...Mostar, where such urban culture flourishes, enjoy a large degree of autonomy under elected officials.

The ruling party in the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Democratic Union (Croatian: Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, HDZ), organized and controlled the branch of the party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the "HDZ-BiH").

By the latter part of 1991, the more extreme nationalist elements of the HDZ-BiH, under the leadership of Mate Boban, Dario Kordić and others, with the support of Franjo Tuđman and Gojko Šušak, have taken effective control of the party, and on November 18, 1991, proclaimed the existence of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, as a separate "political, cultural, economic and territorial whole," on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia declares itself the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia on August 28, 1993.