"He made a mistake by not approaching the Hague tribunal, because now it will be much harder to organise defence. Now it is up to him to defend his honour and the Croatian Army's honour before the tribunal," Mesic said during his visit to the northern Adriatic town of Pula.
The President said that protest rallies in Gotovina's support were pointless.
"Croatia can do nothing but ensure that General Gotovina and all the others who have been summoned to The Hague get all documents and everything else that is necessary for their defence. That is what the country can do at the moment because the Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal is our international commitment," he said.
Asked to comment on statements by the US State Department and Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte that Gotovina had been arrested thanks to cooperation between Croatia and Spain, Mesic said it was quite understandable that the Croatian agencies were cooperating with other intelligence services.
"Gotovina was not in Croatia when they looked for him in Croatia," Mesic insisted.
Asked if Gotovina's arrest would affect the situation in the country, the President said that Croatia had its strategic goals and that it was achieving them.
"Now the Hague tribunal, the international community and relevant European bodies should exert maximum pressure on Serbia and Montenegro to hand over the most wanted criminals, because I think there is no excuse for Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic moving around freely in Serbia or border areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Mesic said.