Čulina to Pupovac: Who Claims the Right to Create Croatia?

When Milorad Pupovac calls the celebration of Operation Storm a threat to Croatia, it is no longer a political stance but an attempt to rewrite history. It is precisely this that Robert Čulina addressed, without mincing words, posing a question many in Croatia have asked for years but no one has so openly articulated: who exactly claims the right to 'create' Croatia?

In his social media post, which is spreading like wildfire, Čulina directly called out Pupovac on August 7, 2026, reminding that this is a man who in 1991 'cheered for the disintegrating Yugoslavia' and today 'has spent years trying to portray the defensive war of his own state as a criminal undertaking.'

Foundations Forged in Blood, Not Political Deals

In his post, carried by Nacionalno Plus, Čulina emphasizes that Croatia 'was not born in parliamentary restaurants, nor was it created through political deals and extortion of privileges under the threat of toppling the parliamentary majority.' Instead, as he points out, 'it was created through blood, sacrifice, and the victory of defenders on the ruins of Vukovar and on the cliffs of Dinara, from which the Greater Serbian aggression was broken in Operation Storm.'

Therefore, he calls the claim that celebrating this victory threatens the state 'a pure distortion of theses and an imposition of guilt on the victors.'

A Policy of Undermining the Foundations of the State

The author of the post does not spare words in describing Pupovac's years of political activity. 'Pupovac has for years pursued a policy that many rightly perceive as a systematic undermining of the very foundations of the state,' wrote Čulina. 'By insisting on the narrative of the criminal nature of defensive operations, he directly attacks the foundations on which Croatia rests.'

He particularly criticized Pupovac's relationship with Belgrade. 'He continues to seek his political refuge in Belgrade, where at gatherings with the Serbian leadership he calmly listens to comparisons of Croatia with the darkest regimes in history,' the post states. 'At the same time, in his own country, he constantly fuels the story of permanent endangerment, thereby deliberately preventing the genuine integration of the Serbian community.'

The Shadow of the Dr. Ivan Šreter Case

In his response, Čulina also opened a painful issue from the 1990s that continues to burden Pupovac's biography. 'It is especially painful to watch the avoidance of any responsibility for the events of the early 1990s,' he wrote. 'The shadow of the case of Dr. Ivan Šreter, a peaceful physician from Pakrac who was abducted and killed, and for whose exchange Pupovac provided guarantees, remains an indelible stain on his biography.'

He also reminded of the family's tragic fate: 'While Dr. Šreter's family, even after three decades, searches for his remains, Pupovac lectures the public on nationalism.'

The Threat Is Not the Celebration, but Those Who Try to Undo It

In the concluding part of the post, Čulina summarized his message. 'The Croatia he was creating was evidently envisioned as a state with diminished sovereignty, a state that should be ashamed of its own victory and perpetually apologize for having survived at all,' he wrote.

He concluded unequivocally: 'The celebration of Operation Storm is not a threat to Croatia. The threat comes from those who, from within, try to undo the foundations on which it was created, claiming the right to dictate its past and future.'