Slovenia Celebrates Sovereignty Day
Author Joco Žnidaršič
The state holiday is not a work-free day, but it is included in the calendar of state ceremonies every five years. This will also be the case this year, which marks the 35th anniversary of the declaration of Slovenia’s independence. The state ceremony will be held in Koper on Sunday, with Prime Minister Janez Janša as the keynote speaker.
Sovereignty Day commemorates the departure of the last remaining Yugoslav soldier from Slovenian territory in 1991. Following Slovenia’s declaration of independence in 1991, units of the Yugoslav People’s Army set out towards Slovenia’s border crossings with Italy, Austria and Hungary in order to "safeguard the unity of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)". The leadership of the newly emerging Slovenian state resisted this move, and a confrontation between the Yugoslav People’s Army and units of the Slovenian Territorial Defence and police became inevitable.
On the last day of the Ten-Day War for Slovenia, 7 July 1991, with the European Community acting as mediator, Slovenia, Croatia and the SFRY leadership in Belgrade reached an agreement on a ceasefire and a three-month suspension of independence-related activities, which was set out in what became known as the Brioni Declaration. However, even before this deadline had expired, the Yugoslav leadership of the time realised that Slovenia could not be kept within Yugoslavia, and talks began on the withdrawal of the Yugoslav People’s Army from Slovenian territory.
In its final phase, the withdrawal also took place through the Port of Koper. The first military vessel arrived to collect troops as early as 21 October, while on 25 October the Maltese ferry Venus and the military transport vessel PO-9 arrived to collect the remaining groups of soldiers. The last soldier of the Yugoslav People’s Army left Slovenian territory at 11.45 p.m. on 25 October, boarding a ship sailing under a foreign flag. The Venus ferry was the last vessel to leave Slovenian waters, departing in the first minutes of 26 October 1991.