“Today is 30 years since the shelling of the government building. At that time it was the headquarters of the first president of the republic, Franjo Tuđman. That afternoon, a Yugoslav Army MiG shelled the government building with the obvious goal to kill Croatia’s leadership,” the prime minister said.
He added that together with Tuđman at that moment were the chairman of the presidency of the former Yugoslavia, Stjepan Mesić, and federal prime minister Ante Marković, who were talking about the Great Serbia military aggression against Croatia.
“Unfortunately, one person was killed then and several were wounded. Fortunately, president Tuđman and the other officials survived. Those were fateful moments for Croatia’s freedom, for all that we have today, and the next day, in the night between 7 and 8 October, the Croatian parliament passed key decisions on independence,” Plenković said.
He announced that parliament would mark its day tomorrow, saying they remembered that time with a lot of pride and with the important message that young generations should be informed of all the key events in the creation of present-day Croatia.
MP Zdravka Bušić was in the government building when it was targeted. “God wanted us to survive. It’s almost impossible to imagine what it was like. I’m happy that an indictment has finally been filed against the pilot and commander of the military squadron that headed for the government building and Croatia. We know that the commander of that squadron was Ljubomir Bajić. I hope the light will be shed on everything.”
Also present at today’s commemoration were Interior Minister Davor Božinović, War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman, and Defence Minister Mario Banožić.
For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page
