He was replying to a question from a Lithuanian TV journalist after a meeting with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.
This was Mesic's first comment on the end of the dispute with his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano over a statement the latter made when Italy commemorated Italians killed and thrown into caves by the Yugoslav partisans at the end of WWII.
"During the dispute we obtained the position we had asked for and which contains three very important points. Firstly, interstate treaties (signed in Paris, Rome and Osimo) will not be touched. Secondly, as the Italians said, the expression 'bloodthirsty Slavs' did not refer to Croatia, and thirdly, Italy will continue to support Croatia's road to the EU," said Mesic, adding that the Croatian-Italian debate on this issue was now over.
Speaking of the origins of the dispute, Mesic said that crimes had been committed against Italians after World War II and that nobody in Croatia was denying this.
"We don't close our eyes before those crimes nor do we justify them. They are a historical fact. But one cannot talk about crimes one-sidedly. If crimes by one side are mentioned, so must be those on the other side as well -- Italian fascist camps in Croatia, executions, occupation, forced Italianisation. They are a historical fact too," Mesic told the Lithuanian reporter.
He also underlined that the dispute would in no way impact Croatia's drawing closer to the European Union.