Background
In May 1990 the HDZ party led by Franjo Tuđman won Croatia's first post-communist multi-party elections. Tuđman pursued a strongly Croatian nationalist course, advocating independence from Yugoslavia. Much of Croatia's large Serb minority was opposed to their policies, regarding them as anti-Serb, and sought to remain within Yugoslavia. Following Tuđman's election, ethnic Serb nationalists in the Krajina region (bordering western Bosnia and Herzegovina) launched an armed uprising in which Croatian government officials were forcibly expelled or excluded from a wide area of the Krajina. Croatian government property was seized throughout the region and handed over to the control of local Krajina Serb municipalities or the newly established "Serbian National Council" led by Milan Babić (later to become the government of the breakaway SAO Krajina). The process did not happen overnight but took a considerable amount of time – well over a year – to complete.
The Plitvice Lakes are a scenic area and national park of Croatia, located in the Krajina near the Bosnian border, about 150 km south of the Croatian capital Zagreb. Prior to 1995, the surrounding area was primarily Serb-populated and the lakes were on the edge of the area controlled by the Krajina Serbs. The national park was, however, principally under the control of Croats loyal to the Zagreb government.
Read more about this topic: Plitvice Lakes Incident
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