severed all constitutional ties with the other republics and provinces of the Yugoslav federation, the international community received all democratic arguments to recognise the irrevocable independence of Croatia, he recalled.

The strongest arguments were made by Croatian defenders who demonstrated their desire to live in a free and independent state through their selfless readiness to sacrifice themselves in the 1991-1995 Homeland War. “Their sacrifice and death are the greatest contribution to the freedom and international recognition of the Republic of Croatia and we are forever grateful to them for that.”

Milanovic said that 15 January should also be a reminder of “our ability to survive in the most difficult of times and our obligation to build the Croatian state as a democratic and successful country that will make future generations proud.”

“The peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region, which followed in 1998 and which we also remember on this Remembrance Day, is an example of success in peace building and democratic development of the Republic of Croatia in the years after the international recognition,” the President said in his message.