Letter of the Twelve Generals

On December 10, 1999, after a long illness, the first president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman , the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union , the party that ruled Croatia in 1991, died. In the January 2000 parliamentary elections , the CDU was defeated, losing the majority in the parliament to a center-left coalition of six parties. In the same month, one of Tudjman's main critics, Stepan Mesich, won the presidential election . The new liberal pro-European government began cooperation with the ICTY and began investigating war crimes committed by the Croatian armed forces during the war of 1991-1995 (in Croatian historiography - the "war for the independence of Croatia") ^{[2] [3]} .

The very proposal to conduct investigations caused a storm of indignation among war veterans and ultra-nationalist movements ^[3] . On August 28, 2000, Milan Levar , an informant and one of the witnesses in the war crimes case, was killed. After that, a wave of arrests of persons suspected of committing war crimes ^[3] swept through Croatia, to which veteran organizations responded with several protests that grew into riots ^[2] . President Stepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan began to receive anonymous threats ^[4] . The government itself began to carry out a series of military reforms affecting the top command staff of the Croatian Army, as well as war veterans ^[5] .

The official name of the letter is “An open letter from the Croatian generals of the Croatian public” ( Croatian Otvoreno pismo hrvatskih generala hrvatskoj javnosti ). The letter consisted of six paragraphs ^[6] :

1. In the first paragraph, the authors “regretfully” stated that the overwhelming majority of the media and politicians spoke of the war in Croatia as “something bad, problematic, even shameful, although in fact it was Croatia’s gaining freedom, independence and sovereignty” ^{[2 ] [6]} .
2. The second paragraph stated that the authors did not oppose investigations into crimes committed by individuals themselves. They opposed the actions of the police, which created the impression of Croatia as a country destroyed by terrorism or organized crime, and not as a democratic state with the rule of law. The police did not take into account either the real circumstances of what happened, nor the merits of war veterans and officers of the Croatian Army ^[6] .
3. In the third paragraph, the authors condemned the “unnecessary display of force” and the use of the presumption of guilt, including speculation about the ICTY’s allegations, considering all this to be detrimental to tolerance and democracy in Croatia ^[6] .
4. The fourth paragraph denied any conflicts, facts of violence and terrorism that could not have occurred in the interests of any responsible person, including war veterans ^[6] .
5. In the fifth paragraph, the authors commented on speculation against the background of the reorganization of the Croatian army. The signatories expressed their support for the promotion of the most educated and talented individuals, "which means those who proved themselves during the war for the independence of Croatia" ^[6] .
6. In the sixth and final paragraph, the authors called on the government, civil society and the media to “oppose the negative, historically incorrect and false picture of the participants in the war for the independence of Croatia” and “protect the dignity of Croatian officers and soldiers” as fighters for the freedom and independence of Croatia, for the future of democratic and successful country ^[6] .

The letter was signed ^[4] :

1. Army General Yanko Bobetko (retired)
2. Lieutenant General Ante Gotovina
3. Lieutenant General Kresimir осosić
4. Major General Mirko Novac
5. Admiral Davor Domaset Loshio
6. Major General Ivan Corade (retired)
7. Major General Damir Krstic
8. Lieutenant General Ivan Chernyak (retired)
9. Major General Ivan Kapular
10. Major General Noiko Marinovich (retired)
11. Lieutenant General Ivan Basaraz (retired)
12. Major General Milenko Filipovich

Croatian President Stepan Mesic in his first commentary on the letter stated that he also advocated preserving the memory of the war in Croatia, which is why "the government is still in force, there is no elective approach, and the law is one for all." However, he noted that the Croatian Democratic Community was involved in the creation of the letter ^[4] . The Administration of the President of Croatia and the Ministry of Defense of Croatia called the letter “inappropriate”, and the Ministry of Defense also noted the extreme unprofessionalism of the authors, saying that by law no one of the Croatian armed forces has the right to engage in politics ^[4] .

On September 29, 2000, the day after the publication of the letter, Mesic officially announced that the seven acting officers of the Croatian armed forces — Gotovina, ,osić, Krsticicevic, Kapular, Filipovic, Domazet Losho and Noratz — would be dismissed ^{[2] [7] [8]} , and added that if they wanted to carry out a coup d'etat , then "they played the wrong card at all" ^[7] .

The reaction to Mesic’s actions was mixed. If the parties that joined the ruling coalition called Mesic’s move logical and necessary, then the opposition condemned this decision: the CDU chairman Ivo Sanader , calling it “extremely dangerous” ^{[9] [10]} , also criticized Mesic’s act by numerous Croatian veteran organizations ^{[9] [11] [12]} . However, a public poll showed that most of the Croatian public approves of the President’s actions ^[7] .

The weekly Nacional reported that another 20 generals wanted to sign the letter, which gave rise to rumors of an attempted coup ^{[7] [13]} , but Mesic called this information “nonsense” ^[13] .

After the dismissal of seven military leaders, rumors began to circulate that they could return to active service. On October 2, 2000, President Mesic announced that his decision could be reconsidered in relation to Major General Damir Krstic, but depends on his own behavior ^{[15] [16]} : the 33-year-old Krstic, who signed the letter, along with Noiko Marinovich were the only generals of the Tudjman era who were not inclined to support any party ^{[16] [17]} . Krzytiewicz rejected Mesic’s offer to apologize, saying that he had nothing to repent of ^[17] .

The issue of returning the dismissed military leaders to active military service was raised in the 2003 parliamentary elections by Ivo Sanader, however, the Nacional publication said that Sanader was afraid to say so directly to Mesic, who, as President, was the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Croatia, and rejected such an idea ^[18] . During the 2010 presidential election, three candidates - Milan Bandic , Andria Hebrang Jr and Nadan Vidoshevich promised to cancel the decision on the resignation of several generals in case of victory. However, the winner of the election, Ivo Josipovich, held the opposite opinion, saying that the decision to resign all seven would not be canceled ^[19] .

Mesic’s decision to dismiss the generals is considered one of the most important events for his entire presidency ^{[5] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]} . Mesich’s successor, Ivo Josipović, said that this was Mesich’s best decision for all 10 years of his work as head of state ^[25] , while analyst Igor Tabak called the act “a decision that was difficult to accept,” since Mesich opposed the old authoritarian system in its first presidential term ^[5] . The move is considered important in connection with the subsequent depoliticization of the Croatian armed forces and defense reforms that allowed Croatia to join NATO in 2009 ^{[5] [26]} . On the other hand, Mesic’s critics believe that he invented rumors of a coup and continued anti-war rhetoric regarding generals who simply performed their patriotic duty ^{[27] [28] [29]} .