In barracks as a private person

This is the second time that Mr Kotromanović visits Hungary. Last year the Croatian Minister of Defence participated at an official visit in our country but as he said to honvedelem.hu that time he only had a chance to see a little of Budapest. He had wonderful experiences and returning home he decided to come back to Hungary with his wife another time.

His current visit is completely of private nature – he is spending four days in Hungary upon the invitation of Mr Csaba Hende and travelling around Hungary he is visiting primarily country towns. He grew up in Dalmatia, where he met a lot of Hungarian tourists in summer and heard a lot of interesting things about our country therefore now he wishes to gain personal experiences about Hungary. All the more so, because Croatians regard Hungarians as very close friends as the history of our countries got closely intertwined during the Habsburg era. We also have many common heroes.

Mr Kotromanović explained inserting the Szolnok visit in his private program with his military past. In the rank of Brigadier General he served as commander of a special operations unit and he retired in 2002. This clearly explains the fact that Mr Kotromanović immediately accepted the invitation of his host to meet the troops of the Szolnok SOF unit. He also very much understood that his wife chose a visit to Esztergom and Szentendre instead of travelling to Szolnok. She is an art historian and for her visiting a museum gives a much greater experience than a successfully executed military operation.

Mr Ante Kotromanović and Mr Csaba Hende were briefed by Colonel József Koller and Lieutenant Colonel István Cseklán on the history and missions of the Special Operations Battalion then the guests had a surprise included in their program: their convoy got under “enemy attack". One of the vehicles was “damaged beyond repair" and two troops were severely “injured". The very important protected persons were extracted from the dangerous territory by a specially prepared helicopter.

Photos by the author