A republic lying at the southeastern end of central Europe, Croatia is an elongated crescent-shaped country to the north, west, and southwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the north it borders on Hungary and in the northwest on Slovenia. Its extensive Adriatic coastal region on the southwest includes nearly 1,200 islands and islets. Area: 56,691 sq km (21,889 sq mi). Pop.: (1995 est.): 4,495,000. Cap.: Zagreb. Monetary unit: kuna, with (Oct. 6, 1995) a free rate of 5.33 kune to U.S. $1 (8.43 kune = £1 sterling). President in 1995, Franjo Tudjman; prime ministers, Nikica Valentic and, from November 4, Zlatko Matesa.
In 1995 Croatia achieved significant military victories both against rebel Serbs who had occupied nearly a third of Croatia since 1991 and against Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On January 12 Croatia gave notice that the existing mandate of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) in Croatia would not be renewed beyond March 31. Under a new UN Security Council resolution, the number of UN forces in Croatia was to be reduced and the name of the unit was changed to United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia (UNCRO). On April 11 Russian Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Perelyakin, who headed UNCRO in eastern Croatia (UN Sector East), was dismissed after being accused of incompetence and corruption, including trading arms with the Serbs.
On April 13 Serb forces shelled the airport in Dubrovnik, and Zagreb, the capital, was shelled on May 2 and 3, with casualties in both cities. On April 24 rebel Serbs in western Slavonia (UN Sector West), one of the three regions controlled by the Serbs since 1991, blocked the recently reopened Zagreb-Belgrade highway running through territory they controlled. In a 36-hour operation on May 1-2, western Slavonia was retaken by the Croatian army, and on August 4-7, in a similar blitz, the whole of the second Serb-held region, the Krajina, in central Croatia (UN Sectors North and South), including the town of Knin, was retaken. In both areas virtually the entire Serb population, many from families who had settled there centuries ago, left with the Serb forces. Widespread looting by Croatian and Bosnian Croat troops as well as returning Croat civilians was reported, as was harassment of the mainly elderly Serbs who had stayed behind. UN monitors reported that some 120 bodies of elderly residents had been found by early October.
On October 3 representatives of the Croatian government and the leaders of the rebel Serbs in eastern Slavonia reached an agreement on the principles of peaceful reintegration of this region, the last major Serb-held area, into Croatia. Croatia was disappointed that the U.S.-brokered agreement negotiated at Dayton, Ohio, in November failed to provide a clear timetable for its return to Zagreb’s control. The U.S. ambassador to Croatia noted that for this first time in the current conflict, an issue had been resolved "by a signature and not by a bullet." A further hitch occurred at the signing of the Balkan agreements in Paris when Yugoslavia refused to extend diplomatic recognition to Croatia unless it ceded Prevlaka, a strategic promontory dominating the entry to the Yugoslav naval base on the Gulf of Kotor.
In elections on October 29 for the 127-seat lower house of Parliament, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Pres. Franjo Tudjman obtained 45.23% of all votes cast and 75 seats but failed to win the two-thirds majority Tudjman sought in order to change the constitution to give more powers to the president. (For a detailed breakdown of the vote, see Political Parties, above.) The HDZ also lost its majority in several big cities, including Zagreb, where, despite its loss, the HDZ refused to hand over power to the opposition.
Monetary stability was maintained in 1995, with inflation running at an annual rate of 3.7%. In the January-September period, exports were 21% higher than in the corresponding period in 1994, but imports were 74% higher. Tourist income was sharply reduced because of the impact of military operations in May and August. Industrial output in January-September 1995 was up 1.2% from 1994, but overall growth stagnated. Under an agreement signed on December 14 by INA, the Croatian oil company, and Jugopetrol, its counterpart in Yugoslavia, oil supplies to Yugoslavia were to be restored in the near future. Croatia signed a major ships-for-oil deal with Iran on November 29.
This updates the article Croatia, history of.