10th Anniversary Dayton Peace Accords

Press Release

November 22, 2005
           
10th Anniversary Dayton Peace Accords

Croatians around the world remember the Dayton Peace Accords. Croatian General Ante Gotovina and the Croatian Army played a pivotal role in paving the way for the U.S.-brokered agreement. During Operation Storm, General Gotovina's forces liberated the besieged pocket of Bihac in northwestern Bosnia-Hercegovina, saving tens of thousands of Bosnian refugees from certain slaughter by Serb forces. Also, the 1995 Croatian offensive delivered a decisive blow against Slobodan Milosevic's military allies in Croatia and Bosnia. More than any other military action, Operation Storm was responsible for the defeat of Milosevic's genocidal project of a "Greater Serbia."  Today, Croatians show their continued support for General Ante Gotovina and express appreciation to the Croatian armed forces.

Yet while Croatians worldwide are proud of their country's role in liberating Bosnia-Hercegovina from Milosevic's campaign of mass murder and ethnic cleansing, they continue to be deeply disappointed and outraged by the efforts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to brand General Gotovina as a "war criminal." Gen. Gotovina was indicted in June 2001 by the ICTY. The tribunal charged Gotovina for "overall command" responsibility during Operation Storm. While Gotovina is not accused of committing or ordering any specific war crime, he is being indicted as the commanding senior officer responsible for crimes committed during Operation Storm. Gotovina has been in hiding since the news of his indictment was made public.

The Croatian people around the globe feel the charges against Gen. Gotovina are politically biased and are disappointed that ICTY Prosecutor, Carla De Ponte, continues to implicate Gen. Gotovina's name with indicted war criminals Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

Croatians view Gen. Gotovina and the entire Croatian military as heroes.  The actions Gen. Gotovina and his troops conducted ten years ago established a free and peaceful Bosnia-Hercegovina. Their brave actions during Operation Storm saved countless Muslim, Croatian and even Serbian lives in Bosnia-Hercegovina. That this man is now the victim of a judicial witch hunt, prosecutorial abuse of power and false charges is scandalous and outrageous.

Croatians call on the international community, the U.S. State Department, the United Nations and the ICTY to demand that the Gotovina indictment be dropped immediately.

The Croatian Worldwide Association also wishes to call attention to the continued suffering and daily discrimination faced by Croatians in Bosnia-Hercegovina. During the past ten years, the Croatian community has seen many of its linguistic, cultural and educational rights systematically violated, especially by the authorities in Sarajevo. Many Croats have not been allowed to return to their homes since the end of the war, not just in the Serbian entity of Bosnia-Hercegovina, but in the Muslim-Croat Federation as well. Moreover, the Croats, who constitute one of the three national groups within Bosnia-Hercegovina, are still the only ethnic group that does not have its own distinct political and cultural entity.

For there to be lasting peace in Bosnia-Hercegovina there must be true justice, and true justice can only occur if all three national groups--Croats, Serbs and Muslims--are treated equally and granted equal political and cultural rights.

As long as the Croatian community is being denied the basic rights of political representation, local self-government and cultural autonomy, then the peace and ethnic harmony that was the dream of Dayton will continue to elude the peoples of Bosnia-Hercegovina.