The German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung noted that no one from Brussels has issued an official response to Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor's statement praising ICTY convicts Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac on the occasion of 16th anniversary of Operation Storm.

The friendship does not exempt us from duty to make an unambiguous statement about moves that are not in line with a civilized, open society, said a commentator of that daily, underlining that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to pay a visit to Zagreb soon, where she could have an open talk with Kosor.

On the 16th anniversary of Operation Storm in Knin, the Croatian prime minister hailed ICTY convicts, Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, the Operation storm commanders.

More than 200,000 Serbs were forced to leave the country in Operation Storm, and the ICTY convicted Gotovina and Markac of war crimes against Serbs. The Tribunal qualified Operation Storm as “the joint criminal enterprise”.