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Mate Boban
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Mate Boban
Mate Boban (Croatian pronunciation: [mǎːte bǒban]; 12 February 1940 – 7 July 1997) was a Bosnian Croat politician and one of the founders of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, an unrecognized entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the first president of Herzeg-Bosnia from 1991 until 1994. From 1992 to 1994, Boban was the President of the Croatian Democratic Union. He died in 1997 due to a stroke.
Boban was born on 12 February 1940 in a large family in Sovići in the Municipality of Grude in Herzegovina, to Stjepan and Iva Boban. He finished elementary school in Sovići and later he attended seminary in Zadar. After second grade he moved to a high school in Široki Brijeg, and eventually graduated in Vinkovci. In 1958, Boban joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. He attended the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb where he obtained an M.A. degree in Economics. After a shorter stay in Grude, he was employed in Imotski where he became the director of the Napredak trading company.
On charges of business fraud, Boban spent two and a half years in a remand prison in Split. He later called it a show trial and said that the reason for his imprisonment was Croatian nationalism. In the late 1980s, he was the head of the Tobacco Factory Zagreb branch in Herzegovina. In 1990, he joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) and was elected to the parliament in the 1990 general election. In March 1991, Boban became the vice president of the HDZ BiH. As vice president, Boban said in April 1991 that HDZ BiH and the Croat people as a whole advocate the view that Bosnia and Herzegovina is sovereign and indivisible.
In March 1991, the Croatian War of Independence began. In October 1991, the Croat village of Ravno in Herzegovina was attacked and destroyed by Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) forces before turning south towards the besieged Dubrovnik. These were the first Croat casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnian president Alija Izetbegović did not react to the attack on Ravno and gave a televised proclamation of neutrality, stating that "this is not our war". The leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina initially showed willingness to remain in a rump Yugoslavia, but later advocated for a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Croat leadership started organizing a defense in areas with a Croat majority. On 12 November 1991, Boban chaired a meeting with local party leaders of the HDZ BiH, together with Dario Kordić. It was decided that Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina should institute a policy to bring about "our age-old dream, a common Croatian state" and should call for a proclamation of a Croatian Croatian: banovina as the "initial phase leading towards the final solution of the Croatian question and the creation of sovereign Croatia within its ethnic and historical borders".[citation needed]
On 18 November 1991, Croat representatives established the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia in Mostar as a "political, cultural, economic and territorial whole". Boban was chosen as its president. The decision on its establishment stated that the Community will "respect the democratically elected government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for as long as exists the state independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to the former, or any other, Yugoslavia". One of Boban's advisers stated that Herzeg-Bosnia was only a temporary measure and that the entire area will be an integral part of Bosnia and Herzegovina when the war ends. When asked why was Herzeg-Bosnia proclaimed, Boban answered:
Proud Bosnia ceased to be proud. Evil is circulating through its roads, railways, air waves. It is occupied. The Croatian people, a proud people, had to do something to not participate in that, to make it clear they don't want it.
HDZ BiH was not unanimous regarding the political organization of the country. Its president, Stjepan Kljuić, opposed the move by Boban. On 27 December 1991, the leadership of the HDZ of Croatia and of HDZ BiH held a meeting in Zagreb chaired by Croatian president Franjo Tuđman. They discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina's future, their differences in opinion on it, and the creation of a Croatian political strategy. At the beginning of the meeting, Boban said that, in the event of Bosnia and Herzegovina's disintegration, Herzeg-Bosnia should be proclaimed "an independent Croatian territory and merged with the Croatian state, but at a time and at a moment when the Croatian leadership … decides that this time and this moment are ripe." Kljuić, on the other hand, favoured a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Bosniak line. He was criticized by Tuđman for acceding to Izetbegović's policies and Bosniak interests. Largely due to the support of the Croatian leadership, Boban's branch of the party prevailed. Kljuić resigned from his position as president of HDZ BiH in February 1992, at a meeting of the party in Široki Brijeg. He was replaced with Milenko Brkić.
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Mate Boban
Mate Boban (Croatian pronunciation: [mǎːte bǒban]; 12 February 1940 – 7 July 1997) was a Bosnian Croat politician and one of the founders of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, an unrecognized entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the first president of Herzeg-Bosnia from 1991 until 1994. From 1992 to 1994, Boban was the President of the Croatian Democratic Union. He died in 1997 due to a stroke.
Boban was born on 12 February 1940 in a large family in Sovići in the Municipality of Grude in Herzegovina, to Stjepan and Iva Boban. He finished elementary school in Sovići and later he attended seminary in Zadar. After second grade he moved to a high school in Široki Brijeg, and eventually graduated in Vinkovci. In 1958, Boban joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. He attended the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb where he obtained an M.A. degree in Economics. After a shorter stay in Grude, he was employed in Imotski where he became the director of the Napredak trading company.
On charges of business fraud, Boban spent two and a half years in a remand prison in Split. He later called it a show trial and said that the reason for his imprisonment was Croatian nationalism. In the late 1980s, he was the head of the Tobacco Factory Zagreb branch in Herzegovina. In 1990, he joined the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) and was elected to the parliament in the 1990 general election. In March 1991, Boban became the vice president of the HDZ BiH. As vice president, Boban said in April 1991 that HDZ BiH and the Croat people as a whole advocate the view that Bosnia and Herzegovina is sovereign and indivisible.
In March 1991, the Croatian War of Independence began. In October 1991, the Croat village of Ravno in Herzegovina was attacked and destroyed by Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) forces before turning south towards the besieged Dubrovnik. These were the first Croat casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnian president Alija Izetbegović did not react to the attack on Ravno and gave a televised proclamation of neutrality, stating that "this is not our war". The leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina initially showed willingness to remain in a rump Yugoslavia, but later advocated for a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Croat leadership started organizing a defense in areas with a Croat majority. On 12 November 1991, Boban chaired a meeting with local party leaders of the HDZ BiH, together with Dario Kordić. It was decided that Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina should institute a policy to bring about "our age-old dream, a common Croatian state" and should call for a proclamation of a Croatian Croatian: banovina as the "initial phase leading towards the final solution of the Croatian question and the creation of sovereign Croatia within its ethnic and historical borders".[citation needed]
On 18 November 1991, Croat representatives established the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia in Mostar as a "political, cultural, economic and territorial whole". Boban was chosen as its president. The decision on its establishment stated that the Community will "respect the democratically elected government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina for as long as exists the state independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to the former, or any other, Yugoslavia". One of Boban's advisers stated that Herzeg-Bosnia was only a temporary measure and that the entire area will be an integral part of Bosnia and Herzegovina when the war ends. When asked why was Herzeg-Bosnia proclaimed, Boban answered:
Proud Bosnia ceased to be proud. Evil is circulating through its roads, railways, air waves. It is occupied. The Croatian people, a proud people, had to do something to not participate in that, to make it clear they don't want it.
HDZ BiH was not unanimous regarding the political organization of the country. Its president, Stjepan Kljuić, opposed the move by Boban. On 27 December 1991, the leadership of the HDZ of Croatia and of HDZ BiH held a meeting in Zagreb chaired by Croatian president Franjo Tuđman. They discussed Bosnia and Herzegovina's future, their differences in opinion on it, and the creation of a Croatian political strategy. At the beginning of the meeting, Boban said that, in the event of Bosnia and Herzegovina's disintegration, Herzeg-Bosnia should be proclaimed "an independent Croatian territory and merged with the Croatian state, but at a time and at a moment when the Croatian leadership … decides that this time and this moment are ripe." Kljuić, on the other hand, favoured a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Bosniak line. He was criticized by Tuđman for acceding to Izetbegović's policies and Bosniak interests. Largely due to the support of the Croatian leadership, Boban's branch of the party prevailed. Kljuić resigned from his position as president of HDZ BiH in February 1992, at a meeting of the party in Široki Brijeg. He was replaced with Milenko Brkić.