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'''Blaž Nikola Kraljević''' (16 September 1947 – 9 August 1992) was a ] paramilitary leader who commanded the ] (HOS) during the ]. An immigrant to ], Kraljević joined the ] (HRB) upon his arrival there in 1967. During his return to Yugoslavia in January 1992 he was appointed by ], leader of the ] (HSP), as leader of the HOS in ]. During the ] he advocated a Croat–Bosniak alliance, a view that ran counter to those of the Croatian government led by Croatian president ] and his ] (HDZ) party. He denounced ] by ], president of the self-proclaimed ], and ], president of the self-proclaimed ], to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina and was appointed by Bosnian president ] as a member of Staff of the ] (ARBiH), shortly before his assassination by ] (HVO) soldiers under the command of ].


'''Blaž Kraljević''' (17 September 1947 – 9 August 1992) was a commander of the ] in ] and a general major of the ].
==Early life==
Blaž Kraljević was born on 16 September 1947 in the village of ] in the municipality of ], ].{{sfn|Bošnjak|2007}}{{page needed|date=August 2013}} In 1967, at the age of 19, Kraljević immigrated to ] where he was recruited by ] into the ] (HRB),{{sfn|Aarons|2001|p=28}} a pro-] group established in the mid-1950s.{{sfn|Hockenos|2003|p=60}} Kraljević remained in Australia until 1990 when he returned to Yugoslavia to help fight for ].{{sfn|Moore|2013|pp=96–97}}


He become a political activist in ] in 1967. After a process of democratisation, he returned to Croatia and joined the ] (HSP). In December 1991 he was named a commander of the HSP's paramilitary formation, the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) in Herzegovina. As a commander of HOS, he participated in the ] against the ] forces. Because of his refusal to cooperate with the ], a military formation of the ] he entered into a conflict with the Herzeg-Bosnian leadership. At the same time he built close relation with the ], a Bosnian Muslim army, which soon made him an instrument for destabilisation of Herzeg-Bosnia. Kraljević, led by the fascist ] ideology, promoted the idea of Croat-Muslim cooperation in creating a ] with borders on the ] river, while considering Bosnian Muslims to be Croats of Muslim faith.
==Bosnian War==
]
In 1990 and 1991, Serbs in ] and in ] had proclaimed a number of "]" with the intent of later unifying them to create a ]. Serbs used the well equipped ] (JNA) in defending these territories.{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|p=203}} As early as September or October 1990, the JNA had begun arming Bosnian Serbs and organizing them into militias. By March 1991, the JNA had distributed an estimated 51,900 firearms to Serb paramilitaries and 23,298 firearms to ] (SDS).{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=414}} The Croatian government began arming Croats in the ] region in 1991 and in the start of 1992, expecting that the Serbs would spread the war into Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Goldstein|1999|p=243}} It also helped arm the ] (Bosnian Muslim) community. From July 1991 to January 1992, the JNA and Serb paramilitaries used Bosnian territory to wage attacks on Croatia.{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|p=206}}


He was killed along with his escort under unexplained circumstances at a checkpoint in ] near ]. Some of his associates claim that he was killed under orders of the Croatian political leadership.
On 25 March 1991, ] met with Serbian president ] ], reportedly to discuss ].{{sfn|Ramet|2010|p=263}}{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=286}} In June, the ] (HOS) was formed in Croatia by the ] (HSP).{{sfn|Thomas|2006|p=21}} In November, the autonomous ] (HZ-HB) was established, it claimed it had no secessionary goal and that it would serve a "legal basis for local self-administration". It vowed to respect the Bosnian government under the condition that Bosnia and Herzegovina was independent of "the former and every kind of future Yugoslavia."{{sfn|Ramet|2010|p=264}} In December, Tuđman, in a conversation with Bosnian Croat leaders, said that "from the perspective of sovereignty, Bosnia-Herzegovina has no prospects" and recommended that Croatian policy "support for the sovereignty until such time as it no longer suits Croatia."{{sfn|Ramet|2010|p=265}} That same month HOS was disbanded by the Croatian government.{{sfn|Thomas|2006|p=21}}


== Youth and emigration ==
On 3 January 1992, ], leader of the HSP, appointed Kraljević as leader of the HOS in Bosnia and Herzegovina and established its main headquarters in Ljubuški.{{sfn|OREA|2002|p=133}} It "supported Bosnian territorial integrity much more consistently and sincerely than the HVO"{{sfn|Goldstein|1999|p=243}} which supported a partition of its territory.{{sfn|OREA|2002|p=133}} It was more accepting of Bosniaks in its ranks than the HVO{{sfn|OREA|2002|p=133}} and consisted of 5,000 volunteers that included Bosnian Croats, Bosniaks, and foreign volunteers.{{sfn|Thomas|2006|p=21}} Kraljević played a very influential role and advocated a Croat–Bosniak alliance for a united Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Divjak|2001|p=175}} His views ran counter to those of the Croatian government{{sfn|Thomas|2006|p=21}} and he was seen by Tuđman's ] (HDZ) as an obstacle to their plans for a ].{{sfn|Gagnon|2006|p=162}} Media in Croatia, closely associated with Croatian defense minister ], claimed that HOS was in fact "MOS", the "Muslim Defence Force", and that the Bosniaks were prepared, through HOS, to backstab the Croats.{{sfn|Peratović|12 May 2003}} Upon entrance in the war, Kraljević had declared that:{{sfn|Bošnjak|2007}}{{page needed|date=August 2013}}


Blaž Kraljević was born in ] near ] in ]. He was one of the eight children of Nikola and Mara Kraljević. He left ] in June 1966 and went to ], from where he went to ] in April 1967. He opened a restaurant with his colleague Ante Šuto in an immigrant neighbourhood ] in ]. During that time, he joined the ] (HRB). He was supposed to travel in ] along with Šuto, Zdenko Marinčić and Ilija Lovrić in order to join the ]. However, only Marinčić and Lovrić went to Frankfurt, while Šutalo voluntarily left few weeks earlier. Kraljević was arrested a day before the travel, on 19 May 1972, by the ] (ASIO) because of illegal liquor. The arrest was suspicious because such offense rarely ends with an arrest, if ever, especially by the ASIO. Kraljević was released on 21 June 1972, a day after Bugojno group crossed the Austrian-Yugoslav border.<ref name=Ljportal>{{cite web|url=http://hercinfo.com/ljubuski-2/2-drustvo/3571-kako-i-zato-je-poginuo-bla-kraljevi |title=Kako je i zašto poginuo Blaž Kraljević |publisher=Ljportal |date=9 August 2010 |accessdate=20 December 2014 |language=Croatian}}</ref>
{{cquote|I'm here to protect these people, and I'll do it or die trying. We are not a Catholic army because 30 or 40 percent of the ranks of HOS is Muslim. We are the army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Personally, I would like to see Croatia to the Drina, but who will decide that is the people here, the people of Bosnia, when the war ends. In regards to HSP and HOS, all those who are not extremists and have not bloodied their hands can stay and live here and we will protect them. We will protect the Serbs and Bosniaks and Croats from any external enemy, because we are behind the people. In regards to external opinions about us, including their interests, the interests of Germany or the United Kingdom for us here are utterly irrelevant, because I only care for the people here.}}


After his release, the Croatian émigrée circles in Australia become suspicious of Kraljević and his role in the emigration. He was questioned by the HRB, and after they found out he secretlly contacted an agent from the ASIO, Kraljević moved to ], leaving the state of ], as advies by the ASIO agents. His cooperation with the ASIO was not known to the other Croatian émigrée circles in the rest of Australia, so he was able to continue his political activity in Canberra. In 1976 he founded a branch of the ] called Rakovica, and was elected its president. Next year, he joined the ] and become president of its branch called Zemun. At the end of October 1977, a temporary Croatian mission was founded by the emigrants, and Kraljević was named its treasurer. As he managed responsibly, he was elected a secretary of the Croatian Inter-Social Committee in Canberra, that was made of representatives of the majority of the Croatian emigrant organisations, associations and societies.<ref name=Ljportal/>
In April 1992, the ] began, by which time the Bosnian Serb-formed ] (VRS) controlled 70% of Bosnia and Herzegovina.{{sfn|Hoare|2010|p=126}} On 8 April, Bosnian Croats were organized into the ] (HVO).{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=286}} A sizable number of Bosniaks also joined.{{sfn|Goldstein|1999|p=243}} On 15 April 1992, the multi-ethnic ] (ARBiH) was formed, with slightly over two-thirds of troops consisting of Bosniaks and almost one-third of Croats and Serbs.{{sfn|Hoare|2010|p=127}} In the winter Bosniaks began leaving the HVO and joining the ARBiH which also began receiving supplies from Croatia.{{sfn|Tanner|2001|p=286}} In May, HVO Major General ] declared that the only "legal military force" in HZ-HB was the HVO and that "all orders from the TO command are invalid, and are to be considered illegal on this territory".{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=436}}
Because of his political activity in Canberra, the Australian authorities refused to give him a citizenship and a passport until the end of the 1980s. Shortly before the ] was torn down in 1988, just few years before the collapse of Yugoslavia, Kraljević, imitating Dinko Dedić, Ante Šuto and Antun Babić from Melbourne, founded the ] in Canberra that was supposed to inform the local media about the situation in Croatia.<ref name=Ljportal/>


After the multy-party system was implemented in Croatia, the ] (HSP) was founded in ]. The first HSP's commissioner for Australia was Miro Hedješ from Melbourne, a member of the ] and the ] (HOP). However, in the mid March 1991, Hedješ resigned as he was convinced that the HSP's leadership should cooperate with the Croatian government and to support it. ], president of the HSP, replaced Hedješ by Kraljević. During his entire stay in Australia, Kraljević was passive towards, as he called them, the "old men from HOP" as they didn't, as he thought, "understood the time in they were living" and that they, with their "worthless ''ustašising'', are only "damiging to the Croatian cause". His nomination for a commissionare was somewhat strange, because out of all emigrant organisations, only HOP supported the HSP.<ref name=Ljportal/>
On 9 May 1992, Boban, ],{{sfn|Toal|Dahlman|2011|p=105}} Tuđman's aide, and ], president of the self-proclaimed ], secretly met in ] and formed an agreement on the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the ].{{sfn|Williams|9 May 1992}}{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|pp=210–212}} Kraljević denounced the agreement stating "we implore all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially Croats and Bosniaks, not to take into account any statements or agreements between Mate Boban and Radovan Karadžić. Neither speaks in the name of Croats and Bosniaks. They do not represent what the Croats and Bosniaks want.&nbsp;... HOS and the TO are defending, and will defend, Bosnia and Herzegovina."{{sfn|Moore|2013|pp=96–97}}


==Assassination== == War ==
{{Quote box|width=200px|align=right|quote="HOS, as a regular army in Bosnia-Herzegovina, will fight for the freedom and sovereignty of Bosnia-Herzegovina because it is our homeland not allow any divisions."|source=Blaž Kraljević during a ceremony in ] on 19 July 1992{{sfn|Hoare|2004|p=83}}}}
{{see also|Croat-Bosniak War}}
Since the outset of the Bosnian War, HOS and HVO competed for power and influence.{{sfn|OREA|2002|p=133}} HOS played an important role in the liberation of ], ], ] and ]. By the end of July 1992, within one day about 700 HVO members joined the ranks of HOS in Čapljina. Similar crossings occurred in ], ] and Mostar.{{sfn|Peratović|12 May 2003}} In the summer of 1992, the HVO started to purge its Bosniak members.{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|p=212}} At the same time armed incidents started to occur among Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina between the HVO and the HOS.{{sfn|Lukic|Lynch|1996|pp=215}} The HOS was loyal to the Bosnian government and accepted subordination to the Staff of the ARBiH of which Kraljević was appointed a member.{{sfn|Hoare|2004|p=86}} On 9 August, Kraljević and eight of his staff were assassinated by HVO soldiers under the command of ],{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=343}} who supported a split between Croat and Bosniaks,{{sfn|Zürcher|2003|p=51}} after Kraljević's HOS attacked the VRS near ].{{sfn|Burns|22 October 1992}} The HOS's advance into eastern Herzegovina and occupation of Trebinje angered Boban who had affirmed to Karadžić that Croat forces were uninterested in the region.{{sfn|Glenny|1996|p=196}}


=== Arrival in Croatia ===
The Kruševo General Staff of HVO claimed that two vehicles with HOS members refused to stop at a police checkpoint and that HOS members first opened fire, killing HVO lieutenant Živko Bodulić. Kraljević's body and those of the eight other HOS soldiers were rushed to ] for autopsies before an investigation began and the investigating judge from Mostar only came to the scene a day later. After his death, Croatian media claimed Kraljević was an agent of the ], Yugoslav secret police, who had returned from Australia to harm the interests of Bosnian Croats.{{sfn|Peratović|12 May 2003}} Bosnian officials suspected that Tuđman's government was involved.{{sfn|Burns|22 October 1992}} The HOS was disbanded, leaving the HVO as the only Croat force.{{sfn|Goldstein|1999|p=245}} The HOS was absorbed by the HVO and the ARBiH at the beginning of the ].{{sfn|Thomas|2006|p=21}}


Kraljević became reserve towards the Croatian emigration and took position that "his place was in Croatia". After he arrived in ], Paraga named him a head of the Propaganda Office. He tookover that post from a former journalist of the '']'' weekly, Nikola Šolić. Emigration in Australia, and especially that in Canberra, blamed Kraljević because he gave several thausands of the ]s to Paraga instead of the ]. Kraljević thought that in this way he would contribute more to the defence of Croatia.<ref name=Ljportal/>
In 1996, at the insistence of Šušak, Tuđman posthumously awarded Kraljević the ].{{sfn|Pušić|8 August 2011}}


=== War in Bosnia and Herzegovina ===
==Notes==

The ] was registered there on 10 April 1991. On 13 June 1991, in a hotel in ], the leadership of the HSP, along with Paraga, declared the ] by which they "established the ] in its historical and ethnic territory". Kraljević returned to Herzegovina in October 1991, bringing Paraga's decision regarding dismissal of ], the HSP's coordinator for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kraljević replaced Karamatić, a poet from ], with ] who resided in ] at the time. In mid December 1991, Kraljević moved to Herzegovina permanentlly in order to establish HOS War Headquarters for Herzegovina. The War Headquarters was founded on 18 December 1991 in Ljubuški. His associate Katica Pernar was named his secretary.<ref name=Ljportal/> Under Paraga's discretion, Kraljević subordinated HOS to the ] (ARBiH).<ref name=Primorac>, July 2005. Accessed on 20 December 2014.</ref>

{{quote box|width=33%|...Do not let anyone disarm you or make you take off your HOS amblems. HOS is a Croatian army, and no groups, those that secretly, without any marks loiter around, or anyone, especially those who don't see Croatia till Drina, will make laws for us.
Who raises his arm on the HOS or HOS members will be severely punished. Who doesn't like the Croatian coat of arms or program of the HOS or the HSP, we cannot help him, we do things that Croats see fit, not what some groups of senile leaders see fit.|Kraljević's press release, 29 March 1992<ref> (in Croatian). Command of HOS War Heaquarters of Herzegovina, 29 March 1992. Acessed 20 December 2014</ref>}}

At the same time, Kraljević made tense relations with the ] and closened to ] and the Bosnian Muslim ] (TO RBiH), that will later transform to the Army of the RBiH. Even than it was clear that Izetbegović and TO RBiH don't regard Croats as friends. In the name of the HOS War Headquarters, Kraljević issued a Declaration on 9 May 1992, in which he called the ] (HVO) to subordinate to the HOS and the TO RBiH.<ref name=Ljportal/>

The Bosnian Muslim leadership started with instrumentalisation of HOS in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to destabilise the HVO. The politics of the HSP and the HOS suited to the Bosnian Muslim leadership because of their vision of a ] Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the HSP and the HOS had final goal of creating a Croatian border on Drina river, that is, to create a ]. The Muslim leadership understood that their project was impossible, and that it was opposed to the Bosnain Croat vision of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a ] country.{{sfn|Marijan|2004|p=103}}

HVO started negotiations with Kraljević in order to establish a joint command and organising a joint defence. Croatian general ] and HOS commander ] negotiated with Kraljević for several times, however, Kraljević refused any form of cooperation because he claimed that HVO isn't led by the "real Croats". Primorac, Kraljević's aid, entered into conflict with Kraljević because of his attitude towards the HVO. Nevertheless, he organised meetings between Batlak and Kraljević, but with no avail. ], a HVO general, also negotiated with Kraljević, but he also faild to gain Kraljević's agreement for cooperation between the HVO and the HOS.<ref name=Primorac/> Commander of the HVO in Ljubuški, ], held a meeting with HOS commaner from Croatia, ] and Kraljević, in order to sour out the conflict between the HVO and the HOS. Dedaković argued that the HOS and the HVO should cooperate in order to protect the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Kraljević, once again, refused any sort of cooperation and demanded a subordination of the HVO to the HOS.<ref>, March 2006. Accessed 20 December 2014.</ref><ref name=Svjedocenje22/> Kraljević soon issued an order in which he forbid to HOS soldiers to stop at the HVO checkpoints, which they started to do since July 1992 in ].<ref name=Primorac/><ref name=Zelenika>, 20 July 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.</ref> After the Croatian president ] and the Bosnian-Herzegovinian president ] signed the ] on 22 July 1992, in which HVO was recognised as legal and legitimate armed force of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kraljević met with Bosnian Muslim general ]. At the meeting, they arranged that HOS would take over the power in ], ] and other areas of the West Herzegovina.<ref>. 14 August 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.</ref>

{{quote box|width=33%|Bosnia and Herzegovina will be proteced by the HOS and the TO RBiH. Bosnia and Herzegovina is descruted, the peple is displaced, but victory is ours. We call the HVO to subordinate to our command, that is the coomand of the HOS, so we can in cooperation with the TO RBiH, liberate Bosnia and Herzegovina.|Kraljević's Declaration, 9 May 1992<ref name=Ljportal/>}}

On 2 August 1992, Izetbegović made a decision on HOS as integral part of the TO RBiH and named Kraljević a General Staff member. Such Kraljević's actions created an inter-Croatian conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina.<ref name=Ljportal/>
In ], HOS was composed out of Bosnian Muslims. In July 1992, because of large number of unevidented soldiers that were mostly unknown, the HOS in Čapljina started to make problems to the HVO, that was under command of general Praljak. Because of that issue, Praljak met with Kraljević, and asked him to subordinate HOS to the HVO, or to make an evidence of his enlisted soldiers. Kraljević refused Praljak's suggestion. The similar problem occurred in ], where 90% of HOS soldiers were Muslims,<ref name=Svjedocenje2829>, pp. 28. - 29. November 2005. Accessed 20 December 2014</ref> as well as in ], another Western Herzegovinian town.<ref>. Municipal Headquarters Mostar, 9 August 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.</ref> According to the report of HVO's intelligence service from 8 August 1992, the Bosnian Muslims got directives to join only Army of RBiH and HOS, in order to fight against the HVO.<ref>. Military Intelligence Service, 8 August 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.</ref>

During the war, Kraljević was led by the fascist ] ideology. A ] with borders on the ] river was his final goal. He believed that Bosnian Muslims were Croats of Islamic faith. In his appearances he attacked the ] and its president ] accusing them of being "anti-Croatian".<ref>, pp. 1., 3. Accessed 20 December 2014.</ref> In the ], the HOS abused and killed the Serbian civil population, while Kraljević named ] a commander of the camp, a notorious serial killer that later confessed war crimes committed in Dretelj.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.oslobodjenje.ba/vijesti/bih/zarobljenici-sa-masnicama-na-licu- |title=Zločini u Dretelju: Zarobljenici sa masnicama na licu |newspaper=Oslobođenje |date=17 April 2013 |accessdate=20 December 2014 |language=Bosnian}}</ref><ref name=Dnevnik>{{cite news|url=http://www.dnevnik.ba/novosti/bih/titoizam-optu%C5%BEenik-za-zlo%C4%8Dine-u-dretelju-kao-svjedok-humanizma-u-filmu-brozove |title=Titoizam: optuženik za zločine u Dretelju kao svjedok humanizma u filmu Brozove |publisher=Dnevnik |date=8 September 2012 |accessdate=20 December 2014 |language=Croatian}}</ref>

== Death ==
After the relations between the HOS and the HVO become more tense, the Croatian authorities of Herzeg-Bosnia issued a directive in which they demanded the arrest of all HOS commanders that are refusing to cooperate with the HVO. In that time, HVO planned the ] against ], in which they needed aid from the HOS. During that time, HOS mentained good relations with the Bosnian Muslim TO RBiH. HVO tookover all checkpoints from the police and implemented a special control regime in Mostar due to war situation. After an organised meeting between Kraljević and Bosnian Muslim officers from the TO RBiH, Kraljević went towards ], but during his travel, he was shot at the HVO checkpoint in ] near ]. Kraljević and his escort were all killed, while HVO's one soldier was killed and one wounded. HVO had in plan to arrest Kraljević and take him to ], where he was supposed to agree on the HOS' subordination.<ref name=Ljportal>{{cite news|url=http://www.ljportal.com/arhiva/3571-kako-i-zato-je-poginuo-bla-kraljevi |title=Kako je i zašto poginuo Blaž Kraljević |publisher=Ljportal |date=9 August 2012 |accessdate=20 December 2014 |language=Croatian}}</ref><ref name=Svjedocenje22>, p. 22. November 2005. Accessed 20 December 2014.</ref>

Blaž Kraljević was buried in his birthplace in ] on 13 August 1992. The HSP's leadership promoted him to an honorary rank of ], the highest Ustaše rank.{{cn|date=January 2015}}

Croatian minister of defence ] proposed to the Croatian president Tuđman that he should decorate Blaž Kraljević, which he did on 3 December 1996. Kraljević was decorated with the ], a decoration given to killed soldiers.<ref name=Ljportal/><ref>. Narodne novine, 21 January 1997. Accessed 20 December 2014 (in Croatian).</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}} {{Reflist|30em}}


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| title = Je li Tuta platio atentatorima po pet tisuća maraka
| url = http://web.archive.org/web/20081012021418/http://www.vjesnik.hr/html/2003/05/13/Clanak.asp?r=tem&c=2
| newspaper = Vjesnik
| date = 12 May 2003
| language = Serbo-Croatian
| ref = {{harvid|Peratović|12 May 2003}}
}}
* {{cite news
| last = Pušić
| first = Dario
| title = Hrvat digao ruku na hrvata pucanj u kraljevića je pucanj u hrvatsko zajedništvo
| url = http://www.dnevni-list.ba/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21189:hrvat-digao-ruku-na-hrvata-pucanj-u-kraljevia-je-pucanj-u-hrvatsko-zajednitvo&catid=11:izdvojeno2&Itemid=11
| newspaper = Dnevni list
| date = 8 August 2011
| language = Serbo-Croatian
| ref = {{harvid|Pušić|8 August 2011}}
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Ramet
| first = Sabrina P.
| title = The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005
| publisher = Indiana University Press
| location = Bloomington
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-0-253-34656-8
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=FTw3lEqi2-oC&printsec=frontcover
| ref = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Tanner
| first = Marcus
| title = Croatia: A Nation Forged in War
| publisher = Yale University Press
| location = New Haven
| year = 2001
| isbn = 978-0-300-09125-0
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=sfcpsAoSoewC&printsec=frontcover
| ref = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Thomas
| first = Nigel
| title = The Yugoslav Wars (2): Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia 1992 – 2001
| publisher = Osprey Publishing
| location = New York
| year = 2006
| isbn = 978-1-84176-964-6
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=a7cOQ9Nch2AC&printsec=frontcover
| ref = harv
}}
* {{cite book
| last1 = Toal
| first1 = Gerard
| last2 = Dahlman
| first2 = Carl T.
| title = Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| location = New York
| year = 2011
| isbn = 978-0-19-973036-0
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Q1TrvGxJeasC&printsec=frontcover
| ref = harv
}}
* {{cite news
| last = Williams
| first = Carol J.
| title = Serbs, Croats Met Secretly to Split Bosnia
| url = http://articles.latimes.com/1992-05-09/news/mn-1603_1_united-states
| newspaper = Los Angeles Times
| date = 9 May 1992
| ref = {{harvid|Williams|9 May 1992}}
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Zürcher
| first = Christoph
| author-link = Christoph Zuercher
| title = Potentials of Disorder: Explaining Conflict and Stability in the Caucasus and in the Former Yugoslavia
| publisher = Manchester University Press
| location = Manchester
| year = 2003
| isbn = 978-0-7190-6241-4
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=_C6rxHwEkN4C&printsec=frontcover
| ref = harv | ref = harv
}} }}
{{Refend}} {{Refend}}


{{Authority control}} {{Authority control|VIAF=16759876}}
{{Yugoslav wars}} {{Yugoslav wars}}


Revision as of 15:09, 28 May 2015

Blaž Nikola Kraljević
Birth nameNikola Kraljević
Nickname(s)Ero
Born(1947-09-16)16 September 1947
Lisice, Ljubuški, Yugoslavia
Died9 August 1992(1992-08-09) (aged 44)
Kruševo, Mostar, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
BuriedVarda, Kruševo, Mostar
Allegiance Bosnia and Herzegovina
Service / branchCroatian Defence Forces
Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Years of service1991–1992
RankMajor General
CommandsCroatian Defence Forces
Battles / warsBosnian War
AwardsOrder of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan

Blaž Kraljević (17 September 1947 – 9 August 1992) was a commander of the Croatian Defence Forces in Herzegovina and a general major of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He become a political activist in Australia in 1967. After a process of democratisation, he returned to Croatia and joined the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP). In December 1991 he was named a commander of the HSP's paramilitary formation, the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) in Herzegovina. As a commander of HOS, he participated in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Serb forces. Because of his refusal to cooperate with the Croatian Defence Council, a military formation of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia he entered into a conflict with the Herzeg-Bosnian leadership. At the same time he built close relation with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Bosnian Muslim army, which soon made him an instrument for destabilisation of Herzeg-Bosnia. Kraljević, led by the fascist Ustaše ideology, promoted the idea of Croat-Muslim cooperation in creating a Greater Croatia with borders on the Drina river, while considering Bosnian Muslims to be Croats of Muslim faith.

He was killed along with his escort under unexplained circumstances at a checkpoint in Kruševo near Mostar. Some of his associates claim that he was killed under orders of the Croatian political leadership.

Youth and emigration

Blaž Kraljević was born in Lisice near Ljubuški in Herzegovina. He was one of the eight children of Nikola and Mara Kraljević. He left Yugoslavia in June 1966 and went to Germany, from where he went to Australia in April 1967. He opened a restaurant with his colleague Ante Šuto in an immigrant neighbourhood St Albans in Melbourne. During that time, he joined the Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood (HRB). He was supposed to travel in Frankfurt along with Šuto, Zdenko Marinčić and Ilija Lovrić in order to join the Bugojno group. However, only Marinčić and Lovrić went to Frankfurt, while Šutalo voluntarily left few weeks earlier. Kraljević was arrested a day before the travel, on 19 May 1972, by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) because of illegal liquor. The arrest was suspicious because such offense rarely ends with an arrest, if ever, especially by the ASIO. Kraljević was released on 21 June 1972, a day after Bugojno group crossed the Austrian-Yugoslav border.

After his release, the Croatian émigrée circles in Australia become suspicious of Kraljević and his role in the emigration. He was questioned by the HRB, and after they found out he secretlly contacted an agent from the ASIO, Kraljević moved to Canberra, leaving the state of Victoria, as advies by the ASIO agents. His cooperation with the ASIO was not known to the other Croatian émigrée circles in the rest of Australia, so he was able to continue his political activity in Canberra. In 1976 he founded a branch of the Croatian Natonal Council called Rakovica, and was elected its president. Next year, he joined the Croatian Republican Party and become president of its branch called Zemun. At the end of October 1977, a temporary Croatian mission was founded by the emigrants, and Kraljević was named its treasurer. As he managed responsibly, he was elected a secretary of the Croatian Inter-Social Committee in Canberra, that was made of representatives of the majority of the Croatian emigrant organisations, associations and societies. Because of his political activity in Canberra, the Australian authorities refused to give him a citizenship and a passport until the end of the 1980s. Shortly before the Berlin Wall was torn down in 1988, just few years before the collapse of Yugoslavia, Kraljević, imitating Dinko Dedić, Ante Šuto and Antun Babić from Melbourne, founded the Croatian Information Centre in Canberra that was supposed to inform the local media about the situation in Croatia.

After the multy-party system was implemented in Croatia, the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) was founded in Zagreb. The first HSP's commissioner for Australia was Miro Hedješ from Melbourne, a member of the Australian-Croatian Society and the Croatian Liberation Movement (HOP). However, in the mid March 1991, Hedješ resigned as he was convinced that the HSP's leadership should cooperate with the Croatian government and to support it. Dobroslav Paraga, president of the HSP, replaced Hedješ by Kraljević. During his entire stay in Australia, Kraljević was passive towards, as he called them, the "old men from HOP" as they didn't, as he thought, "understood the time in they were living" and that they, with their "worthless ustašising, are only "damiging to the Croatian cause". His nomination for a commissionare was somewhat strange, because out of all emigrant organisations, only HOP supported the HSP.

War

Arrival in Croatia

Kraljević became reserve towards the Croatian emigration and took position that "his place was in Croatia". After he arrived in Zagreb, Paraga named him a head of the Propaganda Office. He tookover that post from a former journalist of the Globus weekly, Nikola Šolić. Emigration in Australia, and especially that in Canberra, blamed Kraljević because he gave several thausands of the Australian dollars to Paraga instead of the Croatian Army. Kraljević thought that in this way he would contribute more to the defence of Croatia.

War in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Croatian Party of Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina was registered there on 10 April 1991. On 13 June 1991, in a hotel in Ljubuški, the leadership of the HSP, along with Paraga, declared the June Charter by which they "established the Independent State of Croatia in its historical and ethnic territory". Kraljević returned to Herzegovina in October 1991, bringing Paraga's decision regarding dismissal of Ivica Karamatić, the HSP's coordinator for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kraljević replaced Karamatić, a poet from Posušje, with Mladen Bošnjak who resided in Osijek at the time. In mid December 1991, Kraljević moved to Herzegovina permanentlly in order to establish HOS War Headquarters for Herzegovina. The War Headquarters was founded on 18 December 1991 in Ljubuški. His associate Katica Pernar was named his secretary. Under Paraga's discretion, Kraljević subordinated HOS to the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH).

...Do not let anyone disarm you or make you take off your HOS amblems. HOS is a Croatian army, and no groups, those that secretly, without any marks loiter around, or anyone, especially those who don't see Croatia till Drina, will make laws for us. Who raises his arm on the HOS or HOS members will be severely punished. Who doesn't like the Croatian coat of arms or program of the HOS or the HSP, we cannot help him, we do things that Croats see fit, not what some groups of senile leaders see fit.

Kraljević's press release, 29 March 1992

At the same time, Kraljević made tense relations with the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia and closened to Alija Izetbegović and the Bosnian Muslim Territorial Defence (TO RBiH), that will later transform to the Army of the RBiH. Even than it was clear that Izetbegović and TO RBiH don't regard Croats as friends. In the name of the HOS War Headquarters, Kraljević issued a Declaration on 9 May 1992, in which he called the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) to subordinate to the HOS and the TO RBiH.

The Bosnian Muslim leadership started with instrumentalisation of HOS in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to destabilise the HVO. The politics of the HSP and the HOS suited to the Bosnian Muslim leadership because of their vision of a unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the HSP and the HOS had final goal of creating a Croatian border on Drina river, that is, to create a greater Croatian state. The Muslim leadership understood that their project was impossible, and that it was opposed to the Bosnain Croat vision of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a federal country.

HVO started negotiations with Kraljević in order to establish a joint command and organising a joint defence. Croatian general Nijaz Batlak and HOS commander Ivica Primorac negotiated with Kraljević for several times, however, Kraljević refused any form of cooperation because he claimed that HVO isn't led by the "real Croats". Primorac, Kraljević's aid, entered into conflict with Kraljević because of his attitude towards the HVO. Nevertheless, he organised meetings between Batlak and Kraljević, but with no avail. Slobodan Praljak, a HVO general, also negotiated with Kraljević, but he also faild to gain Kraljević's agreement for cooperation between the HVO and the HOS. Commander of the HVO in Ljubuški, Ivica Tomić, held a meeting with HOS commaner from Croatia, Mile Dedaković and Kraljević, in order to sour out the conflict between the HVO and the HOS. Dedaković argued that the HOS and the HVO should cooperate in order to protect the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Kraljević, once again, refused any sort of cooperation and demanded a subordination of the HVO to the HOS. Kraljević soon issued an order in which he forbid to HOS soldiers to stop at the HVO checkpoints, which they started to do since July 1992 in Mostar. After the Croatian president Franjo Tuđman and the Bosnian-Herzegovinian president Alija Izetbegović signed the Split declaration on 22 July 1992, in which HVO was recognised as legal and legitimate armed force of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kraljević met with Bosnian Muslim general Sefer Halilović. At the meeting, they arranged that HOS would take over the power in Ljubuški, Čapljina and other areas of the West Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina will be proteced by the HOS and the TO RBiH. Bosnia and Herzegovina is descruted, the peple is displaced, but victory is ours. We call the HVO to subordinate to our command, that is the coomand of the HOS, so we can in cooperation with the TO RBiH, liberate Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Kraljević's Declaration, 9 May 1992

On 2 August 1992, Izetbegović made a decision on HOS as integral part of the TO RBiH and named Kraljević a General Staff member. Such Kraljević's actions created an inter-Croatian conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Čapljina, HOS was composed out of Bosnian Muslims. In July 1992, because of large number of unevidented soldiers that were mostly unknown, the HOS in Čapljina started to make problems to the HVO, that was under command of general Praljak. Because of that issue, Praljak met with Kraljević, and asked him to subordinate HOS to the HVO, or to make an evidence of his enlisted soldiers. Kraljević refused Praljak's suggestion. The similar problem occurred in Stolac, where 90% of HOS soldiers were Muslims, as well as in Mostar, another Western Herzegovinian town. According to the report of HVO's intelligence service from 8 August 1992, the Bosnian Muslims got directives to join only Army of RBiH and HOS, in order to fight against the HVO.

During the war, Kraljević was led by the fascist Ustaše ideology. A Greater Croatia with borders on the Drina river was his final goal. He believed that Bosnian Muslims were Croats of Islamic faith. In his appearances he attacked the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia and its president Mate Boban accusing them of being "anti-Croatian". In the Dretelj camp, the HOS abused and killed the Serbian civil population, while Kraljević named Edib Buljubašić a commander of the camp, a notorious serial killer that later confessed war crimes committed in Dretelj.

Death

After the relations between the HOS and the HVO become more tense, the Croatian authorities of Herzeg-Bosnia issued a directive in which they demanded the arrest of all HOS commanders that are refusing to cooperate with the HVO. In that time, HVO planned the Operation Bura against Serb forces, in which they needed aid from the HOS. During that time, HOS mentained good relations with the Bosnian Muslim TO RBiH. HVO tookover all checkpoints from the police and implemented a special control regime in Mostar due to war situation. After an organised meeting between Kraljević and Bosnian Muslim officers from the TO RBiH, Kraljević went towards Ljubuški, but during his travel, he was shot at the HVO checkpoint in Kruševo near Mostar. Kraljević and his escort were all killed, while HVO's one soldier was killed and one wounded. HVO had in plan to arrest Kraljević and take him to Split, where he was supposed to agree on the HOS' subordination.

Blaž Kraljević was buried in his birthplace in Lisice on 13 August 1992. The HSP's leadership promoted him to an honorary rank of Krilnik, the highest Ustaše rank.

Croatian minister of defence Gojko Šušak proposed to the Croatian president Tuđman that he should decorate Blaž Kraljević, which he did on 3 December 1996. Kraljević was decorated with the Order of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan, a decoration given to killed soldiers.

Notes

  1. ^ "Kako je i zašto poginuo Blaž Kraljević" (in Croatian). Ljportal. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2014. Cite error: The named reference "Ljportal" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ Svjedočenje Ivice Primorca, July 2005. Accessed on 20 December 2014.
  3. Press release (in Croatian). Command of HOS War Heaquarters of Herzegovina, 29 March 1992. Acessed 20 December 2014
  4. Marijan 2004, p. 103.
  5. Testimony of Ivica Primorac, March 2006. Accessed 20 December 2014.
  6. ^ Testimony of Stanko Primorac, p. 22. November 2005. Accessed 20 December 2014.
  7. Report of lieutenant commander Petr Zelenika of the Municipal Headquarters in Mostar to Mate Boban, 20 July 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.
  8. Minutes of the Session of the Presidency of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia. 14 August 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.
  9. Testimony of Stanko Primorac, pp. 28. - 29. November 2005. Accessed 20 December 2014
  10. Report. Municipal Headquarters Mostar, 9 August 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.
  11. Operational Zone Central Bosnia: Military District of Vitez. Military Intelligence Service, 8 August 1992. Accessed 20 December 2014.
  12. DVD-V-238-P, pp. 1., 3. Accessed 20 December 2014.
  13. "Zločini u Dretelju: Zarobljenici sa masnicama na licu". Oslobođenje (in Bosnian). 17 April 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  14. "Titoizam: optuženik za zločine u Dretelju kao svjedok humanizma u filmu Brozove" (in Croatian). Dnevnik. 8 September 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  15. Odluka. Narodne novine, 21 January 1997. Accessed 20 December 2014 (in Croatian).

References

  • Marijan, Davor (2004). Bosna i Hercegovina 1991. - 1995. - u godinama nesvršenog rata. Mostar: Status. ISSN 1512-8679. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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