SAO Krajina
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SAO Krajina (Serbian Cyrillic: САО Крајина) or Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina was a self proclaimed Serbian autonomous region (oblast) in Croatia. It existed between 1990 and 1991 and was subsequently included into Republic of Serbian Krajina. SAO Krajina was the main section of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, also known as Krajina proper.
[edit] History
In October 1990 the SAO Kninska Krajina came to encompase of Community (Association) of Municipalities of Northern Dalmatia and Lika, these were Associaitons of Municipalities. After encompassing these arease it became the Association of Autonomous Serb Municipalities, which soon started making their own government institutions including the Serbian National Council (parliament of the region).
Originally they thought Franjo Tuđman wanted to have Croatia as a nation state within the Yugoslavia after democratic and decentralizing reforms. When this turned out to be unlikely they wanted it to be independent of Croatia but within the mini-Yugoslavia proposed under the Belgrade Initiative.
On February 28, 1991 the SAO Krajina was officially declared. It announced that it planned to separate from Croatia if it moved for independence from Yugoslavia.
The Serb National Council on March 16, 1991 declared Krajina to be independent of Croatia but within the SFR Yugoslavia if it voted for independence. Some leaders in Krajina declared it to be that Krajina is part of Serbia.
May 12, 1991 a referendum was held about leaving Croatia. It was restricted only to Serbs. The results were that Krajina is independent of Croatia but within SFR Yugoslavia and that it should be annexed by Serbia.
Soon after this declaration conflict began between the Krajina Serbs and Croat authorities. In the time after this, particularly after Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, violence escalated as the Serbs expanded the territory they held with the help of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), eventually expanded the territory to include SAO of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem and SAO Western Slavonia. The Serb-controlled territory included a third of Croatia.
On December 19, 1991 the two SAO's through the initiative of Milan Babić (president of SAO Krajina) and Goran Hadžić (president of SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem) declared the two to represent a single Serbian state in Croatia with the name Republic of Serbian Krajina. In February 1992 the republic declared itself independent.
