There are many changes this year.
The main celebrations of the Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Croatian Veterans Day will be held in Knin as usual. However, unlike festivities in previous years, this year’s ceremonies will be somewhat different, reports tportal.hr on 25 July 2017.
According to unofficial information, the two-day celebrations marking the victory in the Homeland War and the liberation of previously occupied areas during the Operation Storm in 1995 will begin in the morning on 4 August with the exhibition of weapons and equipment on the pitch of the Dinara Football Club stadium.
In the evening of the same day, a reception for war commanders from the Homeland War will be held at the Knin fortress.
The government is also expected to hold a special session in Knin, devoted to problems plaguing the area.
The Victory Day on 5 August with begin with a traditional concert of the military marching band on the streets of Knin, followed by a flyby of aircraft of the Croatian Air Force, which will for the first time include a presentation of recently acquired OH-58 Kiowa Warrior military helicopters.
After the Air Force programme, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Speaker of Parliament Gordan Jandroković will lay wreaths on the central city square, at the Storm 95 monument. The ceremony will continue as usual with speeches, which will this year take place at the Knin fortress, with just a selected group of officials present. In previous years, the speeches were given at the main town square.
Interestingly, representatives of the veterans’ associations are not expected to give speeches this year. They will be replaced by a child of a fallen soldier. Also, this year will not feature a massive parade of veterans on the streets of Knin. They will be represented by 32 veterans of the Homeland War, selected by the Ministry of Defence as one of the organisers of the ceremony.
On Saturday night, a traditional concert will be held at the Dinara stadium. While in previous years the show featured controversial singer Marko Perković Thompson as the main performer, this year he has been replaced by Prljavo Kazalište band.
The celebrations in Knin are usually one of the main events of the political summer in Croatia, followed by two weeks of calm when politicians go to the beaches and gather energy for the always interesting political autumn.
Translated from tportal.hr.
