Dubrovnik Republic (1991)

Dubrovnik Republic (1991)
The Dubrovnik Republic was a Serb proto-state that existed during the Siege of Dubrovnik in the Croatian War of Independence, self-proclaimed on 15 October 1991 in occupied areas of Croatia, after being captured by members of 2nd Corps of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). Its provisional president was Aleksandar Aco Apolonio, who was also the president of the Movement for the Republic of Dubrovnik.
The proclaimed territory did not correspond to the pre-1808 Republic of Ragusa borders, stretching from Neum (Bosnia and Herzegovina's only coastal town) to Prevlaka (on Croatia's maritime border with Montenegro), and only existed in the occupied villages Cavtat and Konavle. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) during the trial of Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, identified the Dubrovnik Republic as being part of several regions in Croatia that Milošević sought to be incorporated into a "Serb-dominated state". The ICTY stated that the JNA's campaign in the Dubrovnik region was aimed at securing territory for this political entity.
Proclamation
The Republic of Dubrovnik was officially proclaimed in Cavtat on November 24, 1991. At this meeting, the "Small Council of the Republic of Dubrovnik" was established as the governing body of the Republic. The council had 12 members, among whom were Aleksandar Apolonio, Ivo Lang, Miro Bratoš, Mirko Vujačić, Blažo Zlopaša and Uglješa Jović. The meeting was attended by a large number of citizens from Dubrovnik, Cavtat, Konavalo, Mlin and Kupar.
"We enjoy freedom here. And the Yugoslav People's Army was never an occupying force, as the fascist and ustasha authorities (in Croatia) try to slander it. Here, she guarantees us a free life and the conditions to rebuild what was destroyed by the war with our own efforts. The idea to form the Republic of Dubrovnik has been around for a long time, but it was not allowed to express itself freely. We are looking for a completely different arrangement from the one that the people of Dubrovnik have had since 1944, and especially from this one in recent years. We will no longer find ourselves in a situation where they import wars, hordes, and hatred. The time has come to raise our heads, to say that the Dubrovnik area and the city belong to Dubrovnik", said Apolonio during the meeting.
The function of the Council in the territory controlled by the JNA was symbolic, because the real police and judicial power was in the hands of the Yugoslav army. Nevertheless, the importance of the actions of these authorities lies in their attempt to normalize civilian life in these territories.
Later Development
In January 1992, Serbian nationalist leader Vojislav Šešelj declared his endorsement of a state that included Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Serbian Krajina, and the Dubrovnik Republic within its borders. Šešelj and his Serbian Radical Party endorsed the establishment of the Dubrovnik Republic.
While it was established with JNA assistance, the Serbian government did not issue any statements of support of this government and did not include the republic in their policy discussions. However, the Serbian leadership did desire the incorporation of Dubrovnik into a pan-Serb state, as demonstrated in the diary of Borisav Jović and intercepted communications within Serbian President Slobodan Milošević's inner circle, with the Adriatic border of the pan-Serb state with Croatia being set at the port of Ploče.
The Montenegrin leadership during the Siege of Dubrovnik had plans to annex Dubrovnik along with the "coastal regions of Croatia between the town of Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the north-west and the Montenegrin border in the south-east" into Montenegro. As for Ploče, it was decided in November 1991 that the town was to become a territory of Serb-controlled areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina (prior to the Republika Srpska being formed in 1992). Due to the necessity of the use of territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina to launch the invasion of Dubrovnik, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić was included in the plans to take Dubrovnik. Days prior to the formation of the Dubrovnik Republic, on 7 October 1991 Karadžić in a telephone conversation said "Dubrovnik needs to be saved for Yugoslavia. Let it be a republic... Some citizens should be found there to decide that when they are liberated". Later that week in a telephone conversation with Gojko Đogo, Karadžić said that Dubrovnik "has to be put under military command and that's it... Dubrovnik was never Croatian!". Đogo responded by declaring that the territory around Dubrovnik needed to be ethnically cleansed, saying: "Burn everything and good bye!... Up north of Dubrovnik River kill everybody!".
During the Siege of Dubrovnik, Serbian and Montenegrin irregular forces and JNA reservists went on a rampage in Dubrovnik, almost no one was spared in the violence; small villages and farms were plundered, homes and farms were set alight, fires were set to fields and orchards, and livestock was killed. The largely Croat population of Dubrovnik fled in its entirety from the city amid the violence.
The downfall of the Republic
Although the JNA had agreed to a cease-fire in January 1992, southern Dalmatia south of Ston was still under the occupation of the JNA 2nd Army's Trebinje-Bileća group that was shelling Dubrovnik; JNA involvement officially ended in May 1992, which marked the official dissolution of the republic, and the group was redesignated as the Bosnian Serb Herzegovinian Corps on 4 May 1992. After the withdrawal of JNA, thousands of civilians from Dubrovnik and its surroundings have fled to Montenegro and Serbia, because of the fear from the Croatian Army.
Despite JNA withdrawal, fighting between the Bosnian Serb unit and Croatian army forces continued until 23 October 1992.
Aftermath
After the collapse of the republic, fearing reprisals, most of its sympathizers fled Croatia. Some estimates even mention the number of 15,000 civilians that fled to Serbia and Montenegro from Dubrovnik after the JNA withdrawal.
The leader of the Movement for the Republic of Dubrovnik and the first prime minister of the self-proclaimed Republic, Aleksandar Aco Apolonio, fled to Belgrade, where he lived until his death. Due to the proclamation of the republic, Apolonio, Ivo Lang and others were further persecuted and condemned, and their defamation even in the public media continued later. Apolonio was also sentenced to 12 years in prison in Croatia.
In the city and Dubrovnik-Neretva County today, there are several parties and organizations that support the ideas of distancing Dubrovnik from the rest of Croatia.
See also
Greater Serbia
Republic of Serbian Krajina
Aleksandar Aco Apolonio
Serbs in Dubrovnik
References
Croatian War of Independence
History of Dubrovnik