ZAGREB, June 25, 2018 – Croatia is celebrating Statehood Day on Monday, the 27th anniversary since declaring independence from the Yugoslav federation.
Statehood Day commemorates 25 June 1991 when the Croatian Parliament adopted a historic resolution initiating the process of disassociation from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia based on the results of a referendum held on 19 May 1991. “With undisguised satisfaction and pride, we are notifying all republics and federal bodies of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the whole world about the sovereign will of the Croatian people and all citizens of the Republic to declare the Republic of Croatia an independent and sovereign state as of today, and we are inviting all governments and the parliaments of all states to accept and recognise the free decision of the Croatian people, an act of freedom whereby one more nation wants to become a full member of the international community of the free world,” then President Franjo Tuđman told Parliament on the occasion of the adoption of the constitutional decision on Croatia’s independence.
That same day Slovenia, too, declared its sovereignty and independence from the former Yugoslavia.
Through the mediation of the international community, the entry into force of the constitutional decision of 25 June 1991 was delayed for three months to facilitate disassociation negotiations among the former Yugoslav republics. The decision finally came into force on 8 October, which is now celebrated as Independence Day.
At that time, namely since August 1990, Croatia was exposed to military aggression by Serb extremists and the Yugoslav People’s Army. A quarter of its territory was under occupation, and the Croatian people rose in defence of their homeland. The country suffered extensive destruction and heavy casualties during the war.
Most of the occupied territories were liberated in 1995 in combined military and police operations known as Storm and Flash, and the remaining territory under Serb occupation, Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem, was peacefully reintegrated in 1998.
Croatia joined NATO on 1 April 2009 and the European Union on 1 July 2013.
Until 2001 Statehood Day was observed on 30 May to commemorate the inauguration of the first multi-party Croatian Parliament in 1990. Today 30 May is observed as Croatian Parliament Day.
