The letter was prompted by Croatian media reports on a news conference Frank held on December 16, at which the US ambassador underlined the crucial importance of Gotovina's transfer to the Hague-based tribunal as a precondition for Croatia's Euro-Atlantic integration, the NFCA said in a statement signed by NFCA president Edward Andrus and sent to Hina in Washington on Monday.
The statement reads that Frank's observations came after media reports about the United States sending the governments of EU member-countries a non-paper calling on them not to set a date for the start of the Croatia-EU membership talks before Gotovina is handed over to the tribunal.
Andrus stresses in the letter that Ambassador Frank and the United States are attaching too much importance to Gotovina's hand-over and ignoring the efforts Croatia has been investing into its cooperation with the tribunal, its democratic development and the promotion of regional stability.
Copies of the letter were also sent to US Secretary of State Colin Powell and the leadership of the committee on foreign policy of the US Congress.
The NFCA is the umbrella organisation of Croatian Americans with some 130,000 members.