Bosnian Croat politicians and the President of neighbouring Croatia used the opportunity at the event marking the 27th anniversary of the liberation of the town of Jajce to speak about the issue of electoral reform in BiH.

Croatia’s President, Zoran Milanovic, was greeted with applause at the 27th anniversary of the “Mistral 2” military operation.

The military operation “Mistral 2” lasted from September 8 to September 17, 1995, and created the preconditions for the continued advance of Croatian forces, and on September 13, 1995, Jajce was liberated from its three-year occupation.

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This was the first significant operation of the joint forces of the Croatian Army (HV), the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the BiH Army in western BiH, in which large areas of western BiH were liberated, including the towns of Drvar, Sipovo, Jajce, Bosanski Petrovac, Bosanska Krupa and Kljuc.

Milanovic said in his speech that Croatia was “on the right side of history” and many “great things in the war in 1995 were not achieved by American, British, or French bombers, but by boots on the ground and the blood of Croatian soldiers.”

He said that today, BiH is not showing Croatia and Croats any “gratitude” for this.

“That gratitude is something we don't see and that's what bothers and hurts and irritates, and that's what we will persist in, in proving that we did the right thing,” the Croatian president stressed.

He said that Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not a minority, but they have been reduced to a minority.

“There is no BiH without equal Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs. That is not clear to some people,” he said, adding, “long live the Croats of BiH.”

Among those to speak at the event was also Borjana Kristo from Bosnia’s Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH). She is the joint candidate of parties within the Croat National Council (HNS BiH) for one of the members of BiH’s tripartite Presidency.

In her speech, Kristo called Bosnia and Herzegovina “a state union of three constituent peoples.”

“We have an unjustly organized BiH, we have constant attacks on our constitutionally guaranteed rights as constituent people. But, from here we send a message – Bosnia and Herzegovina is our homeland and the homeland of the Croat people. Only as such can it have security, sustainability and future,” she said.

“The electoral law must be changed, as the Constitutional Court said in its decision – so the Croat people choose their representatives with their majority will,” she said.