Slovenia: However the fateful decision 15 years ago today had bloody consequences in the rest of the Balkans, reports Daniel McLaughlin in Ljubljana
In the year when revolution drove communism from Eastern Europe, Slovenia's first steps towards independence hardly rocked the world.
But when Solidarity's rise in Poland, Romania's execution of the Ceausescus and Prague's Velvet Revolution were already fading into history, the bloody reverberations of a decision made in Ljubljana 15 years ago today still convulsed Europe.
To thunderous applause, the parliament in Slovenia's elegant capital voted overwhelmingly to reserve the right to break away from Yugoslavia, which it feared was becoming dominated by the increasingly nationalist Serbia of Mr Slobodan Milosevic.
"This is a historic moment for Slovenia," said then-president Mr Janez Stanovnik after the vote. "The Slovenian people have demonstrated that, in this war of nerves, they are capable of being the master of their own fate." Yugoslavia's most liberal republic, with close links to neighbouring Austria and Italy, Slovenia was dismayed by fatal ethnic clashes in Kosovo, and an economic crisis that left one in five people without a job and drove inflation up to 900 per cent.
But as Slovenia looked to follow Poland and Hungary in liberalising political and economic life, the hardliners in Belgrade - backed by the military - denounced the republic's reformist leaders as counter-revolutionaries determined to destroy Yugoslavia.
"It was a very controversial and stressful time and it demanded great concentration and responsibility on our part," said Mr Milan Kucan, who led Slovenia's Communist Party as it headed for collision with Mr Milosevic and his allies.
"The Yugoslav crisis was nearing its climax, and all of us were searching for answers to escape that crisis," he told The Irish Times, recalling that historic vote of September 27th, 1989. No one foresaw the grim outcome of the process set in motion - a series of wars across Yugoslavia that killed more than 200,000 people - but Slovenia quickly realised the potential price of its willingness to defy Belgrade. Protests across Yugoslavia denounced Mr Kucan and Slovenia, and the military warned of its readiness to intervene in any threat to the federation's territorial integrity.
In Montenegro, Mr Milo Djukanovic - now that country's prime minister - declared: "If those who are reshaping Yugoslavia think we will remain silent, they are dead wrong. We have weapons which are in the hands of the Yugoslav National Army, the best guardian of our country."
Mr Kucan and his colleagues insisted that they did not seek independence, but liberal reform of Yugoslavia that would democratise its politics and economy and prevent any one member dominating the federation.
Slovenia's 2.1 million people made up less than 10 per cent of Yugoslavia's population, but the Alpine nation accounted for 25 per cent of its exports and a fifth of the national product, while the average income was twice the Yugoslav average.
Many Slovenians felt encumbered by their poorer and less productive southern neighbours.
Slovenia's customs, food and architecture still show the influence of Austro-Hungarian rule, while Byzantine and Turkish traits predominate in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia. Orthodoxy and Islam dominate in those states, while most Slovenes are Catholics.
In terms of history, culture and religion, Slovenia's closest Yugoslav relation was Croatia, which was also chary of Serbia's growing belligerence under Mr Milosevic.
Less than four months after Slovenia asserted its right to secede from Yugoslavia, the two nations' delegations walked out of an explosive Communist Party congress in Belgrade.
Three months later, in April 1990, a centre-right coalition won free elections in Slovenia, and a plebiscite in December showed massive public support for independence from an increasingly fractious and economically crippled Yugoslavia.
On June 25th 1991, Slovenia exercised the right that it asserted 15 years ago today, and declared independence. Belgrade refused to recognise the decision and, the next day, sent soldiers to secure Slovenia's border crossings and Ljubljana airport.
Mr Kucan stunned the Yugoslav army with his decision to oppose them, and use maximum force against lightly armed troops who had expected no resistance. Slovenia fought alone, as Mr Kucan recalled: "When war began and we were counting on Croatia's help, that help didn't come." Less than 100 people died in the ensuing ten-day war that won Slovenia its independence, but only served as a prelude to carnage further south.
Fifteen years on, peaceful and increasingly prosperous Slovenia is the only member of former Yugoslavia to join the EU, much to the envy of its still-troubled neighbours. "Overall, Slovenia's story of the last 15 years is one of success," said Mr Kucan, who was Slovenia's president from 1992-2002. "I believe our decisions were the right ones, and we have reason to be proud."
